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> The entirety of my grandparents generation being able to Facetime their grandkids all over the world since 2010 isn’t a Veblen good. You are being disingenuo
by rumanator 6y ago
> The entirety of my grandparents generation being able to Facetime their grandkids all over the world since 2010 isn’t a Veblen good.
You are being disingenuous if you believe that Apple Facetime is the only or even dominant voice and/or video call system. WhatsApp alone has between 4 and 5 times the market share of Apple's FaceTime.
You need to come up with another explanation.
> My non English fluent and tech illiterate family members can browse the internet and click on all the malware links without worrying about losing personal data or ruining their device. That’s not a Veblen good either.
Quite frankly, that's complete bullshit. The majority of web users, whether they are computer illiterate or not, don't worry about "malware links" at all, and that concern simply doesn not register in the mind of the Facebook+Instagram+WhatsApp+Twitter crowd.
- HatchedLake721 6y agoYou’re missing the point. Apple democratized technology and made it extremely consumer friendly, so that grandparents or a 2 year old know how to use an iPad. Credit where credit’s due.
- lotsofpulp 6y agoIn 2012 or so, FaceTime was the only easy to use, reliable video call option. I know because I tried Skype and hangouts and tango and whatever other crap was out there. They all failed where FaceTime succeeded with all the elders. Also, iPads are the only decent tablet available which are nice for older people due to the larger screen. Reality is my explanation. And I guess I must be imagining the hours I spent removing malware from windows computers before iOS came along. The stage was set a decade ago when the best option was iOS. My grandparents aren’t going to learn a different system nowadays.