3 ms·

>Ah yes. The needs of a child/teen are surely the needs of a grown person who will need to communicate with potential employers, banks, landlords, schools etc.

>Ah yes. The needs of a child/teen are surely the needs of a grown person who will need to communicate with potential employers, banks, landlords, schools etc. I've been working, taxable above the board income (google it, lots of conditions for this including paper delivery which is what I did), since I was 12 years old. I've had a bank account since I was 8. There is no realistic condition where the majority of the population needs to be tethered to a phone number 24/7/365. If you have a job that requires you to be on call, certainly, but in that case your employer should be providing the phone or reimbursing the cost. Generally people in these situations are paid rather well also.

rland 7y ago
Things have changed a lot for many low wage workers since about 08 or so. Schedules are set no more than a few days in advance. They're communicated either by an app or by text message. They can be highly variable and it's expected that the employee keep up, or else miss a shift and be fired. A cell phone is virtually required. (And never provided by the employer).
dmitriid 7y ago
You somehow missed bothe the last 15 years or so, and the most important bits of my response. The world is increasingly online. Banks are closing down branches because most things can be done online. Schools are sending school reports and teacher communications via email. Job applications for high(er) paying jobs are becoming almost exclusively done via online forms. Ongoing communication with recruiters is being done via email. Doctors increasingly communicate through email. More importantly, classes and courses, distance learning, tutors (that is all the things you need to educate yourself and get a better job) are almost exclusively online now (and once online, available and affordable to anyone). But yeah. If you are a 12-year-old paper delivery boy, you will not need a smart phone and internet. Edit: your hypocrisy is especially rich considering that you're applying to YC Winter 2019 [1]. You're sending them via a fixed landline from Little Ceasars where you biked, right? [1] https://www.ryanmercer.com/ryansthoughts/2018/10/30/an-open-letter-to-yc https://www.ryanmercer.com/ryansthoughts/2018/10/30/an-open-... (Your site is in your profile).
- ryanmercer 7y ago
  >Edit: your hypocrisy is especially rich considering that you're applying to YC Winter 2019 Less than 1 tenth of 1 percent of the population applies to YC each year... and what I applied with was literally to help people give up technology and to plug in to the real world. To not be tethered to a phone 24/7, to not be tethered to streaming video with every second of their free time, to not be tethered to a computer or laptop 24 hours a day. To talk to people instead of texting them or instant messaging them. To look people in the face instead of occasionally glancing up over the rim of their laptop and actually have proper conversations. But please, tell me more about me!

rland 7y ago

Things have changed a lot for many low wage workers since about 08 or so. Schedules are set no more than a few days in advance. They're communicated either by an app or by text message. They can be highly variable and it's expected that the employee keep up, or else miss a shift and be fired. A cell phone is virtually required. (And never provided by the employer).

dmitriid 7y ago

You somehow missed bothe the last 15 years or so, and the most important bits of my response. The world is increasingly online. Banks are closing down branches because most things can be done online. Schools are sending school reports and teacher communications via email. Job applications for high(er) paying jobs are becoming almost exclusively done via online forms. Ongoing communication with recruiters is being done via email. Doctors increasingly communicate through email. More importantly, classes and courses, distance learning, tutors (that is all the things you need to educate yourself and get a better job) are almost exclusively online now (and once online, available and affordable to anyone). But yeah. If you are a 12-year-old paper delivery boy, you will not need a smart phone and internet. Edit: your hypocrisy is especially rich considering that you're applying to YC Winter 2019 [1]. You're sending them via a fixed landline from Little Ceasars where you biked, right? [1] https://www.ryanmercer.com/ryansthoughts/2018/10/30/an-open-letter-to-yc https://www.ryanmercer.com/ryansthoughts/2018/10/30/an-open-... (Your site is in your profile).

ryanmercer 7y ago
>Edit: your hypocrisy is especially rich considering that you're applying to YC Winter 2019 Less than 1 tenth of 1 percent of the population applies to YC each year... and what I applied with was literally to help people give up technology and to plug in to the real world. To not be tethered to a phone 24/7, to not be tethered to streaming video with every second of their free time, to not be tethered to a computer or laptop 24 hours a day. To talk to people instead of texting them or instant messaging them. To look people in the face instead of occasionally glancing up over the rim of their laptop and actually have proper conversations. But please, tell me more about me!