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Comment by mandelbrotwurst | Hacker News Reader

> I'd argue the smartphone is irrelevant.

Access to information helps you obtain and maintain a roof over your head.

> I don't think we should be including basic necessities alongside improvements in entertainment in the same statistic, because it will just hide problems.

Agreed.

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Yes and no.. The smartphone is extremely relevant because access to the internet is essential for modern life. So much necessary activity takes place online, from banking to accessing public services. That needs to be factored in, perhaps not as the cost of a smartphone, but rather the cost of a laptop plus internet.

And yet, it doesn't matter if you have a smartphone and internet access if there are no jobs, or if those jobs don't pay sufficiently.

To add to that internet connected device is required, but latest iPhone that costs 15x as much is not really materially more important than a $50 one for looking at job ads/emailing potential landlords.

Likewise, a flagship phone 5 years ago might be technically less advanced than a flagship phone today, but that doesn't mean todays flagship phone is any better at looking at job ads today than the other one was 5 years ago either.

This idea that we should weight technical improvements like this when judging how the economy is performing just seems like a (maybe unintentional) attempt to paint a rosier picture than actual reality to me.

Except that the sites expand to fit the devices in use by those that make them, unless someone goes to deliberate and extensive efforts to prevent it.

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