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>many more goods and services than otherwise would've been possible Why is More stuff =/= a better life not blatantly obvious at this point Having an iPhone d

>many more goods and services than otherwise would've been possible Why is More stuff =/= a better life not blatantly obvious at this point Having an iPhone doesn't make your life better

throwaway173738 4y ago
Yeah it’s like saying that if only we all had 800 hammers we’d all live like kings. Technology does not automatically make life better, only different. Better is a value judgement.
- transcoderx 4y ago
  If you have cancer and a doctor can cure it, it is not just a value judgement.
lotsofpulp 4y ago
Here are some of the ways in which a smartphone + mobile broadband has made my life better: Having a communications device that lets me contact whoever I want, whenever I want, and share media immediately. A mapping solution to ensure I am never lost. Access to the world’s largest repository of information so I can look up information or how to do something at a moment’s notice. Reminder system to help me keep track of tasks. Access to whichever books/music/videos/games I want at anytime in any place. Ability to manage money and pay (An additional way at least, without the need to carry cards). Health tracking and alert benefits of a watch paired with a phone. Ability to take high quality photos and videos at anytime.
- weatherlite 4y ago
  I'm not denying any of these improvements but there is also evidence that walking with this constant distraction and being bombarded by social media / news is bad for mental health and our ability to focus.
chii 4y ago
> Having an iPhone doesn't make your life better But having a lot of easy to access food certainly does. Or what about clean water, or electricity? Or cheap transport? When has there been in the past, before the advent of industrial automation and technology, that people could just travel on a whim somewhere more than a day's walk away? Just because some symbol of luxury like the iphone is what you think of as "more stuff", doesn't mean it is. "more stuff" is _everything_, and while it does include the iphone, it also includes the cheap phone that makes it possible to communicate almost for free with almost anyone close or far. The tickle down has been happening for the past 70 years, and the regular people have been benefiting so much that it looks normal now. I would use the analogy of boiling a frog, but somehow this doesn't quite suit.
- AndrewKemendo 4y ago
  >The tickle down has been happening for the past 70 years, and the regular people have been benefiting so much that it looks normal now. This is just not true based on the data. The rich eat well - but food insecurity is still RAMPANT because of greed. Food is less healthy now than ever and the majority of the population is malnourished - that is to say eating the wrong thing - despite us having enough capacity to produce quality food for everyone. Food deserts ensure that the poorest people get the worst food.
  - transcoderx 4y ago
    Isn't junk food generally more expensive than vegetables?
    - AndrewKemendo 4y ago
      Not really - the McDonalds dollar menu is what a lot of poor people live on because they have no time or energy to shop and cook. Again a big piece of this is because food deserts don't have fresh food, so you have to commute to shop often.
      - transcoderx 4y ago
CrazyStat 4y ago
If having an iPhone doesn't make your life better, why do you spend $1000 on one? (You being a generic you in both cases)
- dystopianthrow 4y ago
  Because what would've been my self-sufficient tribe that needed nothing more than food, socialization, and shelter has been obliterated by various, human-made forces, and I now have to try and fill in the void by spending money. Partly the social void via digital communication, and partly ancillary emotions generated by having something nice that makes my sisyphean pursuit just a little bit easier. If I was able to live a life where I could see my friends and family, and be a part of a community, without any threat of that way of life being destroyed, I would not be working a job in a first world country. Nor would I be stuffing my metaphorical and physical face with: entertainment, food, various media like video games, etc. Good company is enough to stay entertained for hours -- and it's free; but past a certain age becomes annoyingly more difficult to find as people get loaded on responsibilities, and time-commitments, and other things they believe are prudent for their "success." I'm an extreme extrovert. My biggest gripe with capitalism is that it's alienated and killed the souls of all the people around me -- and now I have to spend copious amounts of money just to try and fill that void.
  - AndrewKemendo 4y ago
    I couldn’t have said it better myself! That’s a well said narrative
  - vc8f6vVV 4y ago
    How about moving to Amish county? You always have a choice. Just don't expect to find there a social utopia where "everybody is free and everybody has at least 6 slaves", people are the same everywhere, with iPhones or not.
    - dystopianthrow 4y ago
      It's crossed my mind, but I'm already too "English" to fit in. I might end up somewhere quiet in LatAm -- maybe Colombia, where they have a cultural notion of "enough."

>many more goods and services than otherwise would've been possible Why is More stuff =/= a better life not blatantly obvious at this point Having an iPhone doesn't make your life better

throwaway173738 4y ago

Yeah it’s like saying that if only we all had 800 hammers we’d all live like kings. Technology does not automatically make life better, only different. Better is a value judgement.

transcoderx 4y ago
If you have cancer and a doctor can cure it, it is not just a value judgement.

lotsofpulp 4y ago

Here are some of the ways in which a smartphone + mobile broadband has made my life better: Having a communications device that lets me contact whoever I want, whenever I want, and share media immediately. A mapping solution to ensure I am never lost. Access to the world’s largest repository of information so I can look up information or how to do something at a moment’s notice. Reminder system to help me keep track of tasks. Access to whichever books/music/videos/games I want at anytime in any place. Ability to manage money and pay (An additional way at least, without the need to carry cards). Health tracking and alert benefits of a watch paired with a phone. Ability to take high quality photos and videos at anytime.

weatherlite 4y ago
I'm not denying any of these improvements but there is also evidence that walking with this constant distraction and being bombarded by social media / news is bad for mental health and our ability to focus.

chii 4y ago

> Having an iPhone doesn't make your life better But having a lot of easy to access food certainly does. Or what about clean water, or electricity? Or cheap transport? When has there been in the past, before the advent of industrial automation and technology, that people could just travel on a whim somewhere more than a day's walk away? Just because some symbol of luxury like the iphone is what you think of as "more stuff", doesn't mean it is. "more stuff" is _everything_, and while it does include the iphone, it also includes the cheap phone that makes it possible to communicate almost for free with almost anyone close or far. The tickle down has been happening for the past 70 years, and the regular people have been benefiting so much that it looks normal now. I would use the analogy of boiling a frog, but somehow this doesn't quite suit.

AndrewKemendo 4y ago
>The tickle down has been happening for the past 70 years, and the regular people have been benefiting so much that it looks normal now. This is just not true based on the data. The rich eat well - but food insecurity is still RAMPANT because of greed. Food is less healthy now than ever and the majority of the population is malnourished - that is to say eating the wrong thing - despite us having enough capacity to produce quality food for everyone. Food deserts ensure that the poorest people get the worst food.
- transcoderx 4y ago
  Isn't junk food generally more expensive than vegetables?
  - AndrewKemendo 4y ago
    Not really - the McDonalds dollar menu is what a lot of poor people live on because they have no time or energy to shop and cook. Again a big piece of this is because food deserts don't have fresh food, so you have to commute to shop often.
    - transcoderx 4y ago

CrazyStat 4y ago

If having an iPhone doesn't make your life better, why do you spend $1000 on one? (You being a generic you in both cases)

dystopianthrow 4y ago
Because what would've been my self-sufficient tribe that needed nothing more than food, socialization, and shelter has been obliterated by various, human-made forces, and I now have to try and fill in the void by spending money. Partly the social void via digital communication, and partly ancillary emotions generated by having something nice that makes my sisyphean pursuit just a little bit easier. If I was able to live a life where I could see my friends and family, and be a part of a community, without any threat of that way of life being destroyed, I would not be working a job in a first world country. Nor would I be stuffing my metaphorical and physical face with: entertainment, food, various media like video games, etc. Good company is enough to stay entertained for hours -- and it's free; but past a certain age becomes annoyingly more difficult to find as people get loaded on responsibilities, and time-commitments, and other things they believe are prudent for their "success." I'm an extreme extrovert. My biggest gripe with capitalism is that it's alienated and killed the souls of all the people around me -- and now I have to spend copious amounts of money just to try and fill that void.
- AndrewKemendo 4y ago
  I couldn’t have said it better myself! That’s a well said narrative
- vc8f6vVV 4y ago
  How about moving to Amish county? You always have a choice. Just don't expect to find there a social utopia where "everybody is free and everybody has at least 6 slaves", people are the same everywhere, with iPhones or not.
  - dystopianthrow 4y ago
    It's crossed my mind, but I'm already too "English" to fit in. I might end up somewhere quiet in LatAm -- maybe Colombia, where they have a cultural notion of "enough."