June 5, 2009
The Homeless and the Internet
I have often argued that socio-economics defines who uses the internet, but this sort of blows a hole in my little theory:
“You don’t need a TV. You don’t need a radio. You don’t even need a newspaper,” says Mr. Pitts, an aspiring poet in a purple cap and yellow fleece jacket, who says he has been homeless for two years. “But you need the Internet.”
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But this is so straightforward, Andrew. Just imagine yourself, now, homeless. Would your interests shift so radically? I would imagine that you would actually experience need for the internet as you had never done before. Homeless people are not a static socio economic class. Most homeless people were not born of homeless parents, and in America, they come from incredibly varied backgrounds.
I guess, when thinking about the homeless here, I was more interested in the economics than the sociological angle. What fascinates and excites me is just how easy it is now for anybody to buy a $200 laptop and skitch off another’s wireless.
Perhaps this is a little unrelated, but my first thought was, “would On the Road be different if Kerouac had a netbook?”
People in the very lowest socioeconomic groups tend to rely on public libraries for Internet access.
There is a great nonprofit here in Saint Louis called Byteworks. It teaches kids how to use computers and, if they complete all the classes, they get their own computer at the end. Most of the kids in the area do not come from anything close to an affluent background and have little opportunity to use a computer outside of the public library. I can only hope there are more places like this around the country.
That’s a fantastic idea. I’m going to have to figure out how I go about opening a place like that here, if one doesn’t already exist.
great idea.
“It’s really a symbol in today’s society of being OK and connected,” [Lisa Stringer] says.
Setting aside high-falutin’ discussion about what a ‘symbol’ is, if you go with the commonly understood sense of it — as it is used here, I’d say it is more than a symbol. It does offer an important way to remain (or become) OK and connected even when you are nearly off the grid. I can tell you that from experience.
Yes, and you may not need an address to get a job, if you have a mobile phone and an email address.
This ‘ok and connected’ talk sounds like someone who doesn’t have that sense of need for the internet to be their portal of okness and connection. There’s nothing symbolic about living, when it’s raw.
“People in the very lowest socioeconomic groups tend to rely on public libraries for Internet access.”
True which is why libraries in some places are virtually unusable nowadays by the non-homeless.
Very sad.
That’s how I do it…and there were other people in the library who were using the net too, also homeless. People walk by a lot of the homeless in large cities they would only recognize that half of them are homeless. We don’t always look it. You would be VERY surprised. People who are in recovery and have been for awhile, people who have jobs or who are trying to find one, people who love God, people who are truly good people- are homeless. Please don’t judge us. We have and are fulfilling our purpose in this existence and I assure you we do make positive impacts in this world. Whether or not others choose to turn a blind eye in ignorance is their choice. Its not always easy to stay clean, homeless shelters are not safe places all the time and are sometimes even more dangerous than the streets. We do have people who care about us and of course we are going to stay in contact with them in any means possible. If you have a phone and an email address yes, there is more of a chance we can get a job which I would hope others would want us to achieve and use the tools necessary to start rising above our circumstances. And so the only reason I can see some one thinking it is ‘sad’ is it they are not capable of offering compassion, love, patience and tolerance in a temporary situation, such as visiting a library, which is more sad than our situation. When it comes to finding happiness despite circumstances it is easier to find happiness on the streets a lot of times than it is in suburbia. And when living is ‘raw’ it can be more fulfilling than having a nine to five with 2.5 and a nice SUV in your driveway.