it could also be a status signal, like how a lot of upper class families in the uk used to make a point of buying the smallest tv set and keeping it in a separate room, to show they could afford better ways to spend time and they were above what they saw as low art not good enough for a refined person like them.

The entire essay can be summarized from these paragraphs..

> Focus, it appears, is a recoverable asset that can be retrieved by shutting out the noise and leaving the casino. And that is much easier for high rollers to do.

> Money offers the ability to buy expensive gadgets such as second, basic phones and “bricks” that can make smartphones temporarily dumb. But it also means access to resources that don’t look like resources at all: stable work, consistent schedules, chunks of leisure time, agency over how to structure your day.