Since phones are used by us so much, I thought I'd ask a hypothetical question. For those of you who currently work, what would happen if you didn't have access to your phone for 1 working day? Could you do your duties, would you panic? How would you cope?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Other Hypothetical question
- Thread starter darksithpro
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I'd use my backup iPhone. Or go down to Walmart and buy a digital phone and finally hook it up to the service we have with our ISP.
I work in law-enforcement, and it’s imperative that I have contact with my supervisors and fellow colleagues when need be, and there always are pertinent emails being sent to me regularly that may require an immediate response from me, so I have to have my phone with me almost all the time for Those reasons alone. So no, I would not be able to take care of my responsibility/duties without having access to my smart phone.
How would I cope you ask if I didn’t have access to my smart phone? That means I would have to have a computer with me at minimum to access certain information that way.
I can do my job without my phone at times. If it were to break, I would go to the Apple store after work, as I have AppleCare+.
No freaking out here. I grew up without a cell phone.
No freaking out here. I grew up without a cell phone.
I do nearly the same job I did 25 years ago. I have no idea how I ever ran a business without a cell phone.
I’m sort of addicted to my phone. I’d be able to get a lot more stuff done without it.
I work in IT. My job would be a lot more boring than it already is.
Just for one day? I could do it. But it would be a pain in the you know where. I work in a construction field, and my current job assignment, I inspect waterlines that are being put in across the city. Get multiple phone calls and texts throughout the day from contractors...if I didn’t have it I would have to continuously drive around the whole city to see if they had the work done yet. Doable yes, but not pleasantly.
I went on a cruise for a week with a group of friends and I was fine without my phone. However it was a major inconvenience not being able to contact friends on the cruise. We would leave messages on each others answering machines that were in our rooms. "hey going to this restaurant in 20 minutes! meet us there!" message was 4 hours ago. lol
No panic here as well, because of the same.
However, the way it used to be is difficult to work with now. I could be out of the house and if a need to call someone came up it was a simple matter of finding a payphone.
Other than holdouts in large cities, just try and find a payphone now. And if you do, it's not a dime or a quarter any more. I could now waste a massive amount of time just trying to find a payphone to make what would amount to a 10 second checkin or update.
When we cut off our home phone, that left us with just our cellphones. So that's not a backup anymore.
I use my phone for many things but as far as work goes I mostly use it for emails, and I have other devices that can handle that though, so while I'd feel naked without it, there's no reason why I couldn't get through a work day without my phone.
Last edited:
How about using the portable radio or arranging for a park/walk/talk? I'm guessing you're a fed?
It's my pager and my primary communication device. I suppose I could take a vacation day.
Absolutely nothing. For work, I use my MBP and Slack or email for pretty much all communication.
It would be an inconvenience at worst which would keep me at my desk for longer periods.
Last edited:
Considering my work is literally application testing on a mobile platform..... no, I could not do my job
My reliance on my phone is pure convenience when it comes to work. So I’ll still be able to perform all my duties without it.
I’m not as reliant on my phone as I’ve been in the past. I am mobile often so having access to email and being able to receive calls away from my desk is convenient but it’s not crucial, it just delays my response time.
I took this question to mean MY phone, as in my personal phone. If I were to have my work phone taken away for a day, I'd still survive. It's nice to be able to reference a ticket while out in the field, i.e. double-check an office location or problem details while working but it's also kind of a pain to have my office calls ringing in my pocket while I'm in the middle of something.
I'm probably a few that can live without a phone. I just need a phone to receive work assignments.