Two different metrics. On a global basis, the cell phone is ubiquitous. I have walked through the slums of Mumbai and marveled that even some of the world’s poorest people own and use cell phones (seemed like all of them). OK, not the latest iPhone, but some sort of mobile phone. These are available used from street vendors at very low (from a Western perspective) prices. SIM chips are inexpensive in most Asian countries and in some countries (Indonesia and the Philippines come to mind) Facebook is the primary way that the locals communicate with their relatives in their diaspora.
That said, few things have gotten my goat more than to see everyone except me pay for groceries with food stamps and then see well coifed/manicured, fur coated women get into their Mercedes and drive off.
OTOH, I play bridge at one of the hundreds of “Older Person” centers funded through NYC Department of the Aging (at least the ones I’m aware of are all well run and do a great job in providing complete daily social programs as well as free healthy/tasty meals). There is pretty much a “requirement” that you eat a pretty well designed catered lunch (I guess they get compensated when people eat). I feel a bit guilty so I throw a few bucks each time into the “donations” box (not really knowing who gets those, but hoping it’s the staff). One of the local banks runs a food/coat/toy drive each year that we donate to, but frankly, NYC has done such a complete job of providing multiple sources of healthy food for the poor and the elderly, augmented by religious organizations (generally with City funding) that there is no reason for anyone to go hungry.
This, along with a wide breadth of other social programs is, I guess, the product of having the highest taxes in the country, which I guess allows me to simultaneously b*tch about how high my taxes are and chastise those whose governments don’t provide enough to make sure their constituents are well fed and housed.
Jeff