Not really.

I work in technology. I have a family. This device is my communications platform, information conduit, photography device, GPS device, and on and on and on. This is the computing device I use for probably 50% of my time.

I also don't have a junk laptop. The things that matter to me I'm willing to not cheap out on. Even if an alternative offered 80% of the utility for "$20 per year", the last 20% would be easily worth it.

And what's the difference? My phone provides the same things you want from yours. I use it all the time. Obviously if you can get the same thing at 1/8th the cost, it's probably not worth it to spend that extra money.

The phone is not even a junk phone:

https://www.motorola.com/us/products/moto-e-plus-gen-4

It's just not a premium "luxury" phone. I spend $45 per month on service and $170 for the device. My fiancée's phone is a $1000 Pixel, and it offers almost nothing more. Nothing that she actually uses anyway.

You are making quite a lot of assumptions prematurely presented as facts, although they may not apply at all to the person you're talking to.

Personally, while I don't doubt that the Motorola works fine for you, I wouldn't even consider it since it doesn't run iOS. Or likely any up to date OS in 3-4 years.

I really hate the “marketing doesn’t work on me” trope. Such a weird way to be condescending. It’s almost never true either.

You're reading too much into what I said.