Even the Federal government, typically far behind the curve of everyone else on most things related to the public, is beginning to realize the enormous potential of social media in helping raise awareness, put access to services at the fingertips of those who need them, and provide information and resources that help improve the odds that a person will be able to extricate themselves from the street and the poverty -however that may be induced - that keeps them there.
One point I'd like to make in order to help dispel some ignorance around this issue that I see crop up with frightening regularity is the idea that those on the street are somehow either too dumb or too poor to be able to have a phone, and especially a smartphone. Typically these kinds of comments arise when there is a photo somewhere - in a newspaper, for example - that shows someone experiencing homelessness talking on or holding a phone. Generally, the comments are something along the lines of "if they've got a phone, then they should have a job and home," or "if they've got a phone then they can't be too poor."
So here's the deal. First, there are several programs available in certain areas and regions of the US that provide free phones to people in poverty, homeless or not. These phones, while generally low-end devices, come with a set level of minutes (between 70 and 300, typically)and those minutes renewed each month. Contrary to the grossly ignorant complaints about these phones being a "luxury, not a necessity," phones are hugely important for folks in dire, sometimes critical need for survival and help them connect with available services; locate employment; provide a callback number to potential employers that isn't immediately suspect (local mission and shelter numbers are usually quickly recognized and when used to on applications, which are then roundfiled); connect them with family and friends who may be able to help, offer hope, or offer assistance; and connect with emergency services when situations become dangerous or untenable due to inclement weather.
Two quick examples that help dispel the myth and smash the ignorance: 1. "JoJo" earns about $670 a month on SSDI, far too little for him to remain housed for any length of time, so he lives in the woods near Nashville. He's well known in the areas he treks, and does odd jobs at various shops and stores to earn a little extra cash and some favors (one gas station gives him a pack of cigarettes if he sweeps off the area around the pumps, another opens a storage room when the weather is bad so he has a place to ride it out). Folks often find JoJo hanging at the local McDonalds or Waffle House charging his smartphone and sipping coffee, and If ever there was a person who "looks" homeless, JoJo fits the stereotypical image, as he hasn't shaved in probably two decades, doesn't care much about the condition of his clothes and replaces them by purchasing new stuff at Goodwill or the Salvation Army Thrift when his current clothes are either so dirty or in such tatters that he can't stand them any longer. I can almost guarantee you that when the ignorant and uninformed see him sitting in a booth at MickyD's, sipping his coffee and surfing away on his T-Mobile powered smartphone, they immediately jump to the wrong conclusions, since most of the time, JoJo is either dealing with his numerous health issues, finding places to work part-time, or chatting with friends and family around the region, from Tennessee to Florida. He pays his own bill, buys the phone he wants, and if you know anything at all about SSDI, you know he's using the money he earned himself.
"Jimmy" is a Gulf War veteran who has been struggling with a number of combat-related health conditions for years. He has been fighting with an increase in his benefits with the VA - not an uncommon situation for many veterans - and has been surviving on a pittance while living in a cubbyhole near some railroad tracks in South Nashville. He works day labor 2-3 days a week and gets most of his supplies from a veteran service center that provides clothing and basic necessities/toiletries. Jimmy also looks like the stereotypical person many of the uninformed think of when they think of someone homeless, yet Jimmy is fiercely independent, a Godfearing and honest man to a fault, and lives in shame every day that he is unable to take care of himself due to his multiple injuries and illnesses suffered while defending his country. I helped Jimmy get a free phone after he missed an opportunity for an early appointment at the VA, and he missed it because although the VA caseworker had a cancellation that created an early opening for him, we all were unable to notify him in time to make the appointment.
So the next time you see someone you think is homeless standing on a corner using their phone, rather than become righteously indignant, be thankful, because the fact is, the more we connect our folks on the street with the community, the more likely it is we'll be able to get them back into the community, and the less likely it is we'll have to continue paying for the costs incurred from a life on the streets.
Homeless find support on Facebook, Twitter
7:57 PM, Aug 26, 2012
Getty Images
USA TODAY
Here’s something everyone can “like”: Social media fosters community, even for those who don’t have a home.A new study finds social media like Twitter and Facebook tear down economic and geographic barriers to help homeless people connect to their families and support networks.
The study was conducted by Art Jipson, a sociologist and criminologist at the University of Dayton, a Catholic school. Jipson says the findings present a new potential for Catholic social teaching.
“Catholic social teaching expresses a concern about’a communal, social nature’ where’we are called to reach out and build relationships of love and justice,’” Jipson said.
He cites “Rerum Novarum,” Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical on the duties of government and citizens in creating a just society, as the context and foundation of his work.
Jipson’s study, “Shall I Paint You a Protest: Marxist Analysis of Social Media,” was presented August 17 at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in Denver.
He found that homeless people leverage free services like Facebook and Twitter to find food, shelter and job services, and to keep up with family and friends. All they need is a smart phone or public library with Internet access.
“People think of Facebook as this billion-dollar entity with stock offerings that sells gobs of advertising,” Jipson said. “But, on Facebook, the’least of our brothers,’ as it says in the Bible, have equal access to all of Facebook’s offerings and establish a sense of belonging that is based on more than possessions.”
Jipson created his study after a homeless man won a prize on Jipson’s weekly radio show. When Jipson hand-delivered the prize, a CD, he discovered the man used his smart phone to stream radio and connect with people on Facebook.
For the study, Jipson spoke with 14 homeless people about their social media usage.
“Why can’t I be on Facebook?” asked one subject in the study. “I have as much right to that as anyone else. Just because I am homeless does not mean that I don’t care about this stuff, you know? My family is on Facebook. My friends are on Facebook. People who care about me are on Facebook.”Another interviewee said social media offered a judgment-free place to connect: “No one on the’net cares if I didn’t get a shower yesterday or smell some. They don’t judge me, you know? … I feel accepted. I am accepted.”
Sister Mary Ann Walsh, director of media relations for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, noted that advances in communications technology have created a more equitable sharing of the world’s resources, from the invention of the printing press to radio and television to the Internet.
Along the way, religion has made its mark on each platform, she said. The first book off Johannes Guttenberg’s press was the Bible. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen hosted “The Catholic Hour” radio show and went on to host television programs.
New generations of Catholics can watch Sheen’s sermons on YouTube or download his radio addresses as podcasts. Or they can hear them over the USCCB website.
All these experiences, Jipson said, foster community.
“We assume that we have nothing in common with people who are different from us — by whatever means we might measure that difference,” Jipson said. “But a study like this demonstrates that we have more in common than we do in difference.”
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