Individuals trying to support themselves via subscriptions are as dependent on the whims of the marketplace as those working for large corporations, and it's not just the lack of health care and 401ks that make the career of a patron-supported creator precarious - it's the rawness and immediacy of the relationship.
In 2000, Flash websites proliferate, blogging expands, social news sites like Slashdot gain influence - all of this while the dot-com bubble slowly deflates and Napster dominates headlines. After the hype and fear of Y2K (a.k.a. the Millenium bug) quickly faded in January 2000, the internet continued its mostly joyful rise in the culture. Sure, the dot-com bubble got pricked in March and then slowly deflated, but the web itself didn't stop growing.
Emma Jackson didn't have much money growing up - but that didn't stop her from buying her first home at age 25 and saving enough to pay off the mortgage two years later. The British blogger told Business Insider that, growing up, she was aware her parents were in financial difficulty after they had bad mortgage advice that left them in debt. She and her brothers started contributing to the household once they could, which helped her focus on being "really savvy" with money.
The digital divide is morphing into something far more insidious, impacting equity and access in higher education while highlighting the significant automation gap.
