Posted on 09/27/2012 7:59:31 AM PDT by arthurus
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
Not this American. $9.00 a month for prepaid that I barely use.
I would think paying over $4 for a gallon of gas might have something to do with it also.
Buying water at $1 for 12 oz....is an even worse obsession....
We all have cellphones so come on, let’s get real
We all have cellphones so come on, let’s get real
Cellphones
Let’s get real
-Weird Al Yankovic
It’s sad that today so many people feel a need to be connected.
My best friend/neighbor buys water by the cases. Bet she drinks 10 bottles a day........and she is home all day. To me, just stupid, and she has problems paying her real bills.
“....lthe collective wealth evaporates.”
I doesn’t evaporate. It turns up quarterly in my brokerage account, since I have 1000 Verizon and 1500 AT&T.
I won’t have one at all. When I am out of touch I want to be out of touch with no one complanìng to me about having my cell turned off just when she “needed” to talk to me. Of course, I don’t have a TV, either. I did figure out how to do internet with my string and tin can connection, though.
One of those moronic cell phone addicts came to within inches of rear-ending me the other day. The most amazing thing was after she somehow managed to bring her vehicle to a stop, she didn’t even look up from the text message she was composing.
I don't care to check my bank balances or surf the net with an itty-bitty screen. Nor do I need to listen to music. That's why I got a desktop and car stereo.
She feels “protected” in traffic because she doesn’t see the dangerous stuff going on around her from inside that cocoon. And when she does crash she won’t blame it n the cell phone but on you for not looking out for her. That from a conversation I overheard in WalMart.
MMMMMMmmmmmmmm. T has done pretty well, of late. I dig huge dividends, too.
“Good move. As soon as my current plan expires this winter, that is exactly what I am going to. Only a handful of people will get my new number as well. If you aren’t programmed into my contact list, I won’t answer it.”
I’m as Internet and PC savy as they come. I have two degrees in Computer Science. I own and operate my own business that SUPPORTS other PC users. Yet, I feel no compunction to be “connected” 24 hours a day.
I deposit $100.00 a year for T-Mobile prepaid cell phone service and forward my land line number when I’m mobile. Unused minutes roll each year. I DO NOT give out my cell phone number except to locals when I’m traveling out of state. My conversations are short: “Yes.”, “No.”, “Sorry, I’ll be 15 minutes late.”, “Yes dear, I’ll pick up the pizza.”, and “Let me get back to you when I can get on a land line and we can have a REAL conversation.” (i.e., where I can focus on the conversation instead of driving, put on my hands-free headset, and remote into your PC from my PC so I can fix your problem).
My wife has a $15/month that isn’t used much - who do you use for your $9/month?
I have one from work or else I wouldn’t have one.
Cingular https://www.paygonline.com/
Buy $100.00 at a time and the 1000 minutes are good for a year.
Plus tax = $107.50 / 12 = $8.95 per month
The problem with my wife’s phone is that she has about $300.00 in minutes that have built up as she uses her phone less than I do. I might gift her phone to a nephew that is away at college.
I like to tell people that we both have “stupid” phones.
Buying water at $1 for 12 oz....is an even worse obsession..”
Went to see the movie 2016 this last weekend. A bottle of water at the theater was $5.75 - but in Texas, unlike New York, I could have purchased a super sized Coke for $3.75.
my frau and i have cell phones and no landlines. they are dumb phones. i probably text 1 message a month and that is generally an acknowledgement of a meeting. i usually don’t answere unknown numbers and, any repeats that are unwanted are input startinf with ZZZ so i know it’s not important. i like being in contact when i need to be but i don’t need to surf or watch tv on my phone.
ps i am sick of every company and talk show telling me to go to their facebook page. this country is getting way to narcissistic.
I use the T-Mobile prepaid plan. $100 for 1000 minutes good for a year. I only used about 750 minutes last year. I paid $50 for more minutes the day before the one year expired and the leftover 250 minutes were good for another year.
I finally went in for a smartphone (Android) early last year. I spend about $33/month (incl. tax) for unlimited data, unlimited texts and 100 minutes of voice. I really like being able to look stuff up while I’m out and about, and maps are handy as well. I text my wife all the time.
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