And to this day he still does not have a cell phone! Thank God I got a job and was able to grow up move out and get one myself. He is able to go through life without a cell phone of ANY kind (of course my mom has one). I on the other hand have to use my phone multiple upon multiple times a day. Anyone know someone that functions perfectly well day to day without a cell phone?
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When I was younger Dad said "you'll get a cell phone when I get a cell phone"
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My wife. She has my old one. Turns it on about once a month if that.
But then she rarely leaves the house without me.
Myself! I've never seen the need for one.
I have a 5s from 2014. Since I quit working, it is turned off in a drawer on a pay as you go plan. Has not been turned on in over a year.
My dad said "rewind the tapes before you return them to the local Blockbuster"
I don't know a single person without a cell phone. Most don't have landlines anymore, either.
Yes me, I purchased a cellphone about 20 years ago when I retired.
Mainly because I also signed up for BCAA in case of car problems and figured it was probably a good idea to have a phone so I could contact them when my vehicle broke down.
In all these years I've needed BCAA help twice, 1st when I locked my keys in the truck and second to change a flat.
Most times my phone is turned off unless I choose to make a call, although there was a period a couple of years ago when my wife was hospitalized, I had it on 24/7 so I could be reached if needed.
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My sister (a public school teacher) still only carries a cell phone for emergencies. She also only got broadband internet 3 years ago (was on free dial-up before that,) and doesn't have any social media presence. She only turns her cell phone on if she is specifically expecting a call, or if she needs to use it to make a call. It's an older "candy bar" dumbphone. She borrowed my old iPhone 4S (that had been sitting in a drawer) for a trip overseas recently, simply because it supported roaming in Europe, where her phone didn't. (And she used it to take pictures.)
When I was younger there either were no cellphones or the were too damn expensive.
Plus, payphones were everywhere. Call collect and you had no issues.
When my wife and I were dating I would talk to her when she was on a payphone (no home phone).
People got by.
Got my first cellphone in 1999.
We ditched home phones some time in 2005.
It's easier for my mom because she can just call the number of the person she wants to talk to, rather than calling a home phone and asking if so and so if there. Same for her when calling or texting my son. He got his first cellphone for his 13th birthday in Oct. 2016. We need to get a hold of him when he's at school. There are four people in our house who go in four different directions each day.
Myself. My first smartphone was the iPhone 6 Plus. Before that I didn't have a cell/smartphone of any kind for about a six month period. I once had a Nokia cell phone about 10 years ago or so. Can't even remember the model.
Today, I sometimes find my iPhone 6S somewhat useless. For example, I'm not a big fan of the app ecosystem. There's a website I will sometimes visit for restaurant reviews but when I search it on my iPhone I'm always redirected to the app store where I asked to download the site's mobile app. I just want to view the mobile site, I don't want to download and install the app that I might use once in a blue moon (also go through to whole payment verification process).
I too don't have a cellphone. I could go on for days at a stretch without a break as to the gripes I have with them.
This is an argument made for students being allowed to have phones in school. When I was a kid, parents called the main office and had the room paged to have the student come down to get a message. Is that no longer an option? Why MUST the student have a phone in class?
The ONLY reason I have a cell phone is so that She Who Must Be Obeyed can quickly and conveniently issue orders from any where, at any time. I catch holy hell whenever I *forget* my cell phone when I'm hiding out on errands.
We all have cellphones: wife, kids, and my wife's parents<--they are in their 80s. While for safety reasons they kept the latest KRZR model for years, and it was safely in the car's console to be turned on only when they needed to make an outgoing call.
Common sense and the modern age finally convinced them to accept our offer of iPhone 6's some years ago. We spent some time showing them how to text, email, and so on. We commiserate together when Apple makes changes to the UI for No Apparent Good Reason. When he saw me use a Tide Table app to check the time for high tide, he wanted to know how he could get that, too. Despite 99.999% of the calls being from credit card/aluminum/window sellers, they keep a landline. I suspect that is because many years ago I needed to fax something and we had long since given up our landline. This datapoint always works its way into the discussion of getting rid of their landline.
Don't get me wrong. Reinforced many times in my life is that you can lead a horse to water, even push its head into the trough, but you can't make it drink.
Common sense and the modern age finally convinced them to accept our offer of iPhone 6's some years ago. We spent some time showing them how to text, email, and so on. We commiserate together when Apple makes changes to the UI for No Apparent Good Reason. When he saw me use a Tide Table app to check the time for high tide, he wanted to know how he could get that, too. Despite 99.999% of the calls being from credit card/aluminum/window sellers, they keep a landline. I suspect that is because many years ago I needed to fax something and we had long since given up our landline. This datapoint always works its way into the discussion of getting rid of their landline.
Don't get me wrong. Reinforced many times in my life is that you can lead a horse to water, even push its head into the trough, but you can't make it drink.
Kids were relatively free of schedule in the past. The advent of helicopter parenting has led to micromanagement, which requires constant communication.
Me. Now.
I've had 3 or 4 cellphones until two or three years ago --but I got tired of paying a monthly fee in order to be wakened from sleep by friends who just want to chat, friends interrupting work-requiring-concentration to let me know they were waiting in line at the DMV, and by friends who seem to only use their phones to call me while they're driving. That last bit is what sealed my phone's fate. My friend was 1/2 a block from home and was 6 inches from a head-on collision by someone who ran a light. It's horribly unnerving to listen to stuff like this in real time. Not the only friend or the only near-miss either. All the butt-calls were also annoying but more humorous.
Wow, what an amazing relief the past couple years have been.
Zen out.
I've had 3 or 4 cellphones until two or three years ago --but I got tired of paying a monthly fee in order to be wakened from sleep by friends who just want to chat, friends interrupting work-requiring-concentration to let me know they were waiting in line at the DMV, and by friends who seem to only use their phones to call me while they're driving. That last bit is what sealed my phone's fate. My friend was 1/2 a block from home and was 6 inches from a head-on collision by someone who ran a light. It's horribly unnerving to listen to stuff like this in real time. Not the only friend or the only near-miss either. All the butt-calls were also annoying but more humorous.
Wow, what an amazing relief the past couple years have been.
Zen out.
It's an option. And it's one my wife and I will both take if there is a real emergency since he's not supposed to have his phone out or be using his phone during class.
Students are allowed to have their phones in class, but they must be on silent and put away in their backpacks. They are allowed to use them between classes.
My son attends Maricopa Institute of Technology which is a STEAM academy. They expect more maturity than the average school.
Also, when we gave him the phone we laid down ground rules. He is not supposed to be using it in class, period.
It is convenient however, for when his schedule changes. The bus may be late. A text to his mother prevents her from worrying. It's also allowed me to change work plans to pick him up when he was scheduled to come home on the bus. Considering that my son is cross town and it would take 30 minutes to get to him from work or home being able to communicate helps a lot.
Stuff like that. As long as he is responsible there's no problem. We hear anything from teachers and there will be a problem. He does not want to lose his phone so there's been zero problems since we gave it to him.
PS. This is just specific to school. If he's out with his church group and needs to be picked up, he can text or call us. Again, stuff like that.
Same, except they didn't exist yet. Pretty sure my father bought one of those Motorolas sometime in the 80s. I used a beeper for a long time before buying a StarTac, and then I can't recall well but I either paid for the service or the gov picked up my tab or I stopped and used a supplied phone until I got out. Motorola flip phones were pretty much the only phones I found usable and well built up until getting into smart phones. Pretty sure I had an Ericcson and a Nokia but they were complete trash. Though some of those Motorolas had shoddy connection issues back when towers were still building expanded. By the end of my contract periods, my phones looked like they'd gone through a war and back. When I was a kid, computers existed in some sense but they were huge and really expensive for the times. Really the only entertainment we had was listening to radio, tv and being outside. Also, those neat educational magazines.
My oldest nephew was in junior high when he was given a cell phone. That seemed iffy to me at the time. Sometimes when we're out, we see kids as young as what I'd assume are fourth graders using iPhones and Androids...
What's fourth grade in the US, age 8 or 9? Just ridiculous IMO.
Though I've held a sat phone for a long time. I'll upgrade when I have to and buy enough minutes just for emergencies when we do long distance road trips and I can't trust Verizon not to mess up. We'd just gotten married and made a trip up to Napa after we'd gotten back from our honeymoon. This was a time when networks were still pretty sketchy. I was asked why I had an ancient looking phone. I explained why, I was told I was being silly. We had a flat tire later that day. No reception on our phones. I still like to bring it up.
Sat phones were a blessing when I worked for Uncle Sam and was assigned a really crappy country to survey. You have no idea how nice it is to call back home when you're in the middle of nowhere in some former Bloc country. It's a beautiful experience to hear a love one's voice. This was about 20 years ago. It wasn't my dime so I and my work partner used it a lot.
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Totally agree. Years ago, I saw a woman waiting in line at the Verizon store loudly arguing with the employee about how her 5 yr old daughter "needed" a 64GB iPhone instead of a 32GB one