When will "He has a smart phone, he is financially irresponsible" be over?

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PandaBear

PandaBear

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So yes, I am working in tech and I've done some smart phone development, so I'm biased and probably living the upper middle class lives.

But still, this is 2018 and you can buy a cheap used smart phone for $100, or $50 if you don't care about brand and will sign on the carrier's plan, and the cheapest unlimited data plan at throttled speed is around $20 in a family plan.

So why are we still calling people with an iPhone or whatever cheapest smart phone "financially well off and whinning"? It is much cheaper than the cheapest home internet (i.e. DSL) that starts at $40. It is like complaining about people spending money on water and electricity and gas and trash bill every month just because you can also play games on it (nobody complains about people using Blackberry or Palm Pilot back in the days).

Complaining about new car lease, I can understand, but new car is very different from a phone.

p.s. please don't pull in political discussion here, I'm just ranting about these ranting and anti-ranting on phones?
 
Never noticed that trend on here at all. Don't place so much emphasis on what others think. Take it with a grain of salt in other words. This is a forum where people can make their opinion() known. Kind of the nature of the beast.
 
Sounds like a first world problem. Turned in my phone when I retired. Haven't bought one yet. I have FIOS for stuff + land line.
 
Originally Posted by PandaBear
... But still, this is 2018 and you can buy a cheap used smart phone for $100,....


This is 2019....
 
Originally Posted by PandaBear
So why are we still calling people with an iPhone or whatever cheapest smart phone "financially well off and whinning"?

You'll have to go into more detail with this. I too am lost.

I'm pretty sure you meant "whining" and not "winning."
 
The phones really have always cost, inflation adjusted, what they cost today, give or take. What is missing is the carrier support. I used to be able to get an iPhone upgrade for my wife every two years for a couple hundred dollars. I just had to commit to a 24 month contract extension.

Today, no contracts, but the phones are $600-$1000

I know I was paying that through the carrier. It's just more visible now.

The consumer has more exposure to the actual price.
 
PandaBear, housing is ridiculous expensive in your neck of the woods. Many longtime home owners in Silicon Valley couldn't afford their own home if they had to buy it all over again.
 
I have THREE iPhones, my wife's 6 (old work phone, just had Apple do the $29 battery in December), my SE that cost me $219, and my retired 4 that's now basically a glorified iPod-still have a little in the bank! Wouldn't be caught dead paying $1K for a phone, most of the cars I've owned cost less than that.
 
Conspicuous consumption. If it wasn't a phone, it would be expensive jewelery, clothes, food/drink, cars, vacations etc. An expensive phone has sort of replaced an expensive watch as a status symbol that is visible at all times. It is also a lot more accessible, you can easily get a new flagship phone every year working part time in high school.

I'm a blue collar and my phone and watch get trashed to the point of being borderline consumables. Having a soft hands job where you can have nice gear and not ruin it is a status symbol.
 
Originally Posted by maxdustington
Conspicuous consumption. If it wasn't a phone, it would be expensive jewelery, clothes, food/drink, cars, vacations etc. An expensive phone has sort of replaced an expensive watch as a status symbol that is visible at all times. It is also a lot more accessible, you can easily get a new flagship phone every year working part time in high school.

I'm a blue collar and my phone and watch get trashed to the point of being borderline consumables. Having a soft hands job where you can have nice gear and not ruin it is a status symbol.


1st post to figure it out and it's on page 2.

Spending all kinds of time with one's nose in their phone is regarded as "lazy", so someone thinking that Sally could get a 2nd job because look at how much time she spends staring at that thing, is justifiable.

Back in the 1960s the observation was "Look at that poor guy in a tarpaper shack with a TV antenna on the roof. If he can afford a TV, why am I paying him food stamps?"

The sad reality is, is TV makes a "good" cheap babysitter for kids young enough to be pacified by it, but not old enough to run a household by themselves, while their parents are working.
 
Originally Posted by maxdustington
Conspicuous consumption. If it wasn't a phone, it would be expensive jewelery, clothes, food/drink, cars, vacations etc. An expensive phone has sort of replaced an expensive watch as a status symbol that is visible at all times. It is also a lot more accessible, you can easily get a new flagship phone every year working part time in high school.

I'm a blue collar and my phone and watch get trashed to the point of being borderline consumables. Having a soft hands job where you can have nice gear and not ruin it is a status symbol.
You need an Otterbox Defender-I've broken numerous cases, but I've yet to break a phone in one. Short of running it over, anyway.
 
Originally Posted by Mr Nice
Maybe people on food stamps, SNAP, WIC and Gov assistance have an iPhone.... but have no money to feed their kids.


This is exactly what I'm talking about.

Many people on section 8 are working too (i.e. not making a lot of money). Phone and data plans are cheap relatively speaking, and almost as common as internet connection (cost more), compare to things like food and shelter.
 
Originally Posted by bullwinkle
You need an Otterbox Defender-I've broken numerous cases, but I've yet to break a phone in one. Short of running it over, anyway.
My phone is much sexier in the nude, they are way too thick (my phone and wallet together are around an inch thick). I don't like how they end up abrading the phone anyway, and if you take them apart too many times to clean it, the case itself wears out.

I have been getting a new phone every two years, because I break the screen. By that time the charge port, headphone jack or buttons are worn anyway.
 
Originally Posted by PandaBear

So why are we still calling people with an iPhone or whatever cheapest smart phone "financially well off and whinning"?


never heard of this.
 
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