At around 1:00 PM on December 14, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai led his colleagues in a historic, 3-2 party-line vote to repeal net neutrality. At around 1:05 PM, the memes started.

For a generation that has transferred from MySpace to Facebook to Instagram and beyond and that speaks in emoticons more fluently than in English, it was the only reasonable reaction to the demise of the Internet as we know it. But what is net neutrality, and why is the repeal important? And is this really the death of the Internet?

First, it’s important to understand what the FCC is and how it is structured. The Federal Communications Commission regulates interstate communications. In the present day, that includes everything from television to the internet. Five commissioners appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate lead the Commission. Right now, three of the five commissioners are Republicans and two are Democrats.

Net neutrality is intended to protect consumers from unfair pricing. Providers are not permitted to charge different rates for different content or speeds. For example, a provider like Armstrong is not allowed to deliberately slow your service to Netflix in order to encourage you to give up on streaming and resubscribe to their cable service.

Additionally, they cannot provide Internet content in packages. A common example is selling an “entertainment package” that includes social media and then selling an “information package” that includes news websites and educational content.

With the repeal of net neutrality, providers will be able to do just that. While several providers have claimed that they will not change their products in the near future, it is unlikely to remain that way for long. For many of us, this is a minor inconvenience. Instead of getting our Internet in one package, we will have to pay more for two individual packages to cover the websites we use on the regular.

However, there are larger implications.

One of the tenets of our democracy is access to information. In the time of the Founding Fathers, it was providing education in rural areas that had never had a schoolhouse before and working to educate even the poorest civilians of the country. Now, that job is more complex. In a time when fake stories run rampant, digital literacy is more important than ever before. For a family struggling financially, the choice between education and entertainment is nearly impossible to make.

In our increasingly divided country, allowing citizens access to opposing viewpoints is the only way to facilitate discussion across the aisle. If we allow corporations to control what we see, the divide will only grow.

Want to do something?

Congress still has a little over a month to pass a joint resolution of disapproval, which would help reverse the decision. Our representative to the House is Keith Rothfus, and our two senators are Bob Casey and Pat Toomey.

Use their contact information, listed below. Phone calls are usually prioritized over electronic messages, and if you write a letter, handwritten is best.

Representative Keith Rothfus, Republican

Online Form Submission

Rep. Rothfus

1205 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515

(202) 225-2065

Senator Pat Toomey, Republican

Online Form Submission

Sen. Toomey

248 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

(202) 224-4254

Senator Bob Casey, Democrat

Online Form Submission

Sen. Casey

393 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-6324

The only way to prove that the Internet generation is worth more than a few memes is to get out there and make our voices heard.