The Depaul Trust's iHobo application is causing quite a stir. It has been designed to raise awareness about youth homelessness and is proving popular. The challenge of iHobo is to provide food, warmth and support to a virtual homeless young person and in return receive regular alerts about their health and feelings. Ask young people if the iHobo application is a good idea. Does it raise awareness of homelessness? Have any young people downloaded it? Ask them to talk about their experience. Did they find it annoying? Fun? Stressful? How do they feel about homelessness now?
In the application, the homeless young person wears a hoodie, takes drugs and throws litter. Consider whether this stereotypes young homeless people. Are they all like this? Could it have a negative effect on how people perceive homeless young people? Why?
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