Already 3 times this week I have received off the cuff, snobby remarks about the fact that I have an iPhone 5 and not a 6. Just sitting in a meeting today I looked around and everyone has the newest phone. I wear it as a badge of honor. I have not been sucked into material consumerism and will be FIRE before I hit 50. I even bought the phone used.. ha ha!
It's crazy that people care about such meaningless shit so much.
You should hang around teenagers. Cel phones are absolutely the #1 status symbols in their lives -- I get so frustrated with my students. Many of them are
literally addicted to their phones. It's really sad. I've seen kids ridiculed because their phones are shut off for non-payment; yet they still carry them because being seen without a phone is social suicide. Between classes (they only have 6 minutes!) 90% of our kids plug in music /headphones. I refuse to hold a conversation with a kid while he's listening to music, but they don't see that as a rude thing. Go chaperone a school dance; at any given point, 20% of the kids are sitting at the tables using their phones -- who are they texting? Isn't everyone at the dance? Oh, and the #1 crime at our high school? Phone theft.
Yet another reason not to own a cellphone at all. . .
I don't think cel phones are a bad a choice -- but spending $$$ on the fanciest model and making it the center of your life (or even noticing the model someone else carries) is stupid. From my perspective, I see a number of good reasons to have a mobile phone:
- We have family out of town, and back when we had a land line and paid long distance calls (remember those?) we used to have a bill of about $120/month and two of us used it. No, cutting back on family communication was never an option. My husband and my phones cost a little less than that per month ... of course, we have two kids, too, so the total bill is more.
- When we had a land line and long distance, we always waited 'til after 5:00 or weekends to make our calls as cheaply as possible. Now we can call whenever we want.
- Yes, you can get the same services with other devices, but the mobile phone brings all the functions together in one compact machine ... and, as stated above, it costs about the same as we used to pay for a land line and long distance. And they work anywhere, and we all have a story about an emergency with a broken-down car, etc.
- Note that none of the above have to do with "smart phones". Smart phones may be handy (for coupons, for checking prices at other stores, for sending a picture of a shirt to your daughter before you buy it), but none of those are actual NEEDS for everyday life.