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Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 8:09 am
by GORDON
I keep seeing people, usually millennials, saying how smart phones are no longer a luxury, but a need. I disagree with this unless their phone got wired into their brain to run their "Autonomic Nervous System" app, or something.
You don't stop breathing when your battery dies. It's a luxury, unless someone started changing the definitions of "Needs" and "luxuries" to make themselves look not so pathetic.
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 8:23 am
by thibodeaux
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 8:37 am
by Stranger
Total luxury. I still have the 4S its ancient, runs slow but does what I need. And all I use it for is to check Facebook and Twitter and a GPS for golf. Oh yeah and texting, but usually only my wife texts me, so really I don't need this thing.
But I would love to have that 6plus or whatever Leisher has. That thing would be perfect to play Hearthstone on. But again, luxury.
Edited By Stranger on 1441802401
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 8:57 am
by Leisher
For business users, it's a needed item.
For regular consumers, it's a luxury item.
However, I would listen to an argument from any consumer who uses it as their primary PC. It would still, technically, be a luxury item, but I could see it being a valuable tool. But...if they're just using it for Facebook and porn, then we're absolutely back to a luxury item.
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 9:27 am
by TheCatt
This just happened to me, so I'm going to say needed item.
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 9:28 am
by TheCatt
I voted need. I use it for work, to track my family, communicate with people, get information, etc.
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 9:39 am
by Leisher
TheCatt wrote:This just happened to me, so I'm going to say needed item.
Remember the days when you'd forget a book or magazine so you'd read the shampoo bottle?
Kids these days don't know how good they have it. 
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 11:15 am
by GORDON
TheCatt wrote:I voted need. I use it for work, to track my family, communicate with people, get information, etc.
I see all of those things as conveniences, not needs.
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 11:16 am
by GORDON
Leisher wrote:Remember the days when you'd forget a book or magazine so you'd read the shampoo bottle?
Kids these days don't know how good they have it.
Remember all of those people who used to snicker at us for taking the PC Gamer mag to the shitter?
You know all those fucking mother fuckers pull out their phones on the crapper, now.
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 11:16 am
by TheCatt
GORDON wrote:TheCatt wrote:I voted need. I use it for work, to track my family, communicate with people, get information, etc.
I see all of those things as conveniences, not needs.
Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
Edited By TheCatt on 1441811823
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 11:22 am
by GORDON
The only good reason I have ever heard... and it is still a fairly thin reason... for poor people to be given phones is that it helps them to receive calls for interviews if they are actually job hunting. Payphones are going away and yeah, you need to be contactable or you will never get on your feet. I get that.
But I don't think it needs to be a smart phone, a $5/month flip phone plan will work for that. You can polish your resume at the public library, you don't need to be able to play farmville and check facebook. No one is hiring with facebook. Hell, quite the contrary.
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 9:34 pm
by TPRJones
Total luxury. I still have the 4S its ancient, runs slow but does what I need.
So is it a luxury or a need for you? Make up your mind.
TheCatt wrote:I voted need. I use it for work, to track my family, communicate with people, get information, etc.
I see all of those things as conveniences, not needs.
If you would classify a house, a job to pay for the house, transportation to the job, etc et al as luxury items then I guess I would agree. I mean we could all live on the streets and eat rats and technically we don't need more than that.
But I for one have higher standards than that. I need an income, I need a residence, I need transportation to my job, and I need a communication device. I guess I could sort of get by on a flip phone, but I mostly use my smart phone for work email and flip phones just aren't very efficient at that.
Edited By TPRJones on 1441848977
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 9:36 pm
by GORDON
"Shelter" is a need.
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 9:40 pm
by TPRJones
Not really. You can survive in most climates without shelter. Shelter is a luxury outside deserts and excessively cold climates. If you define "need" as "necessary to keep breathing".
Edited By TPRJones on 1441849239
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 9:49 pm
by Alhazad
I don't have a smart phone and I'm as happy and in touch with friends and family as I want to be, so it sure ain't a specific need as far as I can see. I'd lump it in with the 'internet/the PC is a utility' argument, which is the only one I've heard that has any legs.
On the other hand, the history of human progress has been driven by stupid, selfish entitlement.
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 10:02 pm
by Malcolm
Perhaps the only practical things the comic strip "Garfield" ever taught me:
1) "Just when I think I've hit bottom, somebody throws me a shovel."
2) "Sloth is the mother of invention."
A smart phone isn't a need. Communication's a need. A smart phone is the latest way to do it.
Edited By Malcolm on 1441850632
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 10:28 pm
by GORDON
TPRJones wrote:Not really. You can survive in most climates without shelter. Shelter is a luxury outside deserts and excessively cold climates. If you define "need" as "necessary to keep breathing".
No, "shelter" is always counted as a "need."
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 11:02 pm
by GORDON
Malcolm wrote:A smart phone isn't a need. Communication's a need. A smart phone is the latest way to do it.
I could argue that communication is not a "need," plenty of people go out into the wilderness to avoid communication with other people.... and they still need shelter.
I kind of think "communication" is neither, it is just a thing.
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 11:25 pm
by Malcolm
GORDON wrote:Malcolm wrote:A smart phone isn't a need. Communication's a need. A smart phone is the latest way to do it.
I could argue that communication is not a "need," plenty of people go out into the wilderness to avoid communication with other people.... and they still need shelter.
I kind of think "communication" is neither, it is just a thing.
Man is a social creature. People who go off to live alone are ascetics or Unabombers. In the case of the former, they want to commune with god/nature/the universe/whatever; the latter with the voices in their head.
Edited By Malcolm on 1441855628
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 11:52 pm
by GORDON
I'll lean toward "need," since even the guy in the "One" video felt like he needed to communicate through headbanging.
But man can communicate without a cell phone, in fact he did it for quite a long time. A cell phone is still a convenience. Luxury.