You&#x27;re not quite getting my point.<p>Sometimes the difference between being ok and standing on your own feet and being downtrodden boils down to knowledge. You&#x27;re trying to move the goalposts on what &#x27;poor&#x27; means, and you keep having to move them because the Internet makes life so much easier that you have to actually be pretty much homeless before it&#x27;ll qualify for your definition of &#x27;poor&#x27;. People like the lady in my story, when they don&#x27;t have access to social contact and information, fall prey to psychopaths because they perceive they have no other options. The psychopaths take their money and their dignity and leave nothing left. Then sure, they&#x27;ll fit your definition of poor.<p>You know what was nice when I was a kid and we were bouncing around from apartment to apartment because my mom kept losing jobs? My Nintendo. My mom won the money to buy it from a radio contest and managed to convince a coworker to sell one to her. It was the only thing I wanted for Christmas that year.<p>Children, at least the ones I grew up with, are awful, status-conscious, hateful things. They&#x27;re much better now, but there was no love lost between me and my peers growing up. We bemoan the distractification of America, but I gotta tell you, I&#x27;m eminently grateful that I could escape those horrible little shits into a brightly colored world where practice and patience earned you reward after reward.<p>I had books, and read the ones I had plenty, but having that Nintendo was just the greatest thing in the world for me.<p>I&#x27;ve seen firsthand how technology curbs violent impulses, raises moods, defuses tense relationships. Distraction from your problems is a real, take-it-to-the-bank luxury when you have no control over your life.