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> Any cell phone, and especially a smartphone, is not integral to modern society Neither is hot, running water. A bucket and a hole in the backyard were good e

> Any cell phone, and especially a smartphone, is not integral to modern society Neither is hot, running water. A bucket and a hole in the backyard were good enough for my ancestors, they're good enough for everyone else in 2020! Joke aside, are you saying online banking and payment is a luxury? Do you realize that many basic services are switching over to smartphone payment? Such as public transport fares.

mlthoughts2018 6y ago
The joke doesn’t land though, because hot running water affects septic systems, sterilization, and many other public health concerns that easily make it considerable as a public utility. Online banking or smartphone public transit passes aren’t just luxuries, they are extreme luxuries. For example, I don’t have any banking apps on my phone and I get mailed a paper subway pass every month. Same for millions of others. No banking app is owed a slot in an app store, and no consumer is owed an app based workflow. Those are just products in a marketplace, nowhere remotely close to the concept of public utilities.
- himinlomax 6y ago
  > Online banking or smartphone public transit passes aren’t just luxuries, they are extreme luxuries. True, you could just shoplift your food instead of paying for it with money earned by going to a job. Not sure what your definition of "luxury" let alone "extreme luxury" is, but it clearly is a unique one.
  - mlthoughts2018 6y ago
    That’s a ridiculously myopic response. Most of the world doesn’t have adequate access to sufficient education, clean water, basic disease prevention, birth control, etc. But here you are acting self-righteous about online app-based banking and comparing the lack of convenient apps with poverty induced food theft? You need a reality check.
    - himinlomax 6y ago
      Poor people need a bank account, fact. They need to get to their job, fact. Public transport is the most affordable way to do so, fact. Or do you believe many entry-level jobs pay in cash and are at walking distance from places working class people can afford to live in?

mlthoughts2018 6y ago

The joke doesn’t land though, because hot running water affects septic systems, sterilization, and many other public health concerns that easily make it considerable as a public utility. Online banking or smartphone public transit passes aren’t just luxuries, they are extreme luxuries. For example, I don’t have any banking apps on my phone and I get mailed a paper subway pass every month. Same for millions of others. No banking app is owed a slot in an app store, and no consumer is owed an app based workflow. Those are just products in a marketplace, nowhere remotely close to the concept of public utilities.

himinlomax 6y ago
> Online banking or smartphone public transit passes aren’t just luxuries, they are extreme luxuries. True, you could just shoplift your food instead of paying for it with money earned by going to a job. Not sure what your definition of "luxury" let alone "extreme luxury" is, but it clearly is a unique one.
- mlthoughts2018 6y ago
  That’s a ridiculously myopic response. Most of the world doesn’t have adequate access to sufficient education, clean water, basic disease prevention, birth control, etc. But here you are acting self-righteous about online app-based banking and comparing the lack of convenient apps with poverty induced food theft? You need a reality check.
  - himinlomax 6y ago
    Poor people need a bank account, fact. They need to get to their job, fact. Public transport is the most affordable way to do so, fact. Or do you believe many entry-level jobs pay in cash and are at walking distance from places working class people can afford to live in?