What are Tech Essentials?

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Cell Phones, Consumer electronics, Electronics, Mobile phone, Science and Technology, Smartphone, Tech Essentials

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English: Political world map shaded according to the number of cell phone subscriptions in each country and spanning the years 1980-2009. Data is from Mathematica CountryData (http://reference.wolfram.com/mathematica/note/CountryDataSourceInformation.html). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Are you just calling them essentials to justify the expense of things you want? Or are tech essentials just the consumer electronics being promoted? Does the term really mean anything?

Essential means absolutely necessary or indispensable. Many people, even today, do get by without the latest and greatest consumer electronic devices. However, cell phones (or mobile phones) are becoming indispensable to more and more people. Younger people, older people, and poorer people. Mobile phones have improved many lives in less developed countries.

To find out if your phone is indispensable, try going without yours for more than a day. Most of us depend on our phones more than we realize, until we suddenly don’t have it for some reason. We don’t wear watches or memorize phone numbers. We don’t worry about our families quite as much, because we know they can always call us if they need us.

Phones can save lives in emergencies. Phones can increase safety and independence. Phones can connect families and improve communication. It’s actually harder to justify not having a cell phone than it is to justify the cost. Smartphones may not be within everyone’s reach, but the many features can be worth the money for people who can afford them.

Here is a partial list of devices that you may not consider necessary now that you have a cell phone.

Watches
Cameras
Flashlights
Calculators
Portable media players
Personal digital assistants
GPS navigation devices
E-readers
Pagers

Some people may even be able to get by without a computer as long as they have their phone. What changes would you have to make to give up your cell phone?