Hot water. We had to replace the hot water heater recently. 3 days without hot water told us just how much we treat it as necessity vs luxury.
Luxury in the sense that its used to do what? - to kill boredom for most people say about 90% of the total time people use it on facebook, YouTube, gaming, internet boards, porn websites etc, n about 10% for the more necessary stuff like online transactions, news, communication etc.
It’s s luxury in that sense, agree?
I’ll second the A/C part, except I don’t like sweating while sitting still in the shade, so I have to have A/C.
Most of the things already mentioned, especially air conditioning and the internet, but I would add a take-away/to-go coffee from a cafe. I have one almost every morning; I can’t stomach instant coffee, and I’ve tried making my own using a plunger and store-brought grounds but I can’t get it right. I might fork out for my own espresso machine.
Just because most people ( in the west ) have it doesn’t mean it’s not a luxury. Considering porn is one of the biggest uses, I’d say it’s only a necessity for those that need it for their work, and for most that use it, it’s just filling in the space between birth and death- more interesting than whittling wood.
Laptop with internet access; smartphone that includes Kindle app; air conditioning (damn, but especially NOW); microwave. I suppose it depends on the baseline definition of “luxury”.
I’m thinking “luxuries that have become necessities” doesn’t include things that were always necessities (in my lifetime). Things like indoor plumbing, refrigeration and electricity.
Central Air
Computer/internet
Cable TV/Tivo
Microwave
Power lawn mower
Snow blower
Medications (luxuries when I was relatively healthy; now they’re keeping me alive)
My kitties
Only if we see the telephone as a luxury rather than a standard utility, as it serves a lot of the same functions in a more versatile form. The telephone was/could be just as big a time-waster with phone sex lines, psychic hot-lines, shopping networks and the like. Wasn’t there even a version of chat-room back in the day, where people called in to a party-line of some sort? A primitive form of social media before computers were common.
Living alone w/o a roommate
Psychotherapy
Central heating/cooling
I’d give those things up, but only if I really had to.
Sure. The differentiation is what percentage of people use it for sex lines, chat rooms etc, for what percentage of their total phone usage in hours and for how many hours daily.
In that sense the telephone is not a luxury for most people, it would be put in the bracket of electricity, cooking gas or sanitation but not in bracket of internet.
I forgot the remote control for…whatever.
I’ve worked from home for the past couple of years, which would not be possible without high-speed Internet.
I don’t consider hot water a luxury, it is a necessity. Why on earth are you trying to “give it up”?
Privacy.
I’ve lived for extended periods without any of the things previously mentioned, still live without quite a few of them – but I can’t live without privacy, the kind which comes with trees and grass and birdsong. However, indoor flush toilets are really, really nice.
My secondary and tertiary computers. For years, i thought a desktop was all i needed, then i got a laptop, then a smartphone, now an ipad. Having the Internet available within seconds at any location is now a part of my life. I use all four almost daily, and my desktop least of all.
Insulated cups: i used to just use a mug or glass cups, but now i own about 4 i use daily, with two emergency spares. Im always on the lookout for more microwave safe cups.
Thermometers: feeling hot or cold is mostly psychological. If you know the exact temp, your body compensates.
Cologne: used it for 25 years now, feel naked without it.
Air conditioning. I can handle anything and everything else, so long as I have something to keep to damn heat off me 
absolutely. the reverse cycle kind.
GPS. I get horribly lost without it, but it wasn’t strictly a necessity before I had one. I would just hand-write directions before, and be incapable of rerouting.
THREE DAYS??? :eek: One of my luxury-now-necessities is being on first name basis with repairmen. Living in an old house that was poorly remodeled when I bought it, Ive had to have everything done over. Luxury is having things done pronto!
Oh, and routine mani/pedis cos I end up doing a lot of repairs myself and it ruins mah nails!
Of all the little luxuries I’d prefer to never do without (electricity, hot water, toilet, automobile, etc.) I’d have to go with having a warm place to sleep.