Comments on: Petty Cruelties

By: Max

Max — Thu, 26 Dec 2013 10:00:36 +0000

In the UK, to claim jobless benefits, you need to be able to show you are available for work. In their defininition, in order to be available for work, you have to be contactable by phone. It therefore becomes compulsory for jobless people to have a mobile phone, or they are sanctioned for not being available for work.
The cost of owning and operating a mobile phone has never been factored into the rate of jobseekers allowance.

By: Isaebl Espinal

Isaebl Espinal — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 19:52:06 +0000

Good for you, Rachel.

I’ve seen similar stories. Also this article: http://techland.time.com/2013/07/09/a-homeless-man-and-his-blackberry/

“The idea of a homeless man with an iPhone, but no job or roof over his head, is discomfiting, mostly because poverty is perhaps one of the last bastions of unexamined prejudice in the U.S. Few would argue that people of different races or genders shouldn’t own phones, but it’s still common to temper sympathy for the homeless or destitute if they have a phone.

Even the most progressive areas of the country can show a certain callousness to what poverty should look and feel like. In San Francisco, for example, city supervisor Malia Cohen sparked controversy when she posted a picture of a homeless man on Facebook, talking on a phone while huddled underneath a freeway overpass. “This kind of made me laugh,” she commented, which lead to an uproar and eventual removal of the picture.”

By: Matthew Smith

Matthew Smith — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 08:44:55 +0000

I work as an agency driver and you need a phone to get work — they will need to get hold of you at any time, including while you’re out shopping and while you’re at work, otherwise someone else will get the booking. I’ve got several computers, a tablet and a smartphone, and if I had to sell any of them then the smartphone would be the last thing to go, if at all, because I’d need it to get any employment – I can store my CV, email, send timesheets, keep a calendar etc on there, and payphones are being removed as more and more people have mobiles. Some people simply have no clue.