Heidi Steffen and her husband used to treat themselves most weeks to steak at Sodak Shores, a restaurant overlooking a lake near their hometown of Milbank, S.D. Then they each got an iPhone, and the rib-eyes started making fewer appearances.

"Every weekend, we'd do something," said Ms. Steffen, a registered nurse whose husband works at a tire shop. "Now maybe once every month or two, we get out."

More than half of all U.S. cellphone owners carry a device like the iPhone, a shift that has unsettled household budgets across the country. Government data show people have spent more on phone bills over the past four years, even as they have dialed back on dining out, clothes and entertainment—cutbacks that have been keenly felt in the restaurant, apparel and film industries.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Children • Marriage & Family • Science & Technology • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Personal Finance

1. Capt. Father Warren wrote: Makes me love my “dumb” TracPhone even more…...... September 26, 6:10 pm | [comment link]

2. Cennydd13 wrote: My cellphone stays in my breast pocket most of the time. September 26, 7:35 pm | [comment link]

3. Jim the Puritan wrote: I wonder if The Brick will come back into style. September 26, 8:06 pm | [comment link]

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© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.

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