"That person on wellfare/whatever can't REALLY be poor -- they have a cell phone!"

[xiphias]

You ever hear people say that?

Cheapest landline I can find around here: $45/month, with long-term contract. Most are closer to $60.
Cell phone data plan with unlimited text and talk, worldwide, and 500 mb of web: $50/month, no contract.

We SHOULD be saying, "That person can't REALLY be poor -- they can afford to not have a cell phone!"

The whole "cell phones are for rich people" stopped being true in the 20th century.

Comments

[paper-crystals.livejournal.com]

It depends...I worked as a janitor in a clean room and cell phones were very useful. Both for your boss contacting you and you contacting your boss. The environment that I worked in was multi-floored and many of the spaces were the size of football fields and everyone wore white bunny suits. For jobs in a small work environment where you constantly see your boss you can borrow someone else's and they aren't really necessary. For larger work environments where you are constantly moving around they make more sense. Interestingly enough, they are more useful in many poverty wage environments than in white collar environments. (At least the ones I have worked in. YMMV of course.)