[vekker]

I don't know about that... for example, as smartphones become more and more ubiquitous, it becomes easy and cheap for people of all income levels to indulge in visual & auditory sensory overload.

I'm currently traveling in Asia and it's jarring to see the number of people sitting idly, watching some random YouTube videos or Facebooking to pass the time.

[EdwardDiego]

> I'm currently traveling in Asia and it's jarring to see the number of people sitting idly, watching some random YouTube videos or Facebooking to pass the time.

Why is it jarring?

[BoorishBears]

Because this person comes from a place where people watch random YouTube videos or Facebook somewhere less visible, like their offices, or their own homes.

[Japhy_Ryder]

Because there's an actual real world, with real people around us that we could be interacting with, rather than staring at a smartphone screen?

[EdwardDiego]

Why is it jarring to see in Asia, as opposed to everywhere else?

[hinkley]

The internet tells me that smoking costs about $2k a year. I’m pretty sure people are spending that much on cell phones now.

[shantly]

Hm. ~$600/yr for a not-great data plan. Call it $200/yr for the cheapest phone that won't make you want to toss it off a bridge or crush it underfoot, if you keep it three years. $800/yr as kinda the minimum to have a phone with the capabilities and usability to actually do anything with it without going into frugal-enough-it's-A-Thing-for-you territory, yeah, I could see $2k/yr not being that far off for a lot of people. Throw in $200/yr of IAP or subscriptions, a better data plan with a more realistic cap for heavy use, replacing your phone every two years instead of three and getting top-end models rather than older or mid-range ones.

Yeah, $2k/yr's probably not an uncommon amount of cellphone-related spending in the US, I bet.