C. A. Le Dantec. What Technology Says. Ambidextrous, Spring 2010.

Abstract

This past March, a man used his mobile phone to take a picture of Michelle Obama serving food in a soup kitchen in Washington D.C. The immediate assumption from some conservative commentators was that the man taking the photo was homeless. The commentators further argued that a homeless person had no business lining up for a free meal if he could afford the luxury of a mobile phone. These comments opened up the debate of whether choosing between food and a mobile phone was choosing between necessity and luxury.