3 ms·

I remember when I was a kid, I really wanted Converse All-Star shoes. My Mom said “no,” and that was that. Oh, I should mention that I survived the remarks ab

I remember when I was a kid, I really wanted Converse All-Star shoes. My Mom said “no,” and that was that. Oh, I should mention that I survived the remarks about my K-Mart knock-off’s. I didn’t like it, but oh well. Kids don’t need iPhones. They just want them. “No” is a very good answer.

smt88 3y ago
iPhones are literally a bridge to real social connections. Teens use AirDrop and FaceTime a lot. AirDrop is its own social network in some schools and ages. There's no reason to give a kid one more social hardship when the cheapest iPhones are the same price as passable Android phones. No one is saying you have to drop $1,000 on this. It's like even free from the carrier.
- donmcronald 3y ago
  > It's like even free from the carrier. That’s like getting a “free” car because you pay $1 million dollars for gas. There’s no such thing as a free phone.
  - smt88 3y ago
    > There’s no such thing as a free phone. If your choices are: A) Pay $45/mo. for service. B) Pay $45/mo. for service and get a new phone. Then there is a free phone. You don't pay a lower price if you refuse the phone, so it's effectively free. There are contract terms (usually 2 years), but if you cancel, you pay the remaining value of the phone, so you still got some percentage of that phone subsidized by the carrier.
    - yetanotherasian 3y ago
      Which carriers are these? I just went to the AT&T site, they wanted $30 a month for an iPhone + a separate $85 a month for cellular service. If instead I pick "wireless->bring your own" and go through the steps it was $75 a month so A) Pay $75 a month for service B) Pay $115 a month for service and get a new phone Their bottom offer was $5 a month for an iphone 12 (plus the $85 month for service) Curious which carriers offer free iPhones where there's no difference in price. T-Mobile has a deal if you trade in existing phone but the phone has to be high-end and recent otherwise they won't give you the trade in value needed to cover the new phone.
      - smt88 3y ago
        You get the free phone when you create a new line, so it's easy enough for parents to just choose an iPhone as their kid's first phone (which is what they all seem to be doing).
    - donmcronald 3y ago
      > Then there is a free phone. You don't pay a lower price if you refuse the phone, so it's effectively free. No. The cost of the phone is baked into the plan and you get punished with a higher price if you don’t buy your phone from the carrier. It’s a way of getting people to think of it as free so they’re effectively buying a new phone every 2-3 years. It’s a variation of tied selling, but instead of requiring you buy a phone from them they just price it so it’s obviously a bad deal not to.

smt88 3y ago

iPhones are literally a bridge to real social connections. Teens use AirDrop and FaceTime a lot. AirDrop is its own social network in some schools and ages. There's no reason to give a kid one more social hardship when the cheapest iPhones are the same price as passable Android phones. No one is saying you have to drop $1,000 on this. It's like even free from the carrier.

donmcronald 3y ago
> It's like even free from the carrier. That’s like getting a “free” car because you pay $1 million dollars for gas. There’s no such thing as a free phone.
- smt88 3y ago
  > There’s no such thing as a free phone. If your choices are: A) Pay $45/mo. for service. B) Pay $45/mo. for service and get a new phone. Then there is a free phone. You don't pay a lower price if you refuse the phone, so it's effectively free. There are contract terms (usually 2 years), but if you cancel, you pay the remaining value of the phone, so you still got some percentage of that phone subsidized by the carrier.
  - yetanotherasian 3y ago
    Which carriers are these? I just went to the AT&T site, they wanted $30 a month for an iPhone + a separate $85 a month for cellular service. If instead I pick "wireless->bring your own" and go through the steps it was $75 a month so A) Pay $75 a month for service B) Pay $115 a month for service and get a new phone Their bottom offer was $5 a month for an iphone 12 (plus the $85 month for service) Curious which carriers offer free iPhones where there's no difference in price. T-Mobile has a deal if you trade in existing phone but the phone has to be high-end and recent otherwise they won't give you the trade in value needed to cover the new phone.
    - smt88 3y ago
      You get the free phone when you create a new line, so it's easy enough for parents to just choose an iPhone as their kid's first phone (which is what they all seem to be doing).
  - donmcronald 3y ago
    > Then there is a free phone. You don't pay a lower price if you refuse the phone, so it's effectively free. No. The cost of the phone is baked into the plan and you get punished with a higher price if you don’t buy your phone from the carrier. It’s a way of getting people to think of it as free so they’re effectively buying a new phone every 2-3 years. It’s a variation of tied selling, but instead of requiring you buy a phone from them they just price it so it’s obviously a bad deal not to.