I don’t think going phoneless would be a great idea because emergencies happen and people need to communicate but society would probably be better if kids weren’t glued to smartphone apps and social media from a young age. The smart watch or dumb phone idea makes sense to me though.

If you can only have one utensil and one dish it’d have to be a spork and one of those shallow bowl/plate hybrid things, right…?

The rent for regular apartments has basically doubled in the past couple years. You see studios go for $3000/mo, and 1 bedrooms for $4500+ quite often. I really hope this will have a helpful effect on lowering for the people who already live here, who can’t make ends meet because of absurd rental prices and hikes lately. There needs to be more housing and reasonable prices for people who live here. Compared to the median income here (and not the mean, because it’s not representative to count the billionaires), it’s literally not affordable for the people who grew up here and started their lives here, to afford to have a roof over their head. That’s why you see shit like 5 unrelated adults in a 1 bedroom apartment together, or a big extended family of multiple generations, partners, etc., all living under the same roof. Nobody can afford anything better here.

Need more info before I accept or not. Does time IRL freeze? Or do I miss a year of real life time?

If I miss a year then nah because that’s logistical nightmares and a LOT of explaining. Plus all my stuff would probably be lost if I stop paying rent because I’m non existent for a year, including legal documents etc.

If IRL time stops though, yeah I’d take it. Last played Ensemble Stars which is a game about idols. So the world they live in is more or less just normal modern day Earth.

Anyway I need to know the situation with IRL while I’m gone, OP.

I would not take the further deals because I’m disabled for the first one, and because I have people and things I like IRL for the second.