This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
iNflation: Americans Spend Less On Food, Movies To Pay For Soaring Cell Phone Obsession
As America's mania with cell phones as an aspirational status fad hits new records every day, this borderline addiction to "thinner, longer" mobility and a sub-1 year upgrade cycle, is starting to extract its pound of flesh: average cell phone bills that have risen by over 10% in one year (from $1,110 to $1,226), even as total household spending rose by half, or $67. In a word: iNflation. It gets worse. As the WSJ reports, "spending on food away from home fell by $48, apparel spending declined by $141, and entertainment spending dropped by $126." Like a true faux status/gadget junkie, Americans don't care what other discretionary items are cut, even such "American staples" as eating out and watching movies, just so they can keep up with all the other Joneses sporting a brand new iPhone X+1, while everyone's credit card bill just gets larger and larger, and the collective wealth evaporates.
More than half of all U.S. cellphone owners carry a device like the iPhone, a shift that has unsettled household budgets across the country. Government data show people have spent more on phone bills over the past four years, even as they have dialed back on dining out, clothes and entertainment—cutbacks that have been keenly felt in the restaurant, apparel and film industries.
The tug of war is only going to get more intense. Wireless carriers are betting they can pull bills even higher by offering faster speeds on expensive new networks and new usage-based data plans. The effort will test the limits of consumer spending as the draw of new technology competes with cellphone owners' more rudimentary needs and desires.
So far, telecom is winning. Labor Department data released Tuesday show spending on phone services rose more than 4% last year, the fastest rate since 2005. During and after the recession, consumers cut back broadly on their spending.
...
Families with more than one smartphone are already paying much more than the average—sometimes more than $4,000 a year—easily eclipsing what they pay for cable TV and home Internet.
None of this is surprising. The real question is how much more discretionary spending can the US cell phone junkie forego before there is a collectivist yell of revulsion, and the mobile PDA fad is as dad as, well, all those other fads that came before it?
Melinda Tuers, an accounting clerk at a high school in Redlands, Calif., said she already pays close to $300 a month for her family's four smartphones. She and her husband have cut back on dining out, special events and concerts to make room for the bigger phone bill.
Her household may soon have an even bigger hole to fill. Two of the Tuers's smartphones are on unlimited data plans, meaning she pays the same price no matter how much she surfs the Web. She has taken advantage of that freedom to watch TV shows such as "Covert Affairs" and "Grey's Anatomy" on her phone almost every day.
Ms. Tuers figures that she and her husband would need to scrape together more than $1,000 to pay full price for two new high-end phones or settle for one of Verizon's tiered-data plans, which she fears would cost a lot more given her video habit.
For those who look for iNflation and can't find it, perhaps they should look deeper:
Carriers fully expect people to use more data and pay more for it. "Speed entices more usage," Verizon Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said at an investor conference last week, according to a transcript. "The more data they consume, the more they will have to buy."
Some question where the money for that data will come from. Americans spent $116 more a year on telephone services in 2011 than they did in 2007, according to the Labor Department, even as total household expenditures increased by just $67.
Meanwhile, spending on food away from home fell by $48, apparel spending declined by $141, and entertainment spending dropped by $126. The figures aren't adjusted for inflation.
The increase in telephone-services spending masks an even higher rise in cellphone bills, because people have been paying less for landline service.
Some people are very confused:
That trend is evident in the home of 40-year-old Scott Boedy, a neighborhood service representative for a cable company.
Mr. Boedy said he and his wife now pay $200 a month for cellphone service, up by about $50 from early last year, even as they have managed to cut spending on groceries by shopping at discount chain Aldi and on "fun stuff" by going out to dinner and movies less often.
Looking over the family budget on Sunday night, Mr. Boedy said, his wife marveled at how much of it was going to the phone company.
"It stinks," Mr. Boedy said. "I guess it's the cost of modern-day America now."
No Scott, it isn't. It's the consequence of your choices. But as long as one has the ability to do what every other borderline insolvent entity in the world does, namely to "charge it", sweep it under the rug, and hope to never have to repay it, this confusion will continue.
And now excuse us while we swipe our corporate credit card to buy that gold Vertu phone we have had our eyes on for so long: surely it will make everyone else think so highly of us...
»
- 21111 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
There was a time when you had to drop a 90% silver dime in a phone to make a call.
apparently, there was a good reason for that. Who'd a thunk it?
$2.46 is the total melt value for the 1946-1964 silver dime.
The best $2.457 charged on credit...
Not even safe to ride a motorcycle anymore, with these fucking navel gazers behind the wheel.
More than once we have seen these texters completely cross the median strip.
No matter. There is no driver suspension for head on collisions.
Insurance takes care of it. They can be on the road in a couple of days.
Mothers Against Distracted Drivers
My StarTac still works fine
Louis CK explains everything on Conan.
Consequences?
When someone in our home lies, he loses his cell phone. He can earn it back by being honest for one month.
Fuck it HH. Just tell your wife to give the goddam phone back to you now or you're not go'in to work tomorrow.
Hah! It's actually a good thing. We either get charged fewer minutes, or told fewer lies.
Heads, we win!
Tails, we win!
Don't tell Krugman about this article.
His head might explode if he realizes there is actually a very real opportunity cost in all spending, and the broken window fallacy means the iPhone WON'T "stimulate" the economy by 50bps.
I realize I'm pretty cynical, but maybe I have just cause to be cynical. I'm a generation X-er, so I obviously have a different perspective on the large and swift change in the intersection of social media, social interaction & technology than a Generation Y-er may have.
One thing I've noticed in the "real world" that relates to this article and comments from others is that teens and tweens are definitely appearing more socially reclusive with each and every further market share point of smart phone/data plan saturation.
As an example, whenever we've been around adults who have tween/teen offspring, the overwhelming majority of these offspring are near-autistic in terms of their behavior & social interaction, preferring to hold a smart phone 5 inches from their face and text/search/game, while the elders carry on their conversation. In some cases, these offspring may only utter a dozen or less words, often in grunt-like sounds, over the course of hours.
As an additional observation, these offspring typically are holding a 72 ounce caffeinated energy drink and/or a highly processed, edible, often luminescent, food-like substance in their lap as they carry on with their intense & zen-like one-ness with their iGadget.
I fear the next generation of Americans to take over the reigns of governance will be even more emotionally detached, socially awkward & narrow-minded than their predecessors, while I hope that I am wrong.
I am a Gen-Xer myself. Hate to say it - but you are spot on here. I think if you took away these things from most kids they would go into some sort of withdrawal.
I use to grunt a lot and make strange faces when I was a teen but it was because I was jacking off with Vaseline with the Sears catalog opened to the women’s lingerie section.
LMFAO
I went to school with a kid who got caught with the Sears lingerie section tucked inside his algebra book. The teacher caught sight of it and couldn't resist a little quip in front of the class. Poor kid. Ahhhh, the good old days.
Sounds like my son (sigh) except that the kid doesn't overeat and doesn't have a taste for soda/energy drinks.
"In some cases, these offspring may only utter a dozen or less words, often in grunt-like sounds, over the course of hours." Best comment I've seen all day.
Want to know what I think of cell phones.......I still have a flipper!
I'm an English teacher and I've seen sentences deteriorate with each passing year from my youngsters. They do less reading and more texting. Their concentration is shattered, and I'm having a hard time making them love to write complex sentences to form beautiful stories. Then the parents want to place all the blame on us.
My condolences regarding the deterioration of your students' language skills. It took me all of my adolescence to refine my own writing in order to be able to convey my thoughts with keen composure and grace. Little do I see among my peers, let alone today's kids, to express themselves in writing with proper syntax and conviction.
The only thing I can recommend to you is that you recommend your kids to read Hemingway. Terse and meaningful prose, tough as nails, may be of help to the wayward texter. Of course, elegant writing only comes with practice. I hope you make them write like hell!
Data plans and cell bills are no problems when you get free breakfast, lunch, and sometimes even dinner in the schools, and have SNAP, Obamacare, etc. to take care of the rest.
This shit doesn't work, though, if you have a real job where you can't spend the whole day watching your streaming Grey's Anatomy.
Sorry to break your spirits, but complete sentences with polysyllabic words are for fools from the stone age.
SNAP = shitty "food"
probably leftover genetically modified experimental shit from Monsanto.
When EU rejected US genetically modified corn, they packaged it up as USAID and gave it to Africans.
government products = better than nothing, but usually lowest quality
The time you'll see some youngster writing sentences a la Umberto Eco is faraway and completely beyond my imagination.
I work with university academics, and the grammar and writing skills of younger post-docs now is pretty alarming. They will write a document and the sentences just do not make sense from a grammatical point of view: "have you ever considered how do society differentiate between criminal and normal behaviour?" ... that sort of thing.
Edit: Actually, are they like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHwPzVR0a1w
Boy, did you ever hit the nail on the head. I teach these kids every day...talk about addicted!! Most of them are scared to death to talk on the phone, but they can text like nobody's business.
Americans spend less on movie theaters, blockbuster, arcade, books, libraries, CDs, DVDs,etc, because you can get all that in digital format on iWhatever.
Instead of money going towards agenda driven studios, vested corporate interests, money is going to new media tech companies and anyone with a good video on youtube including communist governments as well as anti-communist rebels.
People got sick of shitty "artists" pushed by big media, manipulated popularity rankings, ...basically creative lives well among freedom and dies under control.
Old media was:
New media brings you:
I watched london olympics from international channels instead of NBC. Realized how much brainwashing content is in all media. It is dangerous to get your news from ONE source.
I don't even know where to begin. Ever heard of a walled garden? That's what those devices are. Google too. New media "tech" companies DO REPRESENT agenda driven vested corparate interests. Try to like George Orwell's 1984 on Farcebook. I dare you. Olympics. Who cares it's not via network tv for you, you ARE still watching that crapfest. Every western "news"outlet is fucking infested. The rest of em probably too. But you found that out for yourself. New media is not new. It's been around for 30 years or more. It's more of the same in a different format. More static on the line so to speak that's all. Ron Paul is a politician am I right. You can't trust any of that lot. Taped lies have been around longer than most of us have been on this planet. Your father's father knew bankers were not to be trusted, central or otherwise. You don't need the web to suspect Detroit is fucked. Even the stone cold lies (oops i mean statistics) from your government cannot sweep that one under the rug. And shitty artists are all that's left in this spottyfied world of I-ours. Compressed to the max mind you, totally brickwalled and DRMed for your pleasure. Eh not yours, theirs actually. Those devices btw tell them exactly where you are, who you hang out with, what you tell each other all in real time naturally and if you are god forbid eligible to be labeled a TERRORIST for their convenience. And then they make you pay for all of that yourself. Red team blue team communists fuck man it;s all the same oppressive crap. Brainwashing you are damn right, you only have the timescale a little bit off. It never stopped. The net originated as a militairy network. What else is new. The joonta is still at it and they are never going to stop. Maybe they will do a little shapeshifting some time in the future but it's all the same always. Man the guillotines if you want anything to stop. No device is going to rescue you. No sir. We are royally screwed.
Edit Detroit not Detroid. Another: GenX talking.
yes new media is not the end all be all....but progress over old media.
instead of one way media, facebook you can talk shit about anyone.
Sure Oylmpics is corporate sports equipment manufacturer sponsored PR event, but it brings attention to game participants who is not I'm-rich-and-I-married-rich Ann Romney or the like ilk. Do you see children of elites in olympics sports competition? they know they can't compete in sports where your pedigree matters much much less. olympics tries to be above war and politics.
Taped lies always existed, but not as accessible by the masses in a easily digestable form....visual motion picture.
shitty artists? well, before shitty artists in america were of one type. now it is global. even the definition of "art" is no longer define by those who can afford it. Now everyone can pursue their own interests. You live middle of nowhere, you had no art anyway. only entertainment was football. now you can watch whatever you want.
"Red team blue team communists fuck man it;s all the same oppressive crap."....that exactly is the knowledge internet brings. that the game is riggged and truth is neither black nor white. Elite lose power when 99% refuse to play the game.
That's why AOl, myspace, Facebook was worth so goddamn much...elites were scared shitless of free information. becuase they would lose power.
You think in detroit public schools they show Jesse Owens winning gold medal in 100m dash and his later revealing quotes?
"Hitler didn't snub me – it was FDR who snubbed me. The president didn't even send me a telegram."
"The black fist is a meaningless symbol. When you open it, you have nothing but fingers – weak, empty fingers. The only time the black fist has significance is when there's money inside. There's where the power lies."
Not progress, more, much more of the same. Static static static on a level that drowns out critical thinking. Media is a dead end street like it was before, like it is now and like it will be in the future. Permutations of a known theme/meme. I do envy you optimism but this is not personal of course. In the old media 1984 still existed though. In the old media you had to write a letter and wait to see if it actually got published but you COULD talk shit about anyone. There were phones and airwaves and all that jazz too. ZH is the only place I know of that is not censored to the hilt. Even the forums on my private trackers delete my comments in threads on taxes and such. If I go political on their ass or god forbid talk about freedom my firewall goes apeshit for days. All is monitored, all is censored. Even so called private places are infested. The game participants (or as I see them the drugged drones) serve a purpose. It's not sport and it's a lot worse than commercialism. Those are just the upper rotten layers. The olympics have since long seized to be anything else but a tool of those elites and you know they don't like to do actual WORK nor COMPETE so yeah you don't see their inbred spawn there. It's also a black money hole for organising entities and a windfall for their elites who get to build the infrastructure. Yeah, it's easier these days to be told somebody lied (in which case I ask myself why, by whom, who got paid to do it, what agenda?), it's still as hard to find out for yourself though if it did not serve somebody's interest to publish (plaster all over the web, printmedia, talkshows you name it) the lie in the first place. Facebook and the other "Social" "Media" are owned by the elites or by people they groomed and funded. If not then they buy it and make it go or wither away since it does not fold into their plans in the first place. Murdoch and such. The "New""Media" population control toys do have to make the elite a buck or two so that's where those absurd valuations come from. Get in early, unload after you hype the sheep into a frenzy and lol at the muppets holding the bag. Tried and true. I would not fucking know about no gold medal or revealing whatnot so there's that. I guess those quotes at the end of you comment are by that Jesse Owens you mention. Well who cares about a telegram or snubbing by some elite bastard, Hitler might have gone way (and I mean way) overboard but I don't think he's evil personified any more than any of the US presidents (not Kennedy and possibly not the first and/or Andrew Jackson) or our Nazi queen or who ever is (a vessel for) exercising power via dubious means anywhere, money is key well duh and people are rayciss. Well we are tribal afer all. PC don't cut it. That's what makes us into sissies that don't and can't object. The white man is being oppressed just as bad only more cunningly. They got the back of the bus and no way to make a decent living and we got the taxes, pensionfunds passports social security and whatnot and for a little while got a shot at making that decent living and when we did inflation and the IT/robot "revolution" took care of that right quick. Every color is and has been fucked in the "free" world. Well all but our beloved golden color and those who hold the actual stuff that sports that color. Divide and conquer. Tried and true. Stuff to watch is mostly not art and mostly never has been. More like brainwash and/or divergent material. At best it's just distraction. Hollywood, networks, record companies. All tools of the elites. Always have been. Divide and conquer. They are really good at it. Art was there to please elites in the first place. We ain't got shit to do with that. We were not born into one of the usual suspect families are we. They give us the finger while they take our hands (and feet and minds and whatever value we added by our actual sweat and..) Easily digestable forms are going to be our downfall even though they have some upsides in the shortrun. Shit just does not ever change. Man does not ever change. We are fucking hairless monkeys for crying out loud. Feel that part of your body that used to sport the tail not so long ago. Guillotines. At least we are not too stupid to figure that one out. Man them.
Edit forget to comment on that 99% comment.
Most still play, most still choose sides and if they don't (but they do) a made up poll or result is just as good as the real thing is it not. Who can tell. What with all our media and such.
Past bedtime now. I'll be back in eight to ten hours depending on any problems my people give me to handle during the rest of the night. For now all is quit. That is never a good sign in my line of work though so I might have to fire up the trusty Benz and pay some unexpected visits later on. In which case I can comment if needed a little earlier. Regards.
the fact is bottom 50% are forever sheeple to be manipulated by top 1%. the game is whether one group from top 49% convinces the bottom 50% to overthrow the top 1% or not.
revolution first comes at a ridicule, then mass adoption, then war again status quo, then slow gradual change until the new elite becomes corrupt and lazy just like the old and cycle repeats again.
BRIEF HISTORY OF SOCIETY
along came organized military to provide masses protection....
military > church > government > slaves.....
along came religious institutions which maintained social order through promise of heaven /hell isntead of exercise of physical power by military which caused loss of labor supply from wars
church > government > military > slaves.....
along came printing press which maintained social order through laws instead of pure faith which interfered with science
government > military > church > slaves.....
along came industrialization and mass production which maintained social order through material prosperity instead of political cronyism which interfered with free market system
factories > government > military > church > slaves....
along came banking and capital allocation which maintained social order through promise of financial freedom and life void of work instead of laboring under corporate powers
banks > factories > government > military > church > slaves...
I don't drive much (live on a boat) but this morning I had to get somewhere in a major U.S. city during rush hour. Traffic was bumper to bumper. Literally in many cases. In the course of about five miles, I passed by four separate incidences of rear-end collisions. Wonder how that happened? The irony was, as I passed by, most of those involved were (still) on their cell phones.
Living on a boat? Pretty cool I might say. At least you have a solid plan for leaving if the situation deems it necessary.
Funny how long it takes states to pass hands-free laws. Every car I see that can't hold a lane or reasonable constant speed is almost always piloted by some idiot yapping away on a cell phone. Unreal how self-absorbed people have become. I actually gave up riding a motorcycle in my area after nearly getting killed too many times... usually by a housewife in a hummer on a phone.
We don't need more laws. I bet most states and commonwealths have a law about distracted driving.
That should be enough. Otherwise, are you going to make a law for every stupid thing a person could do?
A law about making sandwiches while driving? Knitting while driving? Shooting pool while driving? Folding origami while driving?
+1 for we don't need more laws.
Excellent point Moe. But leaves us with a difficult problem. Realistically, I think this is a case of too many laws as opposed to better defining existing laws for those who don't seem to "get it." Overall, common sense has gone out the window. People act in thier own interest with total disregard for others. I had a chance to drive in Germany a while back and it was an entirely different experience. Here in Florida, driving feels like a free-for-all. Need a 50 caliber mounted to the hood.
Not that I would ever do anything like this but a person can buy a cell phone jammer and when sitting at a traffic light you can switch it on and all cell traffic is blocked for short period of time.
No texting or calls in a small radius. Just watch texting drivers go nuts for a few seconds.
Yes dear... this is illegal.
Tyler,
Have you considered combining threads like this one with your obesity topics..??
The 2 themes go together - electronic screen mesmorization and lack of exercise....
Is there an app that tracks how quickly fat people in the USA are getting fatter, VS their increased electronic screen usage...???
Tyler mentioned in an article a few weeks ago that studies show that obesity has leveled off in recent years. I guess people aren't just too busy texting to exercise, but to eat.
Increasing expedatures on iThings is taking away from the meal expenses! lol. Pretty soon most people will be thin, with super-powerful thumbs.
Are we sure that you can't eat iPhone?
you can't eat it but you can order pizza with it.
I'll bet I can eat it. But, I doubt it will do much good in terms of nutrition.
From one of my favorite M*A*S*H episodes:
Radar: Hi Klinger, how's it going?
Klinger: I'm eating a jeep.
Radar: Good.
Pretty soon most people will be thin, with super-powerful thumbs.
And meet Mochelles caloric intake now mandated by Congress, more concerned w taking lil Johnny's P & B sandwich away from them, that saving the country.Soon it will 5 to 10, and a rehab for a pack of Twinkies.
"Tyler mentioned in an article a few weeks ago that studies show that obesity has leveled off in recent years. I guess people aren't just too busy texting to exercise, but to eat."
It's the equilibrium point where weight gain intersects heart disease deaths.
You'll still have fatties who beat the odds and have to get hauled out through holes cut in the sides of their residences. But for every one of those you'll have 4 who keel over dead before they hit 300lbs.
that was a great clip of Louis! He's so right! Glad I don't Twitter or have Facebook! Just because it's available doesn't mean you should follow the masses!
As my MSF instructor told me when I took the safety course, "you're not only riding your motorcyle but you are also driving everyone else's cars for 'em."
In this day and age, that means you can't have one beer (which is the absolute limit for riding safe anyway) and hop on your bike, because you might need those reflexes to dodge a texting driver...
No beer no nothin.
I ride a big 1800cc Suzuki M109R, and I just do not enjoy it as much as I used to years ago, before all these stupid cell phones were everywhere. Everytime I ride, I feel like the hairs on the back of my neck are standing at attention, it's so bad. Sometimes wonder why I still bother. Then I see $4.15 a gallon for gas, and it reminds me why.
I pay $40.00 a month for my cell "phone". And that is all I use it for, a flippin phone. No internet, no games, no texting, just a phone. And hence I still enjoy going out to eat, going for a ride or drive just because.
I would not trade any of the things I enjoy for a Iwhatever and the consequent bills. STUPID!
BTW: been riding since 1977, and have never taken the MSF course. Three accidents that were the auto drivers fault, and were unavoidable. Avoided a lot of others otherwise. And the military no longer requires civilians riding on base to have a MSF card. ;-)
+1, In my case I pay $ 19/mo on a prepaid T-Mobile plan.. And because I had a State imposed "vacation" from driving ;-) I'm actually having a blast riding my home built electric bike everywhere..
No gas, no registration, no insurance.. nothing.. If you can do it.. do it.. I've literally saved thousands..
I may not even bother getting the license back..
Get basic call-by-call ... you'll have to top up $20 or so every three months or so to keep the account active if you don't use up the 150 or so minutes.
Just flick em off and split the lane past em....
as long as they are behind you, you don't have to worry
Those are so primitive, unsophisticated, and barberic. /sarc
Mom and Dad and daughter and son must each have a phone with a separate number. Holy cow! Teenagers with their own phones. Has everyone gone insane? I remember a fun part of growing up was fighting with my sisters over home phone rights. Mom had to set a schedule. Now If a kid doesn't have an IPhone they are considered persona non grata at school. TPTB have us exactly where they want us!
Sent from my iPhone
Worse than that, they walk around texting the person standing right next to them.
We are the Borg.
You will be assimilated.
Resistance is futile.
You wouldn't happen to know where Seven of Nine hangs out would you?
Not in sex clubs!!!
(For those who don't get the reference, sorry.)
Shouldn't it have been:
We are the iBorg.
You have been assimilated.
Any resistance to paying higher monthly cell phone bills is futile.
I was gonna say, "I don't know where seven of nine is, but I wish she was on my six of six!"
Dude I was sitting at the tables outside the library the other day and this group of middle school kids were working on a school project. Each of them had a cell phone for sure, and either one or two of them had a tablet on top of that. My brain essploded.
I didn't even start texting until late 2010 lol! (not that I do regularly now anyway)
EDIT: Make that smartphones. Most of 'em were iPhones. Git em while they're young...
Did you say library? With books? What a quaint, antiquated concept.
Whoops, I meant the local kindle. I still find it strange that it assumes the form of a building...
+1 Very Good!
Reminds me of the Library of Congress scene in Logan's Run.
I still don't text. I have a cell phone that is actually on my inlaws plan. They gave it to us. I have probably used it for a half hour of talking in the last 3 years. My kids have no phones, and actually because our home phone is our business phone, the kids don't use that.
We are internet addicted though. We all have laptops that we love.
Obviously you are some kind of anti-American terrorist.
So being inside the library makes you a more terrible terrorist?
Of course -- it's abnormal behavior. Besides, it takes them a lot more work to find out which books you're reading.
Of course it makes him a terrorist. It proves that you're trying to think for yourself instead of letting the goobermint do your thinking.
Your only hope is that you were at the library to use their computers to watch midget tranny porn while sitting next to underage minors.
"Most of 'em were iPhones. Git em while they're young..."
iDiots.
How do you tell an entire generation of children that their shiny new playtoys (which happen to be the same shiny new playtoys the grownups are using... wait a tick... aren't kids and grownups supposed to play with different shit? If they're playing with the same shit, is there a difference between kids and grownups anymore?) are slavery in a box?
What grownups?
"Slavery in a box." Good metaphor. There's been a lot of talk about TPTB eventually putting chips in us all. To which TPTB must think, "Chips? We don't need no stinkin' chips!"
What grownups?
Exactly the problem!
they dont' have to put chips under your skin
they put chips in phones and you willingly carry it in your pocket.
The iPhone has replaced the boob tube as the new iDiot Box.
Dear God,
Please send major solar flare to burn up all communications satellites so that village idiots can no longer use their enslaving zombie cell phones and return to being the creatures you intended...human beings.
I waited until marriage to have text !!!
That was amazing.
I do not own a cell phone, nor do my 2 teenagers, therefore I must be on a "hit" list somewhere. People tell me I'm out of the loop, but little do they know the "loop" is really a noose...
To be a teen today you need the cell, otherwise you no longer exist. What a coup for the telecomm carriers!
Sigh.
All I had was two tin cans and a long piece of string as a kid.
Does anyone remember party lines? It was when you shared the same phone line with six of your neighbors. Lots more fun than cell phones listening in on who,s doing what whom.
Shoulda seen telco's vault b4 it died.
A dime...in may days all you needed was a wistle from a box of Captain Crunch.
2600 Hz ... don't need a Cap'n Crunch whistle ... just pucker and blow
I used to buy 2-5 newspapers a day. Three on Sunday. Now, never.
I used to buy Time, The Atlantic, Barron's. Now, maybe a Wooden Boat.
No house internet. Dumping cable.
I live on the smartphone.
$25/ mo. Virgin Mobile. Unlimited text/ data 300 voice minutes. 3G( good enough )
I think $300/year is too much too.
F Hollywood. Let em eat cake. People staring at wireless devices endless hours per day are idiots.
Once I built a railroad, now it's gone. Brother can you spare a data plan?
Cellfonicas et Circenses
INFLATION indeed, one of the main reasons for this, is people do not communicate FTF as much anymore.
Also Movies suck,Hollywood has gone PC as double hell.Sho wants to ay to be indoctrinated with socialist/PC shit?, not me.
And the prices of even fast food has hit one year ago prices for eating at a DECENT sit down restaraunt.(with a choice of real food).
A burger, fries and lg drink costs what a good for you entree did 12 mos ago.(and it's 33% smaller).
Fascinating.
Going GoPhone and Skpye Bitchez!
Skype is going down, fast.
Microsoft bought them in 2011 and they're hurriedly adding all sorts of spying shit.
I hope they're monitoring all the calls I make supporting Microsoft's shit. Maybe it's part of some sort of larger product improvement plan.
Iaddiction Bitchezzzzz
Hey at least my iPhone won't make me fat.
... give it enough time and it might make you sterile or senile.
Using your iphone won't make you fat.
Nor will time spent in front of your multiple flatscreens.
75% of the adult population in the USA is overweight.
Right..........
I'm looking for the day when TV device can also pop microwave popcorn with the push of a remote button.
That day has come. http://www.heavy.com/news/2012/09/popinator-voice-activated-popcorn-cann...
Really probably is an addiction
Smart phones and iPods etc give the illusion of 'control' to squash the feelings that most human beings have in modern societies, that they have no control over their real life
To spend the whole day punching keys and deciding what visuals they see, what sounds they hear, hides the grim reality that their lives are mostly shaped by the society and they have little ability to change it
Smart phones give people a whole-day-long illusion of control, in lives that are actually semi-helpless and semi-defeated
the Corona cure...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU_J8YzN4Co
It actually is considered an addiction now. They've even opened a smartphone rehab center. Seriously
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/09/21/why-mobile-phone-addiction-is-now-on-rehab-menu/
Can I take the lessons online with my cellphone?
And you win the Best Comment of The Day award.
Excellent analysis.
The predecessor wasn't called a "Crackberry" for nothing. It is a need for constant connection - feedback. An escape from reality for some. And is addictive for sure. Side effect being some serious ADD.
+1 million
Like monkey pressing buttons trying to get a banana or some treat.
It is just like TV in it is used to control the masses of sheep/serfs. Sad.
Not only it is an illusion of control, but reality is the exact opposite. It's your smart phone that's controlling you.
It's like saying DRM stands for digital Rights management. In fact it's digital Restrictions management. If you wish you can patch more corrupted items in your vocabulary base
There were two women next to me at lunch. They were talking about replacing their iPhones, and both had decided, after not being able to buy an iP5 last Friday, and hearing the bad press, to try the latest Samsung.
Of course, they will still be using $200/month worth of data.
The best data plan used to be the Encyclopedia Britannica.
The modern equivalent of changing coke dealers cause your last one blew you off last weekend --- you still have a massive coke habit.
EBT and iPhones
- History will read....
I am NOT obsessed!
<Now where's my damn iPhone 5? Mrs. Cog is impatiently waiting for my old iPhone 4 to upgrade her crap phone.>
So.... I guess this clears up just who wears the iPants in the Cog household?
I most certainly do not wear the iPants in the Cog household. However Mrs. Cog generously allows me to think so most of the time.
<Now how do I remove my iPorn from my iPhone4?>
You keep it up and you'll be trying to figure out how to remove it from the dreaded dark place.
LOL... nice
I'm sent to the doghouse so often I ran water and electric out there to make it more comfortable.
Oh.......you meant that other dreaded dark place. ;)
Come on, CD ... I would have thought you'd have a rain barrel on the downspouts and solar cells on the roof.
Mrs Cog says I can get some solar cells after I eat my sprouts.
<I don't want to eat my sprouts.>
I'll help you out brother. iPhone 4s are free to the bitchez! - http://mashable.com/2012/09/12/no-mor-iphone-3gs/
Mrs Cog re-uped on a two year contract one year ago in order to get her current crap phone. So there is no upgrade for her anytime soon. Thus when my iPhone5 comes in she will receive my iPhone4 hand-me-down.
<How much do you want to bet she gets the iPhone5 anyway.>
I wonder how much the average American spends on apps and music. I'm sure if you include that the cost is much higher,
That's because the average American is an idiot.
Like mp3s, apps can be easily had an pirated as long as you take some time to learn coding and file conversions.
I shun to think how much money I would of had to spend to get my booty if I actually was an computer illiterate like the majority of morons (read: women) in America.
Um, yeah. For 99 cents apiece, I think I'll just go ahead and pay for my apps.
It's not always about the money. I know people who used to be in that scene and it was more about community, pride, and showing off skill to the anonymous internet. In a lot of cases it's not "I'm going to break this copy protection because I want this product for free" it's "I'm going to break this copy protection to show how smart I am". The joke is the best way to stop a hacker is to get him a girlfriend, take away that excess free time!
Obama will probably lose this election because he didn't promise everyone free smartphones.
I've got news for you... Google Obama phones. My sister has one. It makes me sick.
If I didn't see it I wouldn't believe it.
I'm waiting for the Obamawhores program.
They are called "Section-8" baby mommy. Always look'n for a new sugar daddy, or four.
( Just remember to double condom, and take the used ones with you. )
I think that's what the snip-snip is for. Don't forget to make a run to the SEA MAN bank before visiting Edward Scissor Hands.
Or, you could spend the $1 on a lottery ticket. Just look at the possible payout !!
---sent from my Samsung Galaxy phone
I meant to up arrow but I couldn't figure it out.
no shit i dont pay for anything. need a car...steal a car! need a liver, fuck i go harvest one....!
The more apt analogy would be: need a car... use my replicator and drive off in a perfect copy!
Personally, I'm at zero.
The instant iOS was upgraded from 3 to 4, all of my apps stated demanding to be upgraded, even though my iTouch3 hardware couldn't benefit from it.
So, I quit going to the app store, as I tired of being bothered by "upgrades" that provided me with no benefit.
It's an awesome mp3 player, and I like having net access in my pocket. Other than that, it's a P.O.S. that makes me want to dig up Steve Jobs and slap him every time I'm faced with some stupid "feature" that I find to be counter to my wants (like say, a user servicable battery, for instance).
Oh, and Fuck You, iTunes!
G-ds App... iAm
My prediction: Data Austerity FTW
Granted, the phones do make people's lives easier. But having these phones is also required by Corporate America, who wants their employees to access email and spreadsheets 24/7.
In Fascist America, Life Runs You!
You have GOT to be kidding me! Yes?
FUCK any employer who would make such an outrageous demand on any employee on their off-hours or while at home. I would tell them to go to Hell in a heartbeat.
Did you know your screen name spelled backwards is ka ka? Just wondering..
Pretty funny
Did you know that quarks come in six "flavors" --- up, down, charm, bottom, top and strange?
I am guessing your subatomic makeup has more of the last type.
As part of my $250 per hour consulting fee I carry a phone after hours. They call me if a problem comes up that I need to deal with after regular business hours and I can usually solve the issue in a few minutes right then and there on said phone. The phone rings maybe twice a month - if it's a really bad month. (And, I'm booked solid with consulting engagements through Q1 2015.) Now what were you saying about not carrying a work cell phone ??
---Sent from my iPhone, jPhone, or kPhone, depending....
Well, unfortunately, as the NFL referees are learning: work today is inelastic.
Thanks to Bush and Obama and the Fed, it is an employer's market, not the other way around (which is what they want; Greenspan thought this "job scarcity" would lead to lower labor and increase American competitiveness).
Surveys reveal those those in middle, to even lower, management and positions often read emails on off time, and even during vacations! And considering the wage situation in this country and how bad it is for everyone, (most) people aren't obviously seeing the ROI on their end for the availability (nor are the getting OT).
Chains and whips made the proles and slaves angry and revolt. The corporate plantation owners had to make slaves more comfortable to coerce them to kneel at their feet again. And do so in a subversive way. Why whip a guy when you can just email him (and threaten to take away his labor, wages, and benefits if he doesnt comply)? And hey, things aren't so bad, right........you can watch NetFlix on your (tracking) device!
I 100% agree with you - you'd wish the employers would back the fuck off.......but it is a rentier's world, and we just live in it (for now).
Employeess need to 'just say "no" '.
Yeah, to the US Dollar.
Theres medicine for that. Its called consulting by the hour. There is no job security anymore. So stop looking for the corporate safety blanket, and go out and hunt for a living, and eat what you kill.
Slaves can't be fired.
I've made a career out of fighting for what is right where I work. Trust me that I have heard some of the stupiest management ideas ever thrown out in a professional organization.
Feels like trying to hold back the tide though. All I have managed to do is slow it down a little here and here - and nuke the really nasty stuff that any idiot could see was going to end in a flaming mess.
In the end, at least people know where I stand - and maybe the non-sociopaths might have some compassion when they push on people outside of normal business expectations.
Balance will come back someday I am sure. Just not yet. We have a little more to go before the breaking point is reached.
I just conveniently left mine on the charger at work.