Molly rushes home even though she knows her mom won’t be home yet. She paces around the house coming up with different questions to guide her mom. All Molly has heard growing up is how lucky her whole generation is to have free internet and free phone service, “these advancements for sure altered the way life is lived”, Molly thought. When Molly’s mother comes home from what appears to have been a long day at work, Molly can’t contain her excitement to interview her. Of course, her mother agrees, and just like Molly anticipated she goes on a rant about how equitable access to technology has changed the way Americans live. However, as Molly asks more and more questions about the topic, her mothers tone begins to shift. “What are the downsides, if any, of having internet and phone access provided to us?” Molly questioned. Her mother looked taken aback, as if this question was hitting on something Molly wasn’t supposed to question. Of course, Molly’s mother had been working in the internet services provider department for years and years now, there had to be something negative she had witnessed. But her mom shut down, and almost seemed to yell at Molly “Do not ask me or anyone that question again, you promise me?” she pressed. “Ok, ok” Molly responded shyly, feeling bad for making her mother so upset. And just like that, the interview period seemed to be over, “I’m going to make dinner, you set the table” asserted her mother.

Confused, Molly set the table and pondered what had made her mother so upset. “What about that question was so terrible?”, she asked herself. Molly was determined to find out what this secret downside was. “How bad could it even be? Technology lets us do anything and everything we want for free!” Molly wanted to yell to her mother in the other room. But, she refrained, tomorrow she would head to the investigative library at school and begin her research into the U.S. Government Cellular and Internet Service Providers Department.

TO BE CONTINUED...