Digital Lifeline: Homeless People and the Internet

Boing Boing points us to a very interesting Wall Street Journal Article that explores how homeless people are using the Internet. Corey Doctorow also predicts that within five years, network access will be declared a universal human right. Lots of great brain food all around.

The WSJ reports:

Like most San Franciscans, Charles Pitts is wired. Mr. Pitts, who is 37 years old, has accounts on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. He runs an Internet forum on Yahoo, reads news online and keeps in touch with friends via email. The tough part is managing this digital lifestyle from his residence under a highway bridge.

“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.”

Mr. Pitts’s experience shows how deeply computers and the Internet have permeated society. A few years ago, some people were worrying that a “digital divide” would separate technology haves and have-nots. The poorest lack the means to buy computers and Web access. Still, in America today, even people without street addresses feel compelled to have Internet addresses.

Wall Street Journal: “On the Street and On Facebook: The Homeless Stay Wired”