Americans' Technolust Spending Is as Hot and Heavy as Ever

High tech gear gets cheaper every year. So we're spending a lot less on it, right? Um, no. In fact, the proportion of US household budgets spent on tech products and services — computers, game consoles, cell phone service, cable, TVs — has held steady at about 5 percent for most of the past decade. […]

High tech gear gets cheaper every year. So we're spending a lot less on it, right? Um, no. In fact, the proportion of US household budgets spent on tech products and services — computers, game consoles, cell phone service, cable, TVs — has held steady at about 5 percent for most of the past decade. We're just spending that money — more than we pay for health insurance — on different stuff. For instance, we spend a lot less on TVs (as prices have dropped) but more on cable and satellite services (we need our HBO). Here's a peek at how our quest to stay wired hits our wallets.

Illustration by Arno Ghelfi
Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics

START PREVIOUS: Jargon Watch: Digilanti, Milkomeda, Social Operating System NEXT: Clive Thompson Thinks: Desktop Orb Could Reform Energy Hogs