Everyone has an iPad

[USMCAcosta]

Well, I live in NYC and got on the subway earlier and I noticed something that I probably noticed until I started reading this forum. Everyone has an iPad and everyone is either reading, watching a movie or playing a game on it. And of course no one was scared about using their device. When I got back above ground everyone was just stamping out text messages on their Blackberries, Droids and iPhones...no problem, no fears.

I say this because apparently you can't have anything nice in BsAs and let someone else see it publicly. If you read my previous post you'll know that I'll be staying there indefinitely starting next month.

I'm a technophile and it's a little disconcerting that I won't be able to use my smart phone without watching my back or just pul itl out and take a picture of something interesting. I also plan on using mass transit down there and it sucks that I won't be able to use my tablet on there.

Is the crime really that serious? I grew up in the hood out here in NYC and I know how the other half likes to stereotype the working class areas.

I don't want to come off as an asshole but can someone who isn't a scared suburban kid lost in the big city shed some light on the topic?

 

[jayjane]

I bring my ipad around sometimes here but, I hide it in my bag and I don´t let anyone see I have it until I get to where I am going. I also keep my bag close to my body. But, yes petty crime is a big problem. I´ve had countless friends loose their camaras, phones, tablets, ipods, etc to a swift thief. A few have lost items right from their hands when moto-thieves passed by.

 

[BAFinance]

Just switched to a cheaper Blackberry because felt the Iphone was too flashy.....Foreigner+Iphone=Robbery

 

[julicar12]

I think this is the feeling in most of L.A. not just Buenos Aires. I remember once in New York I felt weary of showing my camera, I felt observed but in reality probably I was ok. This was after spending time in Toronto where students used their laptops on the subway ride home.

After I came back home I discovered I basically lost my hobby (photography with a Canon DSLR). I just got stared A LOT if I walk down the street with it so I was never confortable doing architecture, urban or people photography. Now I can only use it in "safe" venues for the fear of being robbed.

Now, the first time I went to Buenos Aires as a tourist all I heard was how safe it was and I had a hoot using my camera, never felt unsafe. The only place I was weary was La Boca due to all the warnings they give you, but in the end the tourist areas were safe.

Of course you need to watch your stuff ANYWHERE. My girlfriend got her iphone replaced by a cardboard mock up after passing it through an x ray machine at Orlando International Airport.

 

[eva_rgentina]

Yes, petty theft really is serious here. It's not a question of being a "scared suburban kid lost in the big city."
Someone who shows up here waving their flashy technology around will be probably be judged as being exactly that: someone rich and priveleged and an ideal target for theft.
You can use your smartphone here, but you do have to watch your back. And for driveby thefts. And for gangs of adolescents hunting for phones. And for tricks including being sprayed with mystery substances while someone else robs you blind. Etc.

 

[ben]

To echo everyone else, probably most people I know here - all locals, hardly "scared suburban kids lost in the big city" - has had something stolen on the streets at some point.

Me personally, while I was walking on an avenida in one morning last year, someone on a bike made a grab for my phone; it happened to be in a really-heavy-duty rubber case, and it stayed in my hand. Without the case, I'd probably have lost it.

You don't have to be paranoid about using stuff, but don't be stupid either. And no, it is not recommended that you use an iPad on the subway.

 

[lejohnson]

First of all, it will be a fairly rare occasion that you would even have enough room to operate an Ipad or laptop while in the subway in Buenos Aires because it is almost always full during normal daytime hours... I feel like I'm stuffed in the train anytime I travel at least until after about 9 pm on the Subte D!

That being said, almost everyone (locals and foreigners) I know has had something stolen from them while riding public transportation and it is almost always some form of technology or a wallet. I had my phone stolen 3 different times on the subway (the cheapest model on the market, by the way... the first was a green screen antique). If I saw someone using an Ipad on the subte, I would pretty much assume that it would be stolen eventually.

I will say that speaking English or any other language while on public transport makes you an even bigger target... I always try to only speak Spanish while in public and haven't had anything stolen since. But we're not just a bunch of "scared suburban kids" who think the lower classes will take our gadgets. This kind of thing happens ALL the time. It's simply a reality in Latin America and all over the developing world, really.

 

[DontMindMe]

Once you're in BA for a while and get used to seeing 2007-era cell phones and ancient, shitty laptops and the like everywhere, things like Iphones and nice digital cameras start to stick out in a way that they didn't when you first got here and were basically a tourist. I remember the first time I went home to visit after almost a year of living in BA and looked around at all my friends with their blackberries and macbooks. They might as well have been bars of gold. Thieves will spot these things a mile away.

Argentina is the world's most expensive place to buy an Ipod, so no, I would not get your Apple products out on the subte or walking the streets. I won't even take my computer to a cafe that doesn't have a locked door where people have to be buzzed in, and even then, I'm never completely comfortable. My Argentine roommate got her crappy cell phone snatched out of her hands while walking down Avenida Belgrano at 5 p.m. in broad daylight. I used to think it was so great that no one texts while they walk here--but now I think it's just because they know it's risky.

ETA: OP, I was born and raised in a big U.S. city and was always one of those people who despised the suburbs. Here, I like them, because I feel like I don't have to keep a death grip on my purse. If I planned to stay here permanently, I would move to one.

 

[thomas-french]

i find it more interesting taking transports without being stuck with a device; you wouldnot talk to anyone or experience anything if you stare at a screen.