Connect Me with My Phone

A couple of years ago I worked in a social centre for the homeless and I was approached by a client who needed help to install a navigator to work in a taxi (for other tasks he used a regular phone). He was not the only client who had problems with gadgets. Diprevised groups of the population have their own peculiarities of digital technology use practices and attitudes towards it. A series of studies has been devoted to identifying these characteristics. The first article on digital practices and attitudes to digital technologies among homeless and prison released people is available in my profile.

Digital technologies have become an integral part of life, and mastering digital technologies has become part of the adaptation and social rehabilitation process.

For example, In Australia in 2014 study by Justine Humphryfound high levels of mobile phone ownership among homeless people: "Smartphones were held by 77% of participants, 8% feature phones and 15% had basic phones. Respondents identified using their phone to contact emergency services (52%), support services (49%) and medical assistance (48%) as the most important uses of their phones after contacting friends and family. The Internet played a lesser role for contacting emergency services and for safety but was identified as more important for finding accommodation, employment and for maintaining professional ties, with 47% using the Internet to look for a job, 33% for being contacted by employers and 33% for learning new skills."

In England in 2015 study by "Lemons and Crane" ( Jeremy Swain ,