Phones are also not expensive unless you want them to be. You can get a great phone for any use for about $100 used. Streaming, playing Fortnite, productivity tasks. Any 5 year old phone can handle all that. It’s very cost efficient to get free entertainment, communication, portability
$100 might be tough to get, but my Moto G Power was $200, and I don't feel it's limited in any way.
Heck, with the SD card slot I can film terabytes worth of videos and not worry about storage ever, and it lasts 2 days on a single charge.
That said, the extra $400 worth of difference between that and an iPhone 12 won't exactly turn a millionaire into a pauper. If $200 is the cost of necessity, then $400 expense on top of it to feel good for whatever reason is pretty damn low as far as spending goes.
It's less than furniture, less than expensive watches, less than anything close to luxury clothing (or even solid quality winter gear). $400 is a decent bicycle.
I don't get why people care so much about other people buying expensive things that they themselves wouldn't buy.
I also had the same thought - it's the one luxury they can actually afford if they save up.
I dont really get how people can look at that and think that these people are better off than a middle class 1950s US family. It's insane.