in may’s issue of wired they included a short feature that resonated with me when i read it. the monthly cost of living in the digital age. and apparently, i’m not the only one.

even though i admit at times to being proud of the obligations i’ve avoided paying for (e.g. cable tv, landline), a hefty amount of money still flows out of my pockets each month so that i stay “connected.”

i’ve been considering netflix ($9.95/month), but first i’d have to get a tv. and a dvd player. and some speakers…

update, this is pretty scary:

Already, televisions account for about 4 percent of annual residential electricity use in the United States – enough to power all of the homes in the state of New York for a year, according to a new NRDC study. Today there are about 266 million TVs, and that number is growing by 3.5 million per year. (As TVs grow, so do electric bills, The Christian Science Monitor)

though they call it fair and flexible, my cell phone bill for the month of may was $98. since a lot was going on in may, i’m willing to stick it out and see what the trend is. the $60 figure above is really just an rough average. i’d rather it be more like $40/month. but that may not be possible given my probable west coast usage patterns.

cingular’s plans are nothing to call home about, but i’d consider them just to get a sweet looking moto razr. it seems like t-mobile has far and away the best plans, with 1000 “whenever minutes” per month for $39.99. i’m just wondering, “what’s the catch?”