I have worked with homeless men, women, and children here and next to the clothes on their back and food, a cell phone is one of the most essential things to their existence. When they fill out a job application one of the first questions is, "What is your phone number so we can call you if we have an opening?" It is the primary means of contacting the various community support agencies for food, medical care, and emergencies. Even the federal WIC (Women Infants & Children) programs hand out smartphones and vouchers for minutes to poor women with children as essential to the health and wellbeing of the mother and children.
Many years ago homeless agencies, shelters,
etc. used to hand out pagers but that was only marginally satisfactory because it required around the clock telephone staffing at the agencies to handle the calls and that also depended on working public telephones — have you seen a working public phone recently? The agencies long ago switched to handing out cell phones. Many agencies (most?) also hand out vouchers for talk time.
The smartphones used by the homeless seem to have their genesis in one of three places...
- A last hangover from better times (it is truly frightening how many hard working middle class men and women are one paycheck from being on the street)
- The homeless individual has scrimped and saved to buy a smartphone as communications and to use to search the internet for jobs and resources. The half dozen computers at the shelter don't go far when shared among 350 shelter residents)
- They are older model hand-me-downs from donors or were purchased at bargain prices from Goodwill or other similar "stores".
As for the iPads and MBPs, many school districts are issuing them to students as early as the first grade or even pre-school. In the end they are far more cost effective than printed text books and teacher's aids. In poorer areas schools often "loan" them to the parents or caregivers so they can keep in touch with what their children are doing in school. And don't forget older iPads and MBPs often end up at Goodwill also.
There is a strong and growing body of evidence that devices like smartphones, iPads, MBPs,
etc. can be useful tools helping lift people out of poverty.
FWIW, I have been surprised by how many homeless I have encountered wearing really good, well made, and very expen$ive shoes or boots they have saved up to purchase. Given they may be on their feet 18 to 20 hours a day, every day, that does not appear to be an extravagance. It is more like smart survival.
