This book examines how mobile phones and the internet have become a vital part of the everyday lives of people experiencing homelessness. But the access mobile phones provide is costly, insecure and limited, producing an experience of being precariously connected. Drawing on findings of research conducted with over one hundred young people, families and adults experiencing homelessness in Australia and the United States, this book analyses homelessness as a mediated condition and explores the underpinning processes that shape digital disparities. It contributes to scholarship on mobile communication and inequality, highlighting the digital patterns, issues and difficulties of a group disproportionately affected by service reform and developments in digital citizenship, smart cities and algorithmic governance.
Author(s): Justine Humphry
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 221
City: Cham
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Contents
1: Introduction: Meanings, Mediations, and Mobilities
Trends and Definitions of Homelessness
Mediating Home(lessness)
Homelessness, Poverty, and Precarity
Mobile Communication, the Digital Divide and Digital Inequalities
Researching Mobile Communication and Homelessness
Overview of Chapters
References
2: Mobile Lifelines in the Lives of People Who Are Homeless
From Luxury to Lifeline
A Safety Device
Parenting and the Versatility of Apps
Young People, Mobile Communication, and Social Network Sites
Mobile Entertainment for ‘Screening Out’ Homelessness
Older and Chronically Homeless
‘No other way to call’
The ‘Risk Society’ and Mobile Dependency
Conclusion
References
3: ‘Second-Class’ Access: Smartphone Dependence and the Mobile Marketplace
‘I just have my phone’: The Rise of Smartphone Dependence
Cheaper, Older, Underpowered
Prepaid and Lock-In Contracts, Exit Fees, and Bill Shock
Consumer Confusion and Exploitative Retail Practices
Mobile-Only Means ‘Second-Class’ Access
Conclusion
References
4: Bearing the Burden: Digitisation of Government, Health, and Welfare
From Lifeline to Leash in the Context of ‘Digital First’
Online Services and Connectivity Costs
Connectivity Strategies and ‘Dependable Instability’
Datafication Impacts, Risks, and Harms
Digital Identification
Commoditisation of Data
Data Profiling and Targeting
Conclusion
References
5: Precarious Mobilities: Homelessness and Digital Access in Urban Space
Homelessness and Mediated Communication ‘on the Move’
Cities as Sites of Connectivity
LinkNYC and Its Use by New York City’s ‘Street Homeless’
Underserved and Over-policed
Differential Mobilities and Spatial Exclusions
Survival Infrastructuring
From Survival Infrastructuring to Justice in Cities
References
6: Policing Homelessness: Smart Cities and Algorithmic Governance
Smart Cities and Urban Policing
How ‘Smart’ is LinkNYC?
The Data–Connectivity Exchange
LinkNYC and Policing
Police and Law Enforcement
Predictive Policing
Is Using LinkNYC a Choice?
Smart and Algorithmic Governance
Algorithmically Disconnected from Welfare
Conclusion
References
7: Conclusion: Is There Anyone Home?
Mediating Homelessness
Precarious Connectivity
From Lifeline to Leash
Is Digital Inclusion Enough?
Conclusion
Limitations and Further Research
References
Index
