There was an uproar recently when homeless people snapped photographs of Michelle Obama while she was volunteering at Miriam's Kitchen, a facility that provides services for the homeless in Washington, D.C.
Some raised the question, "If they are so poor, why do they have a cellphone?" The answer has to do with the homeless needing a way to stay in touch with the rest of the world -- social service workers, current or possible employers and more. Even the poorest among us, it seems, need technology.
The Washington Post reported:
"'Having a phone isn't even a privilege anymore -- it's a necessity,' said Rommel McBride, 50, who spent about six years on the streets before recently being placed in a city housing program. He has had a mobile phone for a year. 'A cellphone is the only way you can call to keep up with your food stamps, your housing application, your job. When you're living in a shelter or sleeping on the streets, it's your last line of communication with the world.'
"Advocates who work with the District's homeless estimate that 30 percent to 45 percent of the people they help have cellphones. A smaller number have e-mail accounts, and some blog to chronicle their lives on the streets.
"When Laura Zeilinger, deputy director of program operations for the D.C. Department of Human Services, conducted housing assessments of a couple of thousand people living on city streets last summer, she was surprised by how many gave her cellphone numbers and e-mail addresses."
The story pointed out that because the homeless don't generally have post office mailboxes from which to receive mail, they often use public library computers to send and receive e-mail.
A rule I live by: When you see a technology...
