Hellobee Boards

Smart phone - luxury, regular phone - necessity

totally a luxury.... "dumb" phones are still readily available and so are pay as you go plans

@pinkcupcake: Maybe it was given to them by a friend or family member. There was a really interesting thread yesterday that I found enlightening

http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-theres-no-belt-left-to-tighten#post-1489959

meh, my iphone is actually a refurb...cost $50.

Not my place to judge.

Uh yea not a necessity. We first got smartphones in 2012. Although I think "need" it now, I know it's frivolous.

Luxury. I had a co-worker who had been out of work for months before working with me. Her husband was laid off. She was living in her dad's house with no mortgage or rent to pay, and she was struggling to stay afloat. Yeah... both of them had brand new iPhones.

A regular no frills cell phone is considered a necessity to me. There are a lot of options that make it affordable for most people -- pay as you go, Ting, etc.

I think paying substantially more for a data plan is a luxury. My phone plan clocks in at $85 a month, and if I lost my job or couldn't afford actual necessities I would switch to the cheapest plan I could find, to save whatever $/month I could.

@MrsTiz: Agree that *some* phone = necessity

I would still have the physical iPhone though, to use for games and text-apps while in range of wifi.

Smart phones are definitely a luxury. Hubs and I both don't have one.

That being said - how can you be sure she had an iPhone? Is it possible she was using an iTouch? I have a Samsung Galaxy Player, which is just a media player like the iTouch, but to look at it, everyone assumes it's my phone and that I have a smart phone, when I really don't. No data plan required!

Luxury! We live on a super tight budget and don't have smart phones for that reason.

For me--luxury. The phone was affordable, but the raised monthly phone bill was a considerable hike.

@looch and others have shared my thoughts about the whole food stamps phone backstory....

I was given a smartphone - the first generation iPhone - from my boss, when it first came out. When I switched my plan, it actually saved me $13/month to "upgrade" to an iPhone plan.
Sure the equipment itself was a luxury but for me, it was a gift and cost nothing.

I think it depends and its hard to make judgements. Yes an iPhone and a good data plan is a luxury because its expensive but in a lot of rural areas its the only (or only economical) way to get internet service. We have even though before about cutting our internet at home and just watching our data usage on our phones.

@MrsTiz: Absolutely agree!

DH and I didn't get smart phones until about 3 years ago.

For a lot of people on food stamps, having a smart phone on a plan is more feasible than having a computer and internet connection at home, especially if their living situation is unstable, and some kind of access to email/internet is essential these days.

the monthly bill is more the luxury for me because you can get a lot of smart phones for little to no money now (although you still have to pay activation and tax!), but the $120+ a month for two phone plans (that's sharing data with family and a discount) is definitely a luxury that we budget to afford.

@Mae: Thanks for that. As part of my grad school financial aid package, I qualified for food stamps. It wasn't a ton, but it was enough to feel a difference. Seeing some of these replies I hate to think what people may have been silently judging me for when I used my EBT card, sheesh

@MediaNaranja: You can't worry about it-- live your life! That is another good point though-- food stamps are actually provided through means other than just simple application due to income. I had a few friends who worked for Americorps after college (which is a federally funded volunteer/charity type organization) and part of their (unbelievably low!!) compensation was food stamps. Like, they were doing an awesome thing working for almost no money, full time, for this volunteer org. And I'm sure they got some looks being young looking using food stamps (and I'm sure they would have been the oft-told person "omg using food stamps to buy food but then I saw they used cash to buy beer!"). As though because they decided to work for Americorps they don't deserve a beer at the end of the day

I don't think it's a luxury anymore. I had this exact conversation with a coworker the other day because where she lives, lots of people live on welfare, but she said she gets upset when she sees someone using welfare and food stamps but pulls out an iPhone.

Older iPhones come free with phone contracts now. In addition, before I had my iPhone, I actually had a very basic no-frills phone and I was paying $70/month. When I switched to my iPhone, my bill went DOWN to $45/month. It was cheaper for me to bundle data/messaging/minutes on my smartphone than to use a very basic phone. Sure $45/month to someone can mean a lot, but most people view having a phone as a necessity and I don't see $45/mo for a phone as expensive at all.

So no, I don't consider it a luxury anymore UNLESS they are constantly buying the newest versions. Then I'd wonder where that money is coming from, but like looch said, not my place to judge.