I don't have a comment on inequality generally, but what's your point specifically about a phone being a requirement?

Toilets are also a "near requirement" in any meaningful sense that phones are a near requirement. But toilets (and sewage more generally) are obviously quality of life improvements over what humans had in previous epochs of history.

Stated more succinctly: hasn't it always been common for major improvements in quality of life to eventually become the default, rather than the exception? Or am I misunderstanding your point?

How is it a requirement? I have friends that don’t have a smartphone as well. Or cable. Or Netflix. And yet lots of people who seem upset at the state of things happily spend on all these same unnecessary goods and services. If anything it points to the fact that these things are more important to them than things people are claiming are necessities or “rights”, such as healthcare.