My Response to a Blog about Our Food Pantry App
I liked seeing feedback from my classmates on Hannah, Luca, Olivia and I's project. I am responding to Andrew Woo's Blog.
I totally understand your concerns with food pantry clientele having a lack of continual access to the website. However, that is simply not the case in America in 2023. An article called Why so Many Homeless People Have Smartphones (And How They're Making Social Isolation Worse) mentions that Lifeline is a governmental program for low-income people that gives them free/reduced costs smartphones with unlimited WiFi/LTE access, stating "Federal Communications Commission (FCC) implemented the Lifeline program in 1984 to help low-income households with what was deemed an essential service: phone access... now, many low-income people qualify for free smart phones with free or very cheap service plans, complete with unlimited talk and text and free data.". In addition, another article from the Pew Research Center states that in 2021, 76% of people with an income with 30,000% or less have a smartphone.
It is a common misconception that people that can't afford neccessities like healthcare, a house, constant supply of food wouldn't have something like an iPhone, an object that we all associate with personal entertainment and luxury, like spending hours scrolling on TikTok. Even, governmental officials currently make that assumption as well, taking having an iPhone as a sign that one is either financial stable or irresponsible. In this article The luxury of telling poor people that iPhones are a luxury, it mentions how Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) boldly stated “Americans have choices, and they've got to make a choice,.... So rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love and want to go spend hundreds of dollars on that, maybe they should invest in their own health care.”. However, we forget that these one-time expensive purchases are much more affordable than long-term money eaters like food security. In the context of healthcare, "Even the most expensive iPhone is a tiny fraction of what most people pay for health care every year. Giving up a $769 iPhone would not make health care any more affordable in a meaningful sense. To truly cover medical costs, a typical American would need to give up 23 iPhone 7 Pluses, every two years.".
If so many low-income people have iPhones already, it makes me wonder why there aren't more apps trying to ease the struggles they face on the market right now. It is because we often forget about the silent majority, thinking that the only people with internet presence are as privileged as us. With these ideas in mind, making a consumer-focused food pantry app became all the more important to us, because even if not everyone can use it, it would make the lives of the people that can much better. Something's always better than nothing.