Not only did I learn about redundancy and squirrels working in telecommunications, it also taught me that nothing in life is free.
In the early 2000’s, to get new subscribers in the race of wireless market share, free mobile phones were offered as long as you signed the 3-year contract. You could get a cool BlackBerry for free. However, you were still paying for the phone as part of the monthly service fee with the phone cost built in. As the market became more competitive, carriers would subsidize part of the phone cost, but you would still pay the rest.
Now we have free e-mail, free social media, free information on virtually anything, free maps, free videos, free games, free trials. But we still pay for this with our personal data, behavior, attention and opportunity cost. We have become the products with our information being sold.
The 401(k)-company match is often touted as “free money.” While it is free to you and you should accept this, the company you work for pays for this. My husband and I thought sharing an Apple ID 15 years ago was a fantastic idea because it was buy one, get another user for free. While it did work for many years, we pay for it now everyday with missed texts and VMs because with all the sophisticated updates, the phone notifications are confused. We have to notify each other of the messages that suddenly appear out of nowhere. I need to get my own Apple ID and set-up Family Sharing instead, very soon.
There’s no such thing as free lunch, free dinner or free vacations with the accompanying timeshare presentations. Before you know it, you’re going to Vegas far more than you should. The latest free gimmick is an unexpected package delivered to your door. When you open the box, there’s a QR code (never scan an unfamiliar QR code) that tries to get you to share your sensitive information. It’s called ‘brushing’ where victims wind up revealing their personal information such as credit card or Social Security numbers and then having their identity stolen. This Latest ‘Brushing’ Scam Tempts You With Free Items. Don’t Fall for It – CNET
The free money and assistance in government subsidized programs, it’s ultimately us the taxpayers who pay for them. A large problem is emerging that has only begun to be quantified. According to a first-of-its-kind estimate (April 2024) from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), direct financial losses from fraud and improper payments likely range between $233 billion and $521 billion annually. However, that estimate is incomplete as fraud data is notoriously underreported and undetected especially with the increasing sophistication of the schemes. How the FBI is Combating COVID-19 Related Fraud — FBI
As much as we get excited over getting something for free, the depth of the transaction goes much deeper than the surface level satisfaction. The idea of free is mostly a psychological marketing tactic to unknowingly capture our attention and pique our interest into paying for something. You may not have to pay it all but someone else will. There is always a cost to someone. Life has costs.
Trust like respect can’t be paid for nor are they free. They must be earned with an intangible price whose value can be lost in an instant.
The intangible aspects of life could be considered “truly free”: the air you breathe (life), sunlight, the beauty of nature (a sunset), laughter, love from your spouse, family and friends, kindness, freedom, salvation, a smile, a compliment, a hug. However, you soon realize that your openness, attention, effort and time are required to experience these things that elevates into responsibilities, opportunity costs and sacrifices to maintain them. You still pay for free but in ways that intrinsically hold more value than money.
If the best things in life are the intangible elements, experiences and emotions that enrich our lives significantly, why is there so much emphasis placed on chasing status, money and physical objects? Because tangible is innate, it’s so much easier to comprehend and comparatively value.
Understanding the intangible is an acquired sense. It’s recognizing the counterintuitive quality of something being invaluable. It’s what we perceive as extremely valuable, priceless, having incalculable intellectual, emotional or spiritual worth because it’s irreplaceable. No monetary value can be placed on it and once lost, it becomes even more costly to us.
Knowing your costs is more than knowing your worth.