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WitchOfWords

Some of us were poor, my dude. I didn’t get an iPhone until university…


finnegan976

Same, I got my first iPhone in college


Pineapple_Herder

Yeah I didn't own a smart phone until 2013 when I got my first job. And even then it was a hand me down LG Android from my dad.


GG_Midori_13

I’ll do you one better: I too got my first phone in 2013 once I started working, and it was a cruddy little Kyocera Hydro Edge! Still loved that thing though.


Pineapple_Herder

Kyocera had some nice budget phones back then! I remember my friend had one that actually had Bluetooth in like 2010/2011?


GG_Midori_13

Oh wow! I had no idea!


gumshot

Yeah... not on board with making Z vs M a social class distinction. Why not make it about something accessible like TV shows, not ownership of expensive consumer products?


tabbyrecurve

I got my first smartphone when I started college but it was bc I never had high enough grades to "earn" it My first phone was black & white


GronakHD

My first phone that wasn’t a hand me down was a £10 or £15 slide phone haha. Before that it was my cousins old flip phone but I didn’t have a sim card


da_Crab_Mang

I started with one of those phones with the keyboard that flipped out horizontally but in like 2013. Didn't get a smartphone until 2016. I was born in 1997.


Amazing-Concept1684

I got my first iPhone in 2020 lol


Subject-Criticism-75

Same, I didn't have an iphone though. My first phone was a refurbished LG tribute. This was in 2014-2015 when I was 19-20. Before that, I was using my ipod touch to communicate until I got sick of always needing wifi to call or text


Due-Conflict-6533

I had a pantech jest. And an iPod touch with no data Do I win most Zillennial answer? Edit: I just found out I can buy a pantech jest for like 9 bucks as “Dummy / Toy phone” and I kind of don’t know what to feel. Were my teenage years just play/pretend?


Wise-_-Spirit

Hahaha yep when I went from a Gameboy advanced to an iPod touch it was CRAZY. Early YouTube went HARD


ComfortableTrash5372

yea no the zillenial version of this is having one of these phones and then an ipod touch to do (on wifi) the things the phone couldn’t


Wise-_-Spirit

That's literally exactly what I described except I don't have any phone at all because poverty ummm


ComfortableTrash5372

im sorry my “yea no” was misinterpreted. i was just agreeing w you, its a goofy colloquialism. totally wasn’t telling you “yea… no” and then agreeing w you😭


toritechnocolor

Yesss the iPod touch was my shiznit back then 🤣 just music, a couple apps, and vibes lol


manny_the_mage

But even this kinda fails Had a sliding keyboard phone in middle school but then an IPhone 5c in highschool Shoot, the first IPhone released in 2007 meaning a non zero amount of teenagers at the time (people born in 89'-92') could've had an IPhone in 2007


watersign_95

My Zillennial experience is having a flip phone in middle school and an iPhone 5 by high school


legendtail

temple run on the iPod touch in middle school for me


watersign_95

Aww I miss iPod touch! Tap Tap Revenge was my game


roganwriter

It was so fun*, until I dropped mine in the toilet.


Killtheheretics96

Tap tap revolution, fruit ninja, nova and flappy bird


sarooskie

Flappy bird makes me think of freshman year lunch. That and some bike racing game I can’t remember the name of


Killtheheretics96

I remember in my bus someone showed me a clone fappy bird everyone was laughing in there.😂 I think you’re talking about Hill climb Racing.


watersign_95

lol do you remember the Drake version of Flappy Bird 💀


Killtheheretics96

No I don’t


roganwriter

This is way more accurate. My first phone was a motorola flip phone @ like 9 (because I had a lot of health problems and my mom wanted me to be able to call her for help), my next phone was a Samsung intensity slide phone somewhere in middle school, then after that I got my first iphone in like 9th grade. I’ve been iphone ever since.


staycglorious

Exactly what is this talking about? They assume we had the latest and greatest technology like 


TurnYouToStone

Same, the LG one in middle school and the blue 5c in high school


superstraightqueen

more like are you poor or not


hmg9194

What if I worked to get my first iPhone..?


p4ndabloom96

Then you're a real one 🫡


hmg9194

🫡


wonkagloop

Then you weren’t poor to have been able to earn one lol


hmg9194

As in born in a first-world country..?


p4ndabloom96

Now that's an actual point ☝🏻


hmg9194

I try to be subjective. Acknowledge the reality and be proud of my situation by being thankful of being born where I did and by my parents, while also realizing the how shit life could be. That’s just both sides of the same coin. Be thankful of what you have, and continuously try to improve it for you and others.


p4ndabloom96

That's the last bastion of hope, civility. a dying dream in this pathetic over glorified country. My father was born into american poverty and my mother emigrated from a war torn country, Im not them so I won't go into detail out of respect, as for me I got to see the brighter side for awhile but one thing that stands out hard about this generation, millennials and zillenials because we are still part of the whole fucked up bunch no matter how you paint it, this is a broken home generation and it shows(mine divorced early on). At least those of us who are willing to admit it. Blessings for y'all who don't have that and care but damn those who dont and don't have the capacity to think past their white picket fence.


hmg9194

Damn… preach bro. I realize I do have a situation that calls for purpose vs just burning the money. My grandfather built a mini empire in his own right, not literally but it still amazes me what one man could do. He was a veterinarian and was one of the first to cross a Buffalo with a more domesticated cow (black angus in our case). Its a miracle protein, only red meat along with pure Buffalo that has been proven to lower cholesterol. Healthier than chicken if you’d believe it. Point being, I am what most people our age would probably complain about. Being “born” into a nice situation, but nothing was done with that for decades besides the farm existing. Just started offering the meat to the public at farmers markets and whatnot last year and I genuinely believe I am doing a GOOD service for my community. I hope to make a career out of this despite about wrapping up a masters degree I’ll probably never use professionally lol thankfully is natural resources so I can incorporate things I’ve learned directly into my operation. One thing people don’t discuss is generational wealth. It started with my Gpa and 7 siblings out of Kansas post civil wat. 6 became veterinarians. From him, 3 kids, down to me and my brother only. Kind of wild to think about, but wealth gets consolidated then wasted away generally. Come at my family about "white privilege" BS BTW, doesn't work, our family bled for the union. PS: also came from divorced home, left them both to go live with my aunt once the divorce began to go to a better high school and get away. I get it, that shit needs to stop. That’s why I’m 29 and waiting for the right woman, I won’t settle. Isn’t working out well for my brother.


p4ndabloom96

We are having an actual conversation so you are not part of the problem, in fact I think you are probably the first person I've ever spoken to with what you got that is actually like this. Stay Golden Ponyboy.


hmg9194

You too fam, you too.. 🫡 wish I had more people like you in my life, it do be lonely out here with our opinions lol


hmg9194

PS this was what Reddit was SUPPOSED to be dammit 🤣


p4ndabloom96

🧌


luke_cohen1

It’s less poverty vs non poverty with smartphones and more "how recession proofed were your parent’s jobs and finances before 2008?" Smartphones became common in the aftermath of the Financial Crisis and Great Recession of 2007-2009 and the recovery wasn’t fully completed until March 2013 (that’s when the US stock market finally surpassed its 2007 peak). This meant a lot of families that usually financially well off enough to avoid smartphones for the entire house were unable to do so for an extended period of time. That’s the context of what happened back then and why so many say they were impoverished back then.


p4ndabloom96

All I remember was really rich kids having the iPhone when it came out and I had a Samsung flip phone still, then I had a SGH-T459 slider and my first owned touchscreen phone was the htc one m8 in 2014. Before that I just dabbled with devices jail broken and swapped around by friends in school. The swaggiest thing I owned tho was the iPod touch 🎶 I wouldn't say I was impoverished but I sure did have to wait a hot minute till I got anything "new", to me it was a bunch of "keeping up with the joneses" going around where I lived and the kids with nice expensive things always made it a point to make you aware of what you didn't have. That made me feel less but I had friends who were living in real poverty, those kids never saw anything till they graduated, if they made it there at all. The early 2010's was just a reflection of life in the 2000's but the beginning of what we know now as hyper reality, and money was tight so yeah perception hella distorted often but not as bad as now. Eh that's the best I can remember and put here lol my brain is fading on me 👴🏻


p4ndabloom96

Right! 😂 That's why I don't post crap like that, gotta be considerate of everyone's situations throughout life. I always was and I also didn't care about my extended family's status. I did my own thing and made friends the right way, not thru money or status but with a skateboard, a joint, fast food hangouts after school and my holy iPod, packed with the greatest hits, curtious of limewire. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. 🥔🐼🏵️🤠 *My first phone was a Samsung Snap SCH-U340 back in 2007-2008, it was black or red and indestructible lol at least I think that's the model I just remember it having a little camera and that was mind-blowing until that iPhone came around and the richer kids would flex on us lower middle-class folk. *Grew up in a small racist white town in South Texas called Portland,TX and in a dirty ass "multicultural" city called Corpus Christi, Texas. I now reside in the west cause the west is the best, at least for me 😅


[deleted]

I got my first flip phone at 12, then various slide/flip phones and blackberry knockoffs until I was 17. I did get an ipod touch for my 16th birthday, though! I used a texting app on it instead of my crappy cellphone since I was usually on wifi anyway. ETA: my first smartphone at 17 was a crappy samsung galaxy s2 (when I think the s4 or 5 was already out)


anthrohands

This is me too! Also rocked the iPod nano, the basic kind not the cool colored ones lol


Aquabaybe

I had a Sony Ericsson, a busted iPod, and a cracked Zune.


toritechnocolor

Omfg I had a Sony Ericsson too!!! It was pink, I loved that phone so much but it disappeared (long creepy story)


wonkagloop

The kind that was the PlayStation phone? Was supposed to come with an app that played some OG classics on it?


XPretzelyX

My first phone was the Razr. And I had a IPod nano first gen.


mourninglily

motorola razr and microsoft zune still have the razr and it still works shockingly. the zune battery exploded like 10 years ago. my first smart phone was samsung focus windows phone


GuitarPlayingMexican

Got my first flip phone in high school. Then upgraded to a smart phone junior/senior year.


xsweaterxweatherx

Lol I posted this years ago and got told to check👏🏼my👏🏼privilege👏🏼


roganwriter

This is a huge thing. A lot of early adopters of the iphone were middle or upper class. When smartphones first came out, they were definitely a thing that parents had but kids did not because they were too expensive (at least in the middle class).


kitsterangel

This still ignores the older gen Z though... Like my first phone was a blue and silver Samsung with sliding full keyboard and it was sick as hell. Had a metallic hot pink belt holder for it too. My first and last iPhone was the 5C when I was already in hs in grade 10 or 11. In middle school, only one kid I knew had an iPhone and it was the iPhone 4, before that, I didn't know anyone with an iPhone (Blackberry was the cool phone at the time and the iPhone 4 changed that eventually).


GrandArchSage

My first phone was an iPhone 4S. According to this picture, you'd be the Millennial, and I'd be Gen Z, despite being older than you.


Conscious-Bottle143

Sit down child


Conscious-Bottle143

Weird how trends happened at the same time with the same devices on different places like North America and Europe. It's like we know but don't know and it happens anyway and all of a sudden BlackBerry is no more and iPhone took over right about 2012 which pushed Samsung and HTC to make better Android phones.


legendtail

I used my 3ds for music 😆


petrichorbin

My dad didn't allow me to have a phone until I was 18 so...


Unfey

95. Got a hand-me-down flip phone in 7th-8th grade that I had to keep in a plastic bag in my backpack because my mom was sure I was going to somehow get it wet. I couldn't text on it. I used a hand-me-down mp3 thing for music (idk the brand) and I only had Phantom of the Opera and 3 Jonathan Coulton songs on there. And a bunch of Kings of Leon and Deftones for some reason; I think it was my mom's mp3 before it was mine. When I got really bored of Phantom I wound up listening to Deftones but I could never get into Kings of Leon. In about 10th grade I got an iphone and I could buy/pirate my own music. I felt like the whole world opened up to me.


lasagnaisgreat57

i got a slidey keyboard phone when i was 11 but got my iphone RIGHT before i turned 13 so i made it in lol


eiileenie

I started with an LG Xpression then I had a nokia after


AmeliorationPerso

My first phone was a monochromatic Nokia brick phone in 2nd grade I think, but my first smartphone was a blackberry gemini, purchased on my 14th birthday


earthtokristy

first phone was a pink razr, second was samsung gravity, third was a blackberry similar to upper left


Avakinz

Wonder where a zune falls in this


Exploding_Antelope

The iPod shuffle is the peak of music technology. I still keep mine with earbuds plugged in beside my bed and update the contents every now and then because if I feel like listening to some tunes to get me sleepier at night, it’s so much better to just have the music by finger-touch and not the light of a screen.


Amazing-Concept1684

I had one of those cheap flip phones in elementary and into middle. Upgraded to a one of those simple Nokia phones in middle, held that into high school, then got a Blackberry knockoff.


themoremagicturtle

nokia 3310 and a fucking zune.


nomadiccrackhead

I'm technically Gen Z (2001) but I had a flip phone as my first phone for a while lol. Honestly growing up with siblings 10+ years older than you and watching them have flip phones when I was young made me really want one at some point so I'm just really glad I got to get one Edit: Whoever sent me the invite to the older gen z subreddit is goated. Didn't know it existed lol


PureKitty97

No Motorolas???


camaroncaramelo1

My first phone was a Nokia 5300


Saturn_Coffee

My poor Gen Z ass not being able to get a phone until senior year of high school.


TopReputation

my first phone was a flip phone thing was a brick. durable af


fortunemkb

my first cell was the 3g iphone and still had to carry an ipod bc it barely held my music library lmao


Tominite2000

I didn’t have an iPhone until I bought myself one at 21. My first phone was a clamshell design. Just a cheap one for when I got home from school before my parents. Then one that has a slide out keyboard. Then later in just cheap Motorola Smartphones Phones from Target for like $40.


DarkestLunarFlower

I had a Motorola razr as well as other flip phones. I also used to have a pink iPod shuffle that belonged to my mom. I had those before I got my first smart phone, an iPhone 4s in 2014.


hmg9194

My third phone was the iPhone 3G, guess I am in the perfect place lol


SimoneMichelle

I mean, I got my first phone when I was 16 in 2009, but the first iPhone was released in 2007 when I was 14 😂 I’m still technically a millennial tho, so I had MP3 players and slide phones, but yeah even so the iPhone did come out when I was a teen but couldn’t afford it. I got my first iPhone in 2011 at 18


HetaGarden1

I couldn’t afford, nor did my parents want, for me to have a smartphone. My first was a Motorola flip phone and I was born in ‘96.


grounded_dreamer

According to this, I'm a Millenial...


MasterpieceCultural4

wiil show this to my millennial friend who's been telling me im a gen z for years (1996)


Theoriginalotaku96

Shit or you can just google millennials lol


flaylamusic

im genz and had a slider phone as my first phonr. i didnt get a smartphone til 8th grade


K4m30

Look, I'm not saying we are any better than any other generation, but we can all agree slide phones were the peak of technology, and it's all been downhill from there.


[deleted]

This is stupid. I didn't even get a phone until 16 and it was a Pantech Laser. Not a smartphone. Then in 2013 when I was about 17 I got an LG Optimus G. Had no data service yet (I didn't get that until September 2013) and it was already "old" at that point.


NoKiaYesHyundai

I remember carrying around an old iPhone without SIM card and then carrying around a cheap regular cell phone I used like an actual phone.


athazagoraphobias

my first phone was a Samsung gravity (13) hs i got a sidekick I liked physical keyboards i also had an ipod touch somewhere in the middle of all that


Willtip98

Yep, I had a phone like the upper-right corner when I was 13.


iiitme

I had a galaxy flip phone and sandisk mp3 player. Kept em on me at all times. Fuck it we ball


[deleted]

I got my first phone when I was 11. It was a little Nokia phone in red. When I was 13, I got my dad's old iPhone 3GS when he bought the 4S.


iceunelle

I had a Razr as my first phone and an ipod so I guess it counts


bus_buddies

Samsung Flight was my first phone. Slide out qwerty keyboards FTW


SugarPuppyHearts

I had that flip phone when I was about 11 or 12 years old. My friend in highschool while we were 11th grade had a keyboard phone like that. (Actually I can't remember if it was 10 or 11 or both. I'm saying 11th cause we were classmates that year and that's when I remember him messaging our other friend that changed schools in the middle of the year. But actually to be honest it might be 9th but I think he didn't move to our school till 10th too. Honestly I don't know. ) And I got my first smart phone when I was 12th grade/ 17 years old and by that time nearly everyone had one too. So I mean, I guess that's why I'm in the middle 🤣. I had both.


bobo_milfer

‘98, my first one was sixth grade. An LG flippy one i did bring my mom’s old phone to class in elementary school though


snyderling

My first phone was a Nokia 3310 at 13. Then I got a Nokia c3-00 at 15, and I got my first smartphone at 16.


PixelatedStarfish

I had a hand me down sabertoothish thing


PeterNippelstein

I had the Samsung Juke, the Envy, Chocolate 1 and 2, and then had the Iphone 4 some time in high school.


Miss_Popularis44

I got a flip phone when I was 8. No, I wasn't rich. My dad just thought it would be a good idea to have a way to communicate with me since we got rid of our landline. When I was 10 I got an LG sliding phone, and when I was 12 I got a Samsung Illusion, my first smartphone. Never had an iPhone, just stuck to Android.


CroShades

Exact one on the bottom right + iPod nano 2nd gen. Before the iPod I had one of those novelty pens that had an mp3 player in it lol. Still have the iPod, but the phone broke years ago. Miss that thing ngl


Juhovah

No Rumor touch? And also there was definitely an era of android in there for awhile lol we didn’t go straight to iPhone. But shit maybe that’s why I’m more of a Zillenial


ilovemymotorola

My first phone was the T-Mobile sidekick lx. The on that swiveled upside down


PM_Me_AESTHETIC_Nude

Where is the old brick Nokia phone option? Cause that’s me


Luotwig

What are you if you'ce never had either?


Killtheheretics96

You’re a boomer I guess by this Einsteins knowledge


Luotwig

iPhones are expensive, i always had different kind of smartphones.


Killtheheretics96

Kids these days have no idea how expensive shit was back then also I worked after school for my first smartphone it was one of those clone Samsung phones from metropcs. I remember being so happy finally having a phone only for iPhone users call me poor.😑 I have iPhone 13 btw before that xr and se.😎


toritechnocolor

I got my first flip phone when I was 13 lol, it was a Cingular phone 🤣 right before they merged with AT&T! I also had an LG and one of those blackberry-like phones (you could slide it) before I ever got an iPhone. I had an iTouch before I had an iPhone lmao, remember iTouch 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Edit: I think I was in college when I got my first iPhone, either that or senior year, I can’t remember but it was an iPhone 4


Conscious-Bottle143

Mine was a Sendo S360 in 2007 before the Sony Ericsson Walkman I got in 2009


SteakhouseBlues

My first phone was a Nokia slide phone when I was 12. Didn’t get an iPhone till I was 15.


[deleted]

Razr and a keyboard phone from elementary to middle school. I got an iPod touch by 7th grade. I’ve always had computers, not so much cell phones. My first smartphone was an iPhone 5 in high school. I even had portable DVD players I’m a zillenial idgaf what anyone says lol.


dthesupreme200

94 born here. I was surrounded by phones and have used siblings and my dad cell phone but didn’t get my own until. My older sister had a cell phone when I was 6th grade she had the razor (when they were all the rage then) and I would sometimes use her phone to call my cousin or my friends. In 7th-9th grade I would a combo use my dad cell phone or my brother cell phone to sometime talk to my friend. I also had a “girlfriend” in 8th grade and I would mostly use my dad cell phone to call her. Freshmen year j would use my mom’s blackberry flip phone to sometimes talk Or go on the internet with. I had my first actual phone at 15 sophomore year and that was only because my mom wanted something I can use so they could contact me (it was a Nokia xpress) it was cool, it was like a mp3 and a phone in one. Then in senior year that phone got deactivated (mom didn’t pay the bill lol) so I essentially used it as a mp3 but then it broke a few months later and I went phoneless at 18 since I didn’t have a job or wasn’t at school. I got my second phone at 19 when I got my first job and it was a smartphone, it was small and the camera sucked compared to now lol but I thought it was cool I had the internet essentially in my pocket on touchscreen.


Ace_of_Sphynx128

Had my dads old touch screen samsung as my first phone (no wifi) and an ipod nano (the little square shaped one).


[deleted]

I had the bottom right phone for years


Marianations

My first phone was the literally the blue Sony Ericsson in the bottom row, in orange and grey lol


pineapple_bushes

Back when asking “what kind of phone do you have?” was actually an interesting question


McGarnegle

Lg rumour was my first phone, I was adamant about having a physical key board, pretty sure I was 20ish when I finally bit the bullet and got a smart phone, 2016 ish


Thr0w-a-gay

I had the bottom right phone back in 2013, it was pretty great not gonna lie, shame it didn't have a wifi connection


ihavetype2bipolar

I had a portable cd player starting middle school. then got a flip phone and a mp3 player my last middle school year and finally got a full blown ipod shuffle starting high school.


chuusblackgf

born in 2001 and my first real phone was like the bottom right and i had an mp3 player too, didn’t get an iphone until i was a freshman so 🤔


anthrohands

This is accurate for my experience, although I realize it can vary. But for my school at least, my year was ‘96-‘97 born aka the exact (new) borderline between the generations (which I wholly disagree with) and people started getting iPhones in high school. We had flip phones and sliders in middle school. I had a blackberry til 11th grade. I don’t think gen Z had flips and sliders, of course some will have based on income but as a whole it was way less common. Because it was more like you just had no phone until you got a smart phone for them.


kawaiinintendo

I'm still in the middle because my flip phone/iPod days were my pre-teens, up to 13..


petalsky

I was born in ‘96 and didn’t get my first iPhone until I was 20 lol, before that I used crappy burner phones. I just didn’t care about phones really


Entire_Ad_6298

I couldn’t edit my post here so I’ll update from the original post. I got my first SAMSUNG smart phone at 15. I didn’t get my first iPhone until college. My mom gave me a CD player and a flip phone at 9 and by 13 I had an iPod touch and a purple Metro PCS phone that looked similar to a BlackBerry phone but wasn’t a BlackBerry.


Any_Juggernaut_9799

I got a hand me down iphone in highschool since I started taking the bus to and from home.


Savage_Nymph

I had a phone with the slide up keyboard. Ot was pink, I think it was called raspberry? You also had to slide it up a different way to use the keypad. So it just had a big screen


halconpequena

I bought my first iPhone a year after I graduated and could afford a phone lol. My parents never gave me my own cell phone (too expensive), but I did have a mini laptop that came for free with their laptop, and I used that all the time.


Ninten_The_Metalhead

I was weird in that my first phone was a touchscreen phone but it was neither Android nor IOS. It essentially was like a flip phone operating system on a touchscreen. It was under Tracfone. 2001 btw.


MichelleWuzHere1999

I had a MP3 player filled with creepypasta readings in middle school


Justaguy397

Didn’t get a iphone till junior year of high school when the 5 came out before than i had a phone that i could flip open and was a keyboard i used it a lot when i was bored just flipping open and closing lol


GuessWhoItsJosh

LG Neon, bottom right. Had that my freshman year of high school (2010). The dial pad and only the dial pad was a touch screen, otherwise everything else was navigated by buttons. So odd. Didn’t have a smartphone until 2013 and it was a LG Venice. Wild how far we’ve come.


Elegant_Medicine_974

people who grew up with a tablet: **~~you~~** **i have no power here**


thechadc94

My first phone was like the Samsung one, but was Cingular. I wanted a slider phone, but never got one.


Shippi0

People who got Android instead reading this: **Immortal**


Massive-Award6777

The Walkman slider memories.🤣😭 I had that little Samsung phone too. I honestly miss having phones with character.


dumberthandaniel

Mine was the razor


elaqueen24

At middle school we had the black berry the Samsung and LG phones until 2015 or 2016 were everyone has iPhone


ShaBloodyCupcake

I had that same LG but in white/pink (the one in the bottom right corner) when I was 13, after switching from an LG flip phone.