Umm, what?
The iPhone is meant to be a status symbol, not "for everyone".
The next generation will have a lower quality of life than ours. They will have less wealth, they will work more, they will experience less.
Just looking back to 2003 compared to now and there’s so much more information and opportunity compared to 20 years ago. It’s not uniform and there are certainly some parts worse (housing) but I think that just the example of smart phones shows a huge leap of businesses and life improvements available now. I expect improvements to be available 20 years from now.
For who? Real wages have been falling for decades. 'Quality of life' is amorphous. Do we have a higher quality of life than people did 20 years ago? We're fatter, we have less wealth, we spend more time commuting, it's basically impossible to buy a house for most people.
I'd disagree with your assessment that we are better off than we were in 2003.
Somebody gets to pay for this:
https://www.federalbudgetinpictures.com/federal-spending-per...
and it's gonna be you and me.
The history of technology & capitalism is quite the reverse.
A few years back, a steamboat from the 1850s was discovered buried in the muck in the Missisoupi. Archeologists rushed to dig it up and discover what it was carrying. They had the same notion you did. They were shocked that the steamboat was not carrying luxury items at all. It was loaded to the gills with manufactured stuff for ordinary folks. Things like factory made shoes, textiles, tools, pots, pans, dishes, bottled food, nails, hardware, etc.