As winter coats come out of wardrobes and those living on the breadline worry about the price of keeping warm, Huffington Post UK asked three generations what parts of daily life they consider a "necessity".
Each agreed that living without a mobile phone or internet would be "almost impossible" today, with some equating the device with the importance of central heating.
Mother of two Amanda Rees, who runs online business bumpalicious.com said if she was pressed she’d choose her mobile phone over heating. She told Huffington Post UK:
“I consider a mobile phone essential as I use mine for my business. As I work from my phone, I would probably choose my mobile over heating but then my children wouldn’t be very happy being cold!”
Veronica Fenn, a 72-year-old from Putney, London, agreed with Rees, saying that she would feel extremely isolated without her phone:
“As I get older, more and more of my friends are dying. It becomes really important to have to have a mobile phone and go out.”
For Fenn, going out was an "essential" too.
“We live in an isolated society. I can’t wait to go out. I live with 11 other people and they all squirrel themselves away in their rooms, living like mice. It’s difficult to communicate”
A second year student from University of Bristol, perhaps unsurprisingly, agreed that going-out was essential. He said:
“It’s important to get out and relax. I would say going out is more of a necessity than having a TV and maybe more important than Internet but it would be difficult to choose," the student, who did not want to be named, said.
However Fenn said if you don’t go out, TV does become a necessity:
“I know people who leave the television on all day just for the company. The more isolated you get, the more you need a moving image to keep you going.”
It seems that necessity and luxury alter throughout stages of life, with the student and Fenn agreeing over more than would be expected. Mother of two Rees disagreed with the other two interviewees, saying that for her going-out was a treat rather than commonplace:
"Going out or going for a drink is a luxury, but I’ve got two small daughters and I expect that if I was a single person then I would just consider it part of my daily life, so I guess it would be more of a necessity.
However, unlike the student, she said having a television (though not necessarily cable channels) was vital:
“I would say a tv has become a necessity, I mean certainly having a children I would say its a necessity.
I think cable tv is a luxury but then again I’m not a big TV watcher, I suppose if I was a big TV watcher I would. It depends on lifestyle.”
It's difficult to ascertain what's a necessity and what might be a luxury in disguise. Things people label as "necessities" could be props that maintain particular life choices. Lifestyle was what the Bristol university student focussed on:
"It would be almost impossible to be a student without your laptop or your mobile phone. To be a certain person and have a certain life it becomes a necessity to have certain things.
"Of course you dont have to be a student or go to university but if you do, you have to be online and have the internet because all your course details are there. "