A polycrisis is a situation where multiple distinct problems interact and amplify each other, resulting in a more severe outcome than the sum of the individual crises. The term is being used to describe the complex interconnections between related problems, which can lead to cascading and overwhelming ompacts. The term is mostly applied to large geopolitical issues, but perhaps it can also be applied to more local issues.

Consider the numerous problems that plague rural America today. Every rural area is a little different, but much of rural America already had problems with access to healthcare, which are magnified as rural hospitals and clinics are closed. Rural America struggles with low incomes that are the result of globalization and the closure of many factories over the last decades. Much of rural America has a population crisis, in that populations are shrinking from the out-migration of younger residents, leaving an aging remaining population. Rural America has a connectivity problem since many rural areas have inadequate broadband, and even more have nonfunctional cellular coverage. The populations in rural America tend to have lower levels of achieved education. I have to think that all of these problems collectively create a polycrisis.

It’s never easy to fix a polycrisis because the problems interact with each other. As I’ve worked around the country in rural areas over the last decade or two, I’ve talked to many local governments that put high hope that better broadband can improve many of the issues that plague their area. Consider what fast, affordable broadband can mean to a rural community.

• Telehealth becomes essential when local hospitals and clinics close. Even when they don’t close, telehealth can enable residents to consult with specialists in distant cities when the need arises. Lack of telehealth can lead to numerous negative repercussions, such reduced ability to work and earn a living.
• A lot of communities have told me that allowing residents to work from home is the primary benefit after a rural area gets good connectivity. Working from home can allow people to find work when there are no local jobs. Working from home can mean higher household incomes, which has a positive multiplier effect across the whole community.
• Reliable connectivity means improved education opportunities. Several studies have shown that K12 students in homes with broadband significantly outperform students in homes with no broadband. Broadband also brings the opportunity to pursue training and advanced degrees online, which improves the opportunity for higher earnings.
• Good connectivity increases the opportunity for entrepreneurship. For example, the Etsy platform, where people can sell homemade goods and products, says that being an Etsy seller increases household income by an average of 11%.
• Good broadband has become essential to rural agriculture, and farming communities without broadband are at a significant disadvantage to peer communities with good broadband.

Broadband alone doesn’t automatically make these things better for everybody, and communities are learning that they must pursue all aspects of solving the digital divide to make a real difference. That means not just making better broadband available. It means having broadband at affordable rates. It means making sure that everybody has access to computers and devices and knows how to use them. Communities that make a concerted effort to tackle all of the aspects of good broadband should see improvements over time in some of the issues that trouble them.

This is not to say that broadband is a panacea, and that broadband alone can fix an ailing rural community. But bringing good, affordable broadband can make things better if the community fully embraces what good broadband can bring.