[toofy]

> practically speaking, a phone is a necessity.

no. it isn’t.

my apologies for sounding more blunt than im meaning to, but, im not at all sure where i would fall on the idea of banning kids from having social media powered phones, but i know they’re not a “necessity”.

[laserlight]

I could have been clearer. A phone is practically a necessity of modern life. Sooner or later people have to use it, unlike alcohol. Whether social media is a necessity is a different question. I bet everyone gets their own dose of it, whether they like it or not.

[defrost]

> A phone is practically a necessity of modern life.

It isn't yet.

> Sooner or later people have to use it, unlike alcohol.

So far I've avoided having a smart phone, I've not had a mobile phone since flip phones - I went off always being contactable about that time, having had bleeding edge sat phones for decades.

I have a land line, an answering machine, travel, purchase, am part of several overlapping businesses and deliver work for clients.

eMail, cash, debit cards still get me by <shrug>

[laserlight]

> It isn't yet.

Would you care to elaborate how you don't think a phone is not “practically necessary”?

I have never personally met someone like you. I've never known someone who personally met someone like you either. Theoretically, nothing is a necessity. That's why I wrote “practically”. Practically nobody lives like you do.

[defrost]

> Would you care to elaborate how you don't think a phone is not “practically necessary”?

Can you rephrase sans the cascading negatives. To restate, I have a full life in a G20 country, I don't own or use a smart phone.

> I have never personally met someone like you.

There are many people on the planet.

> Practically nobody lives like you do.

There are many people like me .. you don't met them via your smart phone.

[marysol5]

I've had smart phones since the first Android, and my whole live revolves around my digital data (even more so when I have 2FA on everything)

But I've had plenty of moments in my life without a phone, be it the battery is dead, or I've lost/broke it. And I've survived fine.

I've had to re-engineer some parts of life, but yet I remain...

[marysol5]

It really isn't