To think a smart phone is an essential?

[picklecustard]

So every time I see the debate about free lunches for poor families on Facebook and social media, there are always people who comment about the same families being able to afford ‘non-essential luxuries’ sometimes it’s Sky Tv sometimes cigarettes and booze, but one example that consistently gets mentioned is having an i-phone/smart phone/phone contract.

Quite baffled that in this day and age people consider possessing a smart phone as a non-essential luxury. I know few people with a landline nowadays and a mobile is the point of contact for most. It’s also far more useful in the case of an emergency as you always have it with you. Access to the internet via a phone is also a necessity to most- when I needed a job most vacancies were advertised online and needed to be applied for online, I don’t drive so do my food shopping online (as well as finding recipes online), doctors appointments are booked much more easily online for my local surgery, my bills and banking are managed via apps and online, my children’s school only send letters via ParentMail app or email so all news/forms/payments and everything relevant to their schooling requires my iphone. And that’s just a few examples. My phone is genuinely an essential for everyday living and I’m surprised people don’t see it that way!

[Ifailed]

I think you are mixing up having Internet access with having a smart phone.
Over 90% of English households have broadband internet access and can therefore do all the things you mention with a laptop, PC, tablet etc. Most will also have this provided by a phone line, so probably also have a landline number.
Given the cost of a smart phone over, say, a cheap 2nd hand laptop, having one is not essential.

[Yennefer19]

I agree that nowadays we do need a smartphone, I think the issue is that iPhones over the course of a contract can work out at about £1500/£2000 and iPhones generally are the more popular phone.

You could pick up a cheap smartphone for around £150 and then there are plenty of cheap tariffs for about £10 a month.

I do think if you are struggling financially it doesn’t make sense to have the latest smartphone.

[Nottherealslimshady]

iPhones aren't though. You can grab cheap smart phones, even second hand ones. If you cant afford to feed your kids then you shouldn't have a phone worth more than 100 quid max, you shouldn't be smoking or drinking, you shouldn't have a big expensive tv, games consoles, expensive brand clothing, sky tv. You would be choosing to spend money on things you dont need OVER feeding your children. What decent parent would do that?

[shinynewapple2020]

I think it is essential having access to internet somehow be this through smart phone or tablet and broadband . So many things you need internet for nowadays including applying for jobs and housing and for children doing homework . I would say that a tablet or laptop would be More useful than a sMart phone if you are only having the one device although I don't know relative costs . I have a fairly cheap mobile contract as I don't have the latest phone but we also have wi fi

[TeenPlusTwenties]

It is very hard to tell though isn't it?
Things may have been bought when times were better, or received as presents.

[AgeLikeWine]

Yes, a smartphone is an essential item in 2020, and I say that as a late-adopter who didn’t have one until 2015.

A brand new £1200 iPhone 12, however, is not. Serviceable refurbished smartphones can be purchased for less that £100, and costs can be controlled on PAYG.

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

Possessing a phone and internet (better yet a phone that has internet) is essential. The make an model surely is subject to budget constraints?

[yelyah22]

YANBU but as always, people who are poor should be happy to send fucking telegrams to communicate (/find jobs/deal with Universal Credit/speak to their child's school/keep in touch with friends) while sitting in the dark under 5 blankets and feeding their kids 1-egg omelettes for every meal using eggs they've foraged from kindly nearby chickens for free.

[BarbaraofSeville]

Smartphones are essential. What's not essential is a contract phone that costs £30+ per month.

My phone cost £75 after cashback on a Black Friday deal last year and it's an excellent phone. I pay a fiver a month for unlimited calls, texts and enough data to keep in touch, online shopping, banking apps, google maps etc.

Of course some people don't have enough for essentials, but there are also a lot of people who don't make any effort to budget and won't make any compromises.

An aquaintance of ours was recently crying poverty and asking to borrow money here there and everywhere and we were sympathetic until it transpired that her pay TV and broadband bill was NINETY POUNDS A MONTH . Ours is under £40, mostly for fibre broadband plus we have Netflix and Now TV movies that gives us more stuff than anyone could ever watch.

[m0therofdragons]

In our friendship group I’ve observed that the friends who have a house mortgage free worth £800k with good incomes have old iPhones 6s, dh and I are comfortable with above average salaries and good sized house and have an iPhone 7 and I’ve just got an 11 as a treat following my bonus (I don’t have an iPad or laptop other than work provided and use phone for all banking etc). My friends who live in a council house have iPhone 11s each and are on the waiting list to upgrade to 12s. Their dc both have their own iPads and they have MacBooks.

The poorer friends seem to feel the need to never “deprive their dc” whereas mine only got their own tech due to covid and homeschooling - cheap chrome books.

I wonder if anecdotally there is an insecurity that leads to this but overall it does fit a stereotype and that’s why people can get cross.

Many people on benefits long term (and of course there are exceptions) are those who have limited qualifications yet we expect them to all be great at budgeting and making what we would say are “good decisions”; perhaps this is an unrealistic expect that sets people up to fail.

[Camomila]

We get all our school newsletters via school ping, and have to upload our homework to seesaw - so you need a smart phone or tablet.
I have a smart phone on a £9 a month contract so nothing over the top. (not an iphone, an entry level samsung).

Lots of people in 'normal' jobs have work phones, my dad has a work iphone.

[RightOnTheEdge]

YANBU. The OP doesn't say that a brand new iPhone is essential. I always have a smart phone they are always passed to me from my Dad when he upgrades his.
You can buy cheap used smart phones on Facebook selling pages or ebay.

My UC is all done online
My job was advertised online and if anyone comes in with a CV or to ask about jobs then they are told to apply online.
My work rota is published online.
I top up my gas and electric with an app.

Yes you could use the computers at the library if your lucky enough that you still have a library when so many have been shut down and if it happens to be open outside working hours.

I also have a massive TV
It was my granddad's my parents gave it to me when he died but it won't stop people judging me.

[Alicenwonderland]

Ate out in Pizza express today, menu could only be viewed via mobile phone. Also track and trace needs a mobile. EVERYTHING regarding my kids school is done online (they're paperless). Also necessary for universal credit. It's pretty impossible to function without a phone. I absolutely hate this argument, it's so judgemental and narrow minded. I found myself struggling financially after splitting with my abusive ex. I had four children and a mortgage to pay. Universal credit don't help with mortgage payments, only rent. As a result I got myself in debt. If it wasn't for family I'd have needed food banks to feed my kids.

[FudgeBrownie2019]

I don't know anyone struggling financially or not who has the latest smartphone. Most people I know just have the bog-standard iPhone and replace it when their contract expires the way I do.

I just don't buy into this trope that people living below the poverty threshold are somehow laughing at the taxpayers whilst playing fruit ninja on their brand new iPhone 12. People's circumstances have changed more over the last 12 months than at any other time during my lifetime and I think as a collective group we need to not shit on the people struggling most.

[Frequentcarpetflyer]

It's not essential. Having a monile phone for emergencies when out and about is a good idea, but not essential. You also don't need a smartphone to access the internet!

[Frequentcarpetflyer]

Track and trace do not need a mobile Alice.

[SoMuchToBits]

It's not essential. I say this as someone who doesn't own one (and neither does my 19 year old ds). I do have broadband and access the internet via my laptop. I also have a cheap (cost less than £20) PAYG non-smart mobile phone for use if I need to contact people while out of the house. I put £10 credit on it once every few months, but don't use it much really.

I suppose some things might be more convenient with a smartphone, but I've never felt the need to have one.

[thevassal]

Agree with PPs that there are smartphones and then there are top range smartphones. I agree that most people, particularly of working age need access to the internet, and that having it via their phone is often easier and more convenient than a router/contract/laptop, etc. However you can do everything you listed, and everything you need, on a cheap or mid range smart phone costing. I don't think anyone needs the latest iphone or samsung s at £50 plus per month, yet so many people happily sign up to a new, extortionate, contract the moment their two years are up.

Before anyone says - yes I do understand people sign up for very expensive contracts and then lose their jobs or whatever, but that's a comparatively unusual and unfortunate circumstance. I would have to be in a really good job, with enough savings to fall back on, before I could justify spending the insane amount brand new top range phones go for - I think people have forgotten that they are supposed to be the luxury end of the market, not the standard! Not even focussing on those on benefits or who are low paid, I think it's equally mad when I see young children with expensive phones!

[lockeddownandcrazy]

Maybe some form of smart phone is very desirable but not essential. An older one is fine though - no need for the latest one or contract costing big moneys

[Mistigri]

I do have broadband and access the internet via my laptop.

This is "Tory food tips", except for mobile phones

Low income people may not have home broadband or a laptop.

If you don't have broadband/a laptop and you need to use a phone for your child's homework or applying for jobs, you're going to need more than a PAYG SIM card and an ancient phone.

[AbsentmindedWoman]

Agree a smartphone is essential.

But a computer (or I guess maybe a tablet?) of some sort is also essential.

I could never fill out complicated lengthy job applications or the like on a tiny smartphone screen. It hurts my eyes and makes me feel disorientated to not be able to see a whole page and have to keep scrolling all over the place.

[Aroundtheworldin80moves]

I need 3 different apps for the primary school alone. Not counting email or text messagin, or a document reader app. An app for swimming lessons. An app for scouts.

I only got a smart phine last year when it became clear I needed for all the children stuff. It cost less than a £100. Top ups are less than £10 a month.

[Youcunnyfunt]

Phone is an essential. Internet is pretty essential these days, for jobs, parenting, and a social life in general.
I would be very surprised if someone had NO phone whatsoever, not even a second hand phone - whether it's smart or not.
I would be surprised if someone didn't have a smart phone and also didn't have access to a tablet or computer - it would be so difficult to conduct everyday life without some internet access.

Yeah, I didn't have internet as a young child, and mobile phones didn't exist, but life isn't like that anymore! Everything revolves around the internet in the UK, especially now.

[AbsentmindedWoman]

I suppose some things might be more convenient with a smartphone, but I've never felt the need to have one.

Not just convenience.

For telehealth appointments in the pandemic, both my endocrinologist and neurologist insisted I used their app on a smartphone - I assume some kind of security measure.

I could not do the appointment on my laptop, much to my irritation. They would not do a simple phone call appointment either, the way one of my other doctors will. I fucking hate the faff of downloading apps I don't use regularly.

But obviously, I had to do it in this case - my doctors are very good and worth the effort but yes I needed a smartphone for my appointment.

[steppemum]

if you have kids, then to access everything at the moment you need good internet access, a smartphone and access to a computer/laptop and a printer.

I have been shocked actually at how essential they have become. For me it is an issue as I wnat my youngest off line, but that means she can't access school, home work, her tutor etc.
Ever tried typing your homework in on a smartphone??

And I do agree that some people have expensive contracts etc, where they could make do with something more basic, but so many things don't actually run on a more basic phone, and the phone runs out of space pretty quickly.
Dh has a samsung 4. He can't run the trakc and trace app.