智能手機是新型“窮人稅”

文/朱莉婭·泰科納 譯/鄭玢

Damon, who works full-time at an upscale hotel and part-time at a burger joint in Washington, DC, gets his weekly schedules through texts from his managers, often with last-minute requests to come in to cover for missing coworkers.To make sure he can receive these messages, Damon juggles1juggle 盡力同時應付（兩個以上的重要工作或活動）。two basically broken low-end smartphones, one with a shattered screen and another that turns on and off unpredictably when he tries to use it.“I’m waiting on my next check so I can get another phone,” he told me.Meanwhile, he’s using stagnant wages to purchase a phone that’s functionally a workplace requirement, all just to keep the jobs he has now.

戴蒙在華盛頓特區的一家高檔酒店全職工作，也在一家漢堡店做兼職。他通過經理發來的短信獲知每周的工作安排，而短信內容經常是臨時要求他來代失聯同事的班。為了確保能收到信息，戴蒙得費勁地擺弄兩部基本壞掉的低端智能手機，一部屏幕碎了，另一部用起來，說不準什么時候就自動開關機。他告訴我：“我正盼著馬上要發的工資，到時就能換一部手機。”同時，他打算用死活不漲的工資買一部工作必需的手機，這么做只是為了保住他現在的工作。

2Science fiction author William Gibson famously said that the future is already here, it’s just not very evenly distributed.Smartphones and on-the-go internet access have made many of our working lives more efficient and flexible.But the requirement for constant connectivity isn’t only a fact of whitecollar work—it has spread to workers up and down the income ladder.And while the requirement has spread, the resources that workers need to maintain it are not evenly distributed.Today, more than a quarter of low-income Americans depend solely on their phones for internet access.Amid historic levels of income inequality, phones and data plans have become an increasingly costly burden on those who have the least to spare.

2科幻小說家威廉·吉布森有句名言：未來早已到來，只是尚未均勻分布。智能手機和隨時隨地接入的互聯網使我們在大部分的工作時間里更加高效和靈活。但是，保持聯網的要求不僅針對白領，而是波及各個收入階層，無論高低。雖然這種要求已得到普及，但勞動者為長期符合這種要求所需的資源并不是平均分配的。今天，超過四分之一的低收入美國人只能依賴手機上網。在收入不平等程度達到歷史最高的情況下，手機和流量套餐對于兜里所剩無幾的人來說，已成為越來越沉重的負擔。

3Through interviews with precarious workers across the country, I’ve found that connectivity to the internet is increasingly required to manage many different types of jobs in parts of lowwage labor markets far beyond “gig economy2gig economy 零工經濟，指由工作量不多的自由職業者構成的經濟領域。零工經濟利用互聯網和移動技術快速匹配供需方，主要包括群體工作和經應用程序接洽的按需工作兩種方式。” apps like Uber and Postmates.In ignoring these hidden kinds of connectivity, we don’t see their mounting costs, and the consequences for marginalized people.The requirement to maintain their connectivity constitutes a kind of new tax on low-wage workers.And well-meaning interventions focused on closing the digital divide3digital divide 數字鴻溝，指在全球數字化進程中，不同國家、地區、行業、企業、社區之間，由于對信息、網絡技術的擁有程度、應用程度以及創新能力的差別而造成的信息落差及貧富進一步兩極分化的趨勢。haven’t addressed the powerful interests at work keeping it open.

3通過采訪全國各地收入不穩定的勞動者，我發現在部分低薪勞動力市場，完成許多不同類型的工作對聯網的要求越來越高，而且遠不止使用優步和Postmates 等“零工經濟”應用程序。由于忽視了這類隱藏的聯網方式，我們沒有看到它們不斷增加的成本，以及給邊緣人群帶來的影響。保持聯網的要求構成了針對低薪勞動人群的新稅種。然而，致力于縮小數字鴻溝的善意干預措施，并沒有觸及維護數字鴻溝的強大利益集團。

4The high costs of connectivity represent an increasingly large slice of household incomes for low-wage workers.Even though maintaining these connections has become necessary for many low-wage workers, their incomes have not kept pace.According to 2020 numbers from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, those in the lowest 20 percent of income earners spent $150 more a year on their cell phones than they did in 2016.The cost of connectivity represents more than half of what these households spent on electricity, and nearly 80 percent of what they paid for gas.As a proportion of household income, the lowest earners spent four times more on phones than high earners.With inflation looming, these issues are likely to get worse before they get better.

4高昂的聯網費用在低薪勞動者家庭收入中的占比與日俱增。盡管保持聯網對許多低薪勞動者來說是必要的，但他們的收入卻沒有跟上。美國勞工統計局2020 年的數據顯示，收入最低的那20%的人，每年花在手機上的錢比2016 年多了150 美元。聯網費用相當于這類家庭一半以上的電費支出，以及近八成的天然氣費用。從在家庭收入中的占比來看，收入最低人群花在手機上的費用是高收入人群的4 倍。通貨膨脹迫在眉睫，這些問題只會惡化，而不會好轉。

5While these gaps in spending might be predictable, they’re not inevitable.As connectivity has become increasingly mandatory for low-wage workers, phone companies catering to this market segment have profited by engaging in predatory inclusion.As Louise Seamster and Rapha?l Charron-Chénier explain, these forms of inclusion offer access to goods that marginalized groups had previously been excluded from but on terms that ultimately undercut the benefits of access.Consumers that previously couldn’t afford the high up-front costs of buying a smartphone,or whose unpredictable incomes meant annual contracts were out of reach, can now get access to a smartphone and data plan with less-than-perfect credit,but under exploitative conditions that make connectivity more expensive.Black consumers are particularly targeted for these forms of inclusion, as systemic discrimination in labor, housing,and financial services have created gaps in credit scores that make prepaid and phone rentals nearly the only option.

5支出的差距或許可以預見，但并非不可避免。隨著聯網對低薪勞動者來說越來越具強制性，服務于這一細分市場的通信公司通過“掠奪性包容”從中牟利。正如路易絲·西姆斯特和拉斐爾·查倫-謝尼埃所解釋的，這些形式的包容使邊緣群體得以獲取以前不可及的商品，但這種包容是有代價的，可及性的福利最終會被削弱。有的消費者以前無法負擔購買智能手機的高額預付費用，還有的因收入不穩定而無法購買按年繳費的合約機，他們現在可以憑借不盡如人意的信用評分買到智能手機和流量套餐，但剝削性條款使聯網費用更加昂貴。掠奪性包容格外針對黑人消費者，因為他們在工作、住房和金融服務方面受到的系統性歧視造成了信用評分的差距，預付費和租賃手機幾乎成為他們唯一的選擇。

6In 2019, New York City sued T-Mobile for a host of violations of consumer rights, including enrolling people into third-party financing through companies like SmartPay, which split payments up over time through rental agreements,but ultimately add hundreds of dollars onto advertised prices, without full explanations of the terms—eventually ruining people’s credit.Phone leasing programs and their opaque terms of service have also resulted in other legal actions (for example, Sprint is facing a class action suit over similar issues).These actions have taken place against a backdrop of consolidation in the mobile phone market, as Sprint and T-Mobile,two companies that had previously competed for low-income consumers,have merged, raising concerns about rising costs in the future.

62019 年，紐約市就一系列侵犯消費者權益的行為起訴T-Mobile 公司，包括通過支付服務提供商SmartPay 等公司讓人們參與第三方融資。這類公司的租賃協議允許消費者在一定時間內分期付款，但最終會在廣告所宣傳的價格上增加數百美元，且不會對相關條款進行充分解釋——最終摧毀了人們的信用記錄。手機租賃項目及其不透明的服務條款還引發了其他法律訴訟（例如，美國移動運營商斯普林特公司正因類似問題面臨集體訴訟）。上述行為是在移動電話市場整合的背景下發生的，比如以前爭奪低收入消費群體市場的斯普林特公司和T-Mobile 公司現已合并，這引起了人們對未來通信成本上升的擔憂。

7Being poor isn’t only expensive because of the unfair financial terms,but also because of the work it takes to overcome disconnection.From juggling broken phones, borrowing money to pay bills, and, when all else fails, finding free sources of internet, the tenuous grasp these workers have on connectivity is maintained through constant effort.Many rely on coffee shops and fastfood joints in their neighborhoods and throughout their commutes, facing racist threats and harassment from managers and even the police while trying to swap a shift through an app, download music for a long shift, or text their boss that they were running late.The costs of this labor can’t be measured in dollars, but they add to the cognitive burden of being poor.From the extra work it takes to stay connected, to the exploitative landscape of mobile phone financing, the costs of connectivity represent a significant burden on households that are still struggling with the effects of the pandemic economy.

7貧窮就要付出高昂代價，這不僅因為不公平的金融條款，還因為要費勁避免斷網。擺弄壞掉的手機、借錢支付賬單，以及別無他法時尋找免費的網絡資源——勞動者們為了能維持脆弱的網絡連接而不斷努力。許多人依賴附近的咖啡館和快餐店，在通勤途中全程蹭網。在他們試圖通過應用程序換班、為長時間的輪班工作下載音樂，或給老板發短信說他們要遲到了時，他們面臨來自經理甚至警察的種族主義威脅和騷擾。這種勞動的成本無法用金錢來衡量，但加劇了窮人的認知負擔。從聯網所需的額外工作，到移動電話資費的剝削現象，聯網的成本對仍在努力應對疫情所致經濟沖擊的家庭來說是一副重擔。

8We now face a critical moment in the fight for equitable connectivity.With the passage of the Biden administration’s historic infrastructure bill,home internet access has taken center stage in defining connectivity.This is an important, but ultimately narrow way of understanding inequalities in access.Many people who may not have internet access at home are still using the internet on their phones, either with or without connections to mobile data plans.These populations, so often seen as being on the “wrong side” of the so-called digital divide, aren’t disconnected at all.

8我們現在迎來了爭取公平聯網的關鍵時刻。隨著拜登政府通過了歷史性的基礎設施建設法案，聯網入戶已成為聯網這一概念的核心。如此理解聯網的不平等固然重要，但本質上還是狹隘的。許多人可能在家里無法聯網，而仍在用手機上網，無論是否選擇使用移動數據。這群人常常被視為處于所謂數字鴻溝中“不利的一面”，但他們根本沒有斷網。

9We should also be thinking about improving the ways many Americans are already accessing the internet,through ensuring equity in mobile connectivity.This could mean renewed support for federal programs like the FCC’s Lifeline Program, which offers modest subsidies to phone companies to connect low-income households.It should also include more robust consumer protections and market regulation to ensure that efforts to get more people connected don’t lead to forms of predatory inclusion.Finally, those that benefit from this connectivity should also pay for it.Employers of low-wage workers who depend on texting their employees or expect them to manage their schedules through an app must recognize their role in requiring phones and subsidize them.These efforts will require us to reframe the way we see smartphones—not as a luxury but as a necessity—in order to stop connectivity from deepening inequality.■

9我們還應該考慮通過確保手機端的公平聯網，改善許多美國人正在使用的聯網方式。這可能意味著重新支持聯邦項目，如美國聯邦通信委員會的“生命線”項目，該項目向通信公司提供適度的補貼，以幫助低收入家庭聯網。該項目還應該包括實施更有力的消費者保護和市場監管措施，以確保讓更多人聯網的努力不會變成掠奪性包容。最后，從低收入群體聯網行為中牟利的人也應該付出代價。依靠短信聯系手下低薪員工或期望他們通過應用程序自行管理日程的雇主，必須認識到自己要求員工使用手機會產生何種影響，也必須給員工發放補貼。上述努力將要求我們重構自己看待智能手機的方式——不將其視作奢侈品，而是必需品——以遏制聯網不公平加劇。 □