Most aged 18-34 would rather have a smartphone/computer (65%) than a car (35%)

[US 41]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/01/millennials-car-ownership_n_2789454.html

  I'm in this age group. I must be an oddball. I have never had a smartphone and I don't want one. A GPS in my car might be nice (for local routes) even though I have all the major routes in the US, Canada, and Mexico memorized. I don't understand the love for smartphones. I have always loved to drive and plan on making driving my career in a year or two as a long haul truck driver. I drive on average a little over 30K miles per year. I'd much rather drive and see stuff rather than sit on the couch looking at a phone or computer all day.
  I will admit I look at Google Street View a lot (and AARoads), but that is so I can plan road trips. I wouldn't be going to Ojinaga pretty soon if it weren't for GSV. I would never in a million years give up my car for a phone/computer. That is just simply stupid. I do have a Tracfone for emergencies only in my car and that's it. Maybe self driving cars will become popular after all. I'll never buy one.
  What's your thoughts on this?

[kkt]

I don't like cellphones at all.  The sound quality is generally awful, awful microphones, awful speakers, terrible signal reception.  I don't like the assumption that I'm available to be pestered anytime anyplace no matter what else I'm in the middle of.  So, yeah, I'd rather have a car than a cellphone.  Or a bucket of water thrown in my face, that would work too.

[SignGeek101]

Considering I don't like driving (I've been on the bus for more distance than driving) I would much rather have a nice laptop for school and entertainment.

I don't really care for smartphones. I don't use mine often (although I'm typing this reply with a phone) and only charge my phone about once a week.

[PHLBOS]

You do realize that the link you posted is over 2 years old (the link includes the article date) and there was a similar subject thread posted just last year.

[Pete from Boston]

I've had both at once, both without the other, and neither.

A smartphone is a huge help if you don't have a vehicle.  A vehicle is less helpful at replacing a smartphone.

[Henry]

My daughter has all three, and she wouldn't give up any of these things. FTMP, she uses her smartphone mainly for texting and calling home, while she uses her computer to surf the Internet and complete her class projects.

[jeffandnicole]

I don't like cellphones at all.  The sound quality is generally awful, awful microphones, awful speakers, terrible signal reception.  I don't like the assumption that I'm available to be pestered anytime anyplace no matter what else I'm in the middle of.  So, yeah, I'd rather have a car than a cellphone.  Or a bucket of water thrown in my face, that would work too.

Who uses a cell phone for talking??? LOL

Personally, I think the survey is a little misleading.  The age group of 18-34 is 7 years longer than the age group of 35-44 & 45-54 year olds, and many in that first age group are still in school, not needing to worry about things like cars, families and commuting.  As they get older and have families, there's a significant difference in how someone 35/40 years old will be living life than someone 20 or 25 years old.

Additionally, many in that younger age group are probably busy paying off student loans.  Hmmm...let's see...give up a $30,000 car...or a $600 phone.   Not exactly a hard choice there if faced with a financial decision.

Note too that the survey, noted above as being a few years old, was out prior to the extensive usage of Uber & Lyft.  I bet the results would be even more dramatic today of those in the 18-34 age group not wanting to give up their phone rather than a car.  But by their 40s & 50s, those views will have dramatically change.

[triplemultiplex]

Cars pretty much have smart phones built in now so there's no need to choose.

[Pete from Boston]

I don't like cellphones at all.  The sound quality is generally awful, awful microphones, awful speakers, terrible signal reception.  I don't like the assumption that I'm available to be pestered anytime anyplace no matter what else I'm in the middle of.  So, yeah, I'd rather have a car than a cellphone.  Or a bucket of water thrown in my face, that would work too.

Who uses a cell phone for talking??? LOL

Personally, I think the survey is a little misleading.  The age group of 18-34 is 7 years longer than the age group of 35-44 & 45-54 year olds, and many in that first age group are still in school, not needing to worry about things like cars, families and commuting.  As they get older and have families, there's a significant difference in how someone 35/40 years old will be living life than someone 20 or 25 years old.

Additionally, many in that younger age group are probably busy paying off student loans.  Hmmm...let's see...give up a $30,000 car...or a $600 phone.   Not exactly a hard choice there if faced with a financial decision.

I know very few people who buy $30,000 cars, particularly in their years shortly after college. You can buy a very good, reliable vehicle for a quarter of that price. If you're 25, you can probably make it with a vehicle that's even half that much.

Note too that the survey, noted above as being a few years old, was out prior to the extensive usage of Uber & Lyft.  I bet the results would be even more dramatic today of those in the 18-34 age group not wanting to give up their phone rather than a car.  But by their 40s & 50s, those views will have dramatically change.

Even bus use has dramatically changed thanks to smartphones. Bus schedules, and their unreliability, are more or less a thing of the past for smartphone users in bus systems with live GPS tracking.  The app store provide 100% reliability, but the reliability certainly increases the closer one gets to the arrival time.  This intern greatly increases the marketability of areas on bus routes as opposed to train routes, but that is fodder for another discussion.

Cars pretty much have smart phones built in now so there's no need to choose.

I can't use my car anywhere that I am not in the car.  Most of my life, I am not in the car.

[corco]

Frankly, if you live somewhere with good enough public transportation and have access to Zipcar for when that doesn't work, and regular car rentals for long distance travel, I get why people would rather have a phone than a car.

Even with my driving heavy lifestyle, I bet I'd still save money with no convenience loss if I lived even in a city as small as Salt Lake without a car. Add in biking more, and then there's health benefits...I have a brand new, fuel efficient car and still often rent for road trips, because rental cars are cheap.

I'd rather have a car myself, but given how cheap it is to hire a car these days, I totally understand it.

[US 41]

I paid only $2700 for my 05 Dodge Neon that is in excellent shape in every way possible. I took it to Canada over the summer and hopefully next month I will also be driving it to Mexico. Paying a lot of money (over $5000) for a car doesn't make to much sense to me, but that's me. I feel as if there are plenty of really reliable cars for less than $5000 that will get me where I want to go. I'm not too hard to please.

Most smartphone bills are over $100 per month. My Tracfone costs me under $25 every 3 months. I invest money into my car because I like to travel. Most teens don't like to travel and I think partially that is because they never have really traveled before. I live in Terre Haute and I know lots of people that have never been north of Chicago, west of St. Louis, or east of Indianapolis (most have been to Florida however). They don't understand the freedom of being able to get behind the wheel and go wherever they want because they have never experienced it before. Most kids get smartphones now by the time they are in middle school. I'm thankful my parents didn't get me hooked to that crap. I've been to 31 states in my life and I plan on going to all the lower 48 and Alaska. I also plan on visiting all the provinces and estados in Canada and Mexico (been to Ontario and Quebec). I guarantee I will make more value of my life seeing the continent that God put me on rather than playing on some smartphone or the internet. 

I also don't understand not wanting to meet up with friends or talk to people in general. That's what I've always preferred to do. I guess I should've grown up in a different generation.

[SD Mapman]

I understand these people (public transportation, yadda yadda), but I would much rather have a car than a phone/computer. "Smart" phones will probably be the death of this generation. I do have a flip phone and laptop out of necessity, but that's it.

[US 41]

I understand these people (public transportation, yadda yadda), but I would much rather have a car than a phone/computer. "Smart" phones will probably be the death of this generation. I do have a flip phone and laptop out of necessity, but that's it.

This is my exact phone. I can only text and make phone calls. It doesn't have internet and I can't even take pictures with it. I think I have around 550 minutes on it too. Well..... I guess it does have a basic calendar and I can also use it as an alarm clock.   

[Scott5114]

"Smart" phones will probably be the death of this generation.

The nice thing about having a smartphone is I can use it to easily look up synonyms for "outdated" and "Luddite".

[GCrites]

Cars pretty much have smart phones built in now so there's no need to choose.

The 1997 Civics and 2001 Kias most young people drive don't.

[english si]

synonyms for "Luddite".

Competent? Skilled? Disliking cheap labour making shoddy products? ;P

Considering I don't like driving (I've been on the bus for more distance than driving) I would much rather have a nice laptop for school and entertainment.

Other than using the bus (I tend to walk, or get the train, if travelling alone) this is me.

I don't really care for smartphones. I don't use mine often (although I'm typing this reply with a phone) and only charge my phone about once a week.

I don't like crappy phones - smartphones I can see the use of on occasion (GPS, camera, music player and internet access in one device), but I hate making/taking calls, and the keyboards on regular phones make text-based conversation awkward.

I don't like the assumption that I'm available to be pestered anytime anyplace no matter what else I'm in the middle of.

Nor do I, which is why, when I had a cell phone, I rarely used it. I was asked several times back then by telemarketers working for different networks "do you want our contract - it's £20 a month unlimited" and my response was always "no, I only spend about £10 a year on credit, if that", which always got the response "£10 a month? we have a contract where if you top up that we'll give you 200 free texts and you get to keep the credit" "no, £10 a year".

Even receiving calls was a rare event outside the house, as I just never charged it, nor had it on me unless I specifically made an effort to do so.

In the past 5 years or more of not having a cell phone, there's probably been about 10 incidents where I've needed to use one, and not all of them were actual necessary (some were "this person is giving me a lift most of the way home, to x nearby, can you pick me up from there" when I could have simply taken the train home).

[Pete from Boston]

The survey question is being sort of overanalyzed here–it's not like there's a dichotomy between smartphone use and car ownership.  Smartphones make it easier by far to get by without a car, but they also make trips by car a lot easier.

[Scott5114]

synonyms for "Luddite".

Competent? Skilled? Disliking cheap labour making shoddy products? ;P

I was pressed for time so I just shot off a quick, snarky comment (and I recognize you're making a quip back referencing the etymology of the term Luddite), but I have time to expand upon it a bit.

I find it rather irritating and tiresome to hear usually older people hold up the smartphone as an example of everything that is Bad And Wrong with the millennial generation, as if it's some symbol of narcissism and laziness that is clearly nothing more than a plaything. These people generally have no idea what the hell they're talking about.

A smartphone is basically a streamlined, barebones computer I can carry around with me. That's fucking awesome. I use the phone function of my phone perhaps once a day–and yet it offers so much utility to me aside from that. When you see someone using a smartphone, they could be doing practically anything on it. On every break at work I'm using my phone in the breakroom–but I'm not playing games or tweeting or browsing Facebook; I'm sending emails, doing marketing work for my business, or reading this very forum.* Without my phone I'd be sitting there vacantly watching whatever's on TV in the breakroom. If I'm away from the house, I can look up whatever information I need about any subject in the world, the definition or spelling of any word, or any fact. I can look up the exact amount to the penny that is in my bank account. I have a watch, calculator, camera, and flashlight wherever I go. I like having a smartphone.

But then you get people who see a smartphone as some sort of expensive toy only for posting selfies to Facebook and they get all high and mighty about never having had one or how they saw some kid who was X years old with a phone and they never had one until they were Y and what do they need it for, anyway? Kids these days, sheesh! Without realizing that it is a tool that can be used for any number of uses. For all you know they're solving differential equations on their phone. It is as foolish as getting judgemental about someone owning a crescent wrench.

And of course most of the people spouting such things seem to be the type to stubbornly refuse to learn how to use a computer and expect people to baby them through it whenever they are required to use a computer. If they would exhibit the intellectual curiosity to learn how to accomplish basic tasks on a computer and at least try to understand what they're doing instead of working down a paint-by-numbers process so they can try to correct themselves instead of mentally shutting down when something goes wrong, they'd find life a lot easier. But it's easier to turn up your nose at the tools everyone else is using and declare it to be the death of an entire generation.

That being said, if I had to sacrifice phone or car I'd have to have the car. Living in Oklahoma without one is basically putting life on Expert Challenge Mode. Computer or car? Might have to sacrifice the car; it's next to impossible to live life without Internet access anymore. (I had to try, and fail, to repeatedly explain to an older lady asking me at work about applying for a job that she would have to apply online. No matter how many times you say "I'm not a computer person", it will not make HR accept a non-electronic application.)

*Not that any of these tasks are enjoyable on a smartphone. Touch screen keyboards are of the devil. I'd much rather use a desktop if one is available at the time, but the internet is grievously hobbled at my workplace, so I can't do them on my down time at work, only on my phone on breaks.

[english si]

I find it rather irritating and tiresome to hear usually older people hold up the smartphone as an example of everything that is Bad And Wrong with the millennial generation, as if it's some symbol of narcissism and laziness that is clearly nothing more than a plaything. These people generally have no idea what the hell they're talking about.

As part of the Millennial generation: it is a symbol of the narcissism and laziness of our generalised generation (especially the younger end of it). Lots of Gen Xers (totally ignoring that they are as, if not more, smart phone addicted as teenagers) moan about it as well as older generations who don't know, or care, how to use a smart phone.

Constant access to the internet and a camera always on and the flood of self-aggrandising posts on social media is a clear sign of narcissism (that said the most self-aggrandising and prolific drivel-posting people I see on social media are Gen X). IMV, though, a clearer sign is that people often aren't in the room at all, but on their phones.

That we don't have to remember anything any more because we can always just look things up on our phone is, to the older generations, a sign of our laziness and lack of skills (I'm sure they got slammed for having calculators, food processors and microwave ovens for exactly the same reasons). For me, its more worrying as phone-dependency is genuinely making us stupider - there's research that shows it.

There's tons of plusses sure, but there are negatives as well, but you are dumping all the negatives out with the ignorant curmudgeons.

[Scott5114]

I don't necessarily see those as real negatives, though. People aren't necessarily "in the room" any more without a phone than they with it. Someone reading a novel might lose themselves in it and not be in the room, but we'd scarcely criticize that behavior. Put the novel on a touch screen and it's the end of civilization.

Personally, I prefer to avoid the room anyway, since I don't have much interest in small talk with strangers; instead I can use my phone to have a conversation I'm actually interested in with someone in Michigan.

Perhaps the main issue here is that I tend to take a dim view of every generation saying the next one is going to blow the world up with some new, frightening behavior, which naturally never comes to pass. You can find political cartoons from the Middle Ages with the exact same message, but the new technology that is destroying society? Playing cards.

[1995hoo]

A smartphone, or a tablet, does some extremely useful things. Being able to deposit checks without going to the bank is extremely convenient, for example; so are things like being able to adjust the thermostat remotely or program the DVR for my wife when we aren't home and she forgot to ask me sooner. True, none of these things are "essential" and we all did just fine without them for years, just like we did without mobile phones at all for years. But they're all things that do make life easier.

The thing I find really annoying is the people, regardless of what generation they are (though this particular problem seems most prevalent with people under about age 30) who seem to be incapable of walking down the street without staring at a phone oblivious to everyone else on the sidewalk and who seem to think everyone else should watch out for them and should bob and weave around them while they walk on the wrong side. Pay attention to where you're going!

Regarding giving up a car or a phone, I think so much of whether one views that as reasonable depends on where one lives and where one is willing to live. If you live in a city and don't mind spending money on things like Uber and Zipcar when you need to get around, not having a car might work, and certainly in New York a lot of people went without cars long before services like Uber and Zipcar started. New York is far from typical for a North American city, of course. If, like me, you don't care for the experience of living in the city itself, a car is much more important because things like Uber become more important and take more time to use (due to fewer cars being nearby at any given time) and things like Zipcar may be unrealistic because you need a way to get to the Zipcar. I'm sure my opinion is colored by living in Fairfax County since 1974 and always having cars (either my parents having them when I was growing up or my having them since I turned 16). I would not want to attempt to live without a car and put my mobility in other people's hands unless and until I reach a point where I'm no longer capable of driving myself, a point I hope doesn't come for many years, if ever. Not having the car would rob me of too much flexibility and would be a serious hassle for lots of the things we like to do on our weekends. We'll use Uber for things like trips to the airport (due to the cost of parking there) or for rides home when the Metrorail is in meltdown. It's good to have options in those situations. So I won't scorn the ideas of such things, and of course to use these services you pretty much need a smartphone (I think I read Uber requires their app even though you register through their website).

[hotdogPi]

Computer and smartphone shouldn't be lumped together. They're all about 1/3 each (computer, smartphone, car).

[Scott5114]

The thing I find really annoying is the people, regardless of what generation they are (though this particular problem seems most prevalent with people under about age 30) who seem to be incapable of walking down the street without staring at a phone oblivious to everyone else on the sidewalk and who seem to think everyone else should watch out for them and should bob and weave around them while they walk on the wrong side. Pay attention to where you're going!

Of course, this is just the person being oblivious/inconsiderate and the phone just exacerbates the behavior. You see the same behavior in a store where people are bobbing and weaving around the aisles not letting you pass because they're staring, glassy-eyed, at the potato chip displays. Or when they're standing in a group talking in any public space, blocking foot traffic.

[AlexandriaVA]

Many tech-focused nerdy Millenials, such as Zuckerburg, have already made orders of magnitude more money than most Gen-X and Boomers would ever dream of.

And much of that money was made via developments relating to smartphones.

I wouldn't get too much down the road of the car vs smartphone debate. A car is merely a tool. Some tools, such as toilets, are timeless. Others, such as the telegraph are not. Time will tell how and if the car lasts.

But to write off something because you don't like it, or to guarantee its persistence merely because you like it, is foolish.

[Brandon]

I wouldn't get too much down the road of the car vs smartphone debate. A car is merely a tool. Some tools, such as toilets, are timeless. Others, such as the telegraph are not. Time will tell how and if the car lasts.

Given that the car merely replaced the horse and horse and wagon/buggy, I'd say it's here to stay.  The telegraph was very limited in what it could do, and was outdone by the phone fairly quickly.  And the phone is also very much here to stay.