most of my tech spending is pretty similar to that of my wife.
In addition, the key metric is probably not tech spending, but tech creating, which is often not measured in dollars. We've all probably run into guys [1] who produce impressive code using a five-year-old laptop who don't spend much on "tech." Maybe a couple bucks a month for hosting, but that's really it.
Why would the key metric be that of creating rather than spending?
The fact that I sit at Vim all day cranking out Ruby and Python (for work and for open source etc.) is irrelevant to whether I buy a smartphone. Apple getting £500 from my mother for a new iPhone is no different than them getting £500 from me. In sales, the key metric really IS spend rather than creativity/interest.
In addition, the key metric is probably not tech spending, but tech creating, which is often not measured in dollars. We've all probably run into guys [1] who produce impressive code using a five-year-old laptop who don't spend much on "tech." Maybe a couple bucks a month for hosting, but that's really it.
[1] A note on the language used: http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/hey-guys-read-this/ .