So these are college students on a college campus who can’t get a hold to smart phones and you’re worried about them getting locked out of societal functions?

If those people who don’t “wan to use a cell phone, then they are free to suffer the consequences of their decisions. No need for society to bend to their whims.

Dude, come on. You can surely see where this line of argument leads. Are you seriously defending a society that continually and arbitrarily raises the barriers to accessing services?

On what criteria are those barriers raised? Those decisions are being outsourced by states -- which (democratic) societies elect to act in their best interests -- to monopolies that have none of those responsibilities. In fact, as your comments illustrate, market pressure and competition provide neat justifications to avoid those responsibilities. They lead to a race to the bottom, not the top.

It’s called progress. You can always become Amish. You make the choice - you suffer the consequences of your choice.

If you can’t for some reason use a smart phone, then yes the college should offer assistance just like most colleges offer assistance for people with disabilities.

Progress implies society is becoming better, more equitable, and a heathier environment to live in. O don't see how mandating smartphone ownership works towards any of those.

Limiting access to services that were previously available is certainly not progress.

I don’t think getting a Lyft or accessing some one-off washing machine in a vacation rental are basic societal functions.

I agree that accessing government services, banking, using public transit, putting something in the mail, etc should not require a smartphone.

If you have the means for a smartphone but choose not to get one, then you’re choosing to live in a slightly anachronistic fashion. Nothing wrong with that, but you are presumably making an informed choice to live that way.