President Obama thinks it matters:

“[Digital inclusion] isn’t just about faster Internet or fewer dropped calls. It’s about connecting every part of America to the digital age. It’s about a rural community in Iowa or Alabama where farmers and small business owners will be able to sell their products all over the world. It’s about a firefighter who can download the design of a burning building onto a handheld device; a student who can take classes with a digital textbook; or a patient who can have face-to-face video chats with her doctor.”
--State of the Union Address, January 25, 2011

Julius Genachowski, FCC Chairman, thinks it matters:

“Broadband is a platform to create today’s high-performance America—an America of universal opportunity and unceasing innovation, an America that can continue to lead the global economy, an America with world-leading, broadband-enabled health care, education, energy, job training, civic engagement, government performance and public safety.”
--National Broadband Plan

Read more about why digital inclusion matters:

• Why Does Broadband Matter?: Asserting that “broadband access and adoption change communities,” TechSoup links to studies and resources that make the case.
  
• Societal Impacts of Digital Exclusion and Digital inclusion through the lens of local government: Two posts by Ron Carlee, COO of ICMA (International City/County Management Association), addressing the government perspective on the importance of advancing digital connectivity.
  
• The Yellow Brick Road to Digital Inclusion: Articulating the “why” of digital inclusion is essential to getting entire communities on board.