I would think that this is neighborhood-dependent.

Unless you look like a crackhead or beggar, anyone would lend his phone for a few seconds/minutes.

I assume it's a global thing but in London there is a category of beggar that doesn't really look like a beggar. They usually have a story about their car running out of petrol or losing their train ticket. I've been approached by the same guy two days running telling me that he just lost his train ticket a few minutes before (what an unlucky guy).

My point is that in cities you evolve an attitude that pretty much anyone who walks up to you with a sob story is likely to be at best a beggar and at worst a thief/scammer. I think you could get someone to make a call on your behalf but actually handing you their phone (even for a moment) - that might be less common than you think.

Also our phones are >= $1000 devices. How are we supposed to trust handing that to just anyone?

I have faced this before - A stranger dialed the number I wanted to call, put it on speaker and let me speak to my friend.

I did this recently for a homeless woman on the street. In my case I was more concerned about COVID risk than the risk of her stealing my phone (as I had a bicycle and she didn't, and she looked tired and emaciated and unlikely to be able to harm me).

As a result, I overheard her entire long desperate attempt to persuade her mother to give her another other other other last chance. :-( :-( :-(

Good idea. Hadn't even thought of that since the question is usually "can I borrow your phone" which implies handing it over.

Not true.

Most people aren't using and can't afford the flagship models. I personnally have never bought a smartphone more than 180€ and I know a lot of people doing the same thing.

Do they have monthly payments for phones in Europe, or is it all just one lump-sum payment?

Most people I know have flagship phones and the ability to make many smaller payments may have something to do with that.

Monthly payments exist and some people use them to pay for a flagship phone but most people understand this is just diguised credit and they'd rather have a cheaper subscription.

Also I've seen people do that drop/lose/get their expensive phone stolen and then pay for almost 2 years for a device they don't use. The replacement is usually a lot cheaper and they realize their life is not that different with a cheaper smartphone and don't repeat the experience unless they are social status show offs.

I definitely wouldn’t, at least not without lots of convincing. Probably I’d call someone for you though.

Access to all of my personal info, my password manager, etc. If someone turned and ran with my phone, it would give me days worth of hassle to replace and recover things like canceling my SIM card, buying a new one, changing 2FA, trying to remotely wipe it, maybe provide info to police.

I hate how dependent I am on this little rectangle but it’s kind of just reality these days to have so much of our lives closely tied to it

My password manager is locked by default but I have a second android profile that I switch to when I hand out my phone to someone else. I imagine iOS has a similar feature. I don't want my kids or a friend ruin my browser history.

Last time I dropped my phone in the sea, I got a new sim card the next day from my operator, reactivating all the 2FA shit isn't too complicated as long as you keep the same number. It was annoying but 99% was taken care of as soon as I had the sim card.

The only thing that took several days was access to a bank account I have open in a remote country as I hadn't given them my latest address and they had to do back to back verifications, shipping me codes then calling me to verify the same person who was on the phone was living in the place he pretended to live, then sending me back 2 different letters one with a new password, one with a code to activate 2FA.

That's a huge problem. Payphones don't have biases. As long as you have enough money, they just work.

People have many, many biases. (For example, against homeless, and those who are often in most need of help.)

The reality of depending on other people is that you're dependent on their flaws. This works out for most people, but certainly does not for many of those who are marginalized.

> As long as you have enough money, they just work.

Even if you didn't you would just call collect.

Tbh I’ve let alcoholics on the street use my phone, they’re usually too wasted to make a run with it.

People think I’m crazy for it though.

I also handed out my phone to a drunk homeless guy who wanted to call a friend so that he can lend him money to go back to his country of origin after an unsuccessful attempt to start a new life here.