Do you need a cell phone?

[GSOgymrat]

I accidentally left my cell phone at work and didn’t bother to retrieve it over the weekend. One of my coworkers was amazed that I could go without a phone for a couple of days. I didn’t miss it other than listening to music and used my Zune instead. I am old enough to remember the days when people didn’t have home answering machines. It was not unusual to miss people at home and for the phone to just ring. Now there seems to be an expectation that people be accessible.

I resisted buying a cell phone and only bought one because I had a job where I carried a pager and having a cell phone allowed me to leave the house. When I wasn’t on-call I kept to phone turned off in my car in case the car broke down. I have started carrying it more often because it has become my primary music player. I have a land line in case of emergencies.

Do you feel you need your phone with you? Could you do without a cell phone?

 

[ninjaap]

I definitely remember the days before cellphones were common. I thought I could live without my phone, until I actually left my phone at home and needed to call someone. No problem right? Just look for a pay phone. Oh wait... the last pay phone I saw was at the airport. So the answer is, I could, but I wont. Sure its easier for others to reach me, but whats more important is, its easier for me to reach others.

 

[mase123987]

I could live without a tv, tablet, phone, etc. That doesn't mean I would want to.

 

[Coreldan]

I don't think I'd necessarily NEED it for myself, but I wouldnt imagine being without cos of others. For example my parents are still in good health, but I never for example put my phone silent or turn off during nights just in case there is any kind of emergency to anyone close to me. Same with emergency calls in the times of need. Very few places have landlines around here nowadays.

But yeah, I think I could definitely live without it, I call/get called fairly little anyways at this current time, but I think it's one of those things that is less of a vanity nowadays as I find the ability to be reachable and to be able to reach other people quite invaluable.

 

[Bicpug]

I could quite easily do without it; a ?10 top can last me a few months. I find it quite sad that some people cant go a few hours without having to check their phone like some technological comfort blanket.

 

[Laura Knotek]

I really need it more for email, SMS, IM than for actual phone calls.

 

[Coreldan]

I really need it more for email, SMS, IM than for actual phone calls.

Same for me, but for me the main and biggest reason is to be reachable and to reach out with calls when needed, everything else is more of a bonus. That said, one could say I would manage just fine with a feature phone, but since I carry a phone with me anyways, rather have it do as much as possible

 

[baseballbert]

I've got two lines one for business, and one for personal use at night/weekends.

I've had people give me wtf looks when I tell them I dont check my phone when I get up in the morning and I'm not on call 24/7.

It's funny when I take a few days off from social media people ask what's wrong! Funny things these tech trinkets!

 

[GSOgymrat]

It's funny when I take a few days off from social media people ask what's wrong! Funny things these tech trinkets!

Many people are surprised if someone under 30 isn't on a social networking site like Facebook. I knew someone who tried to look up a guy she was interested in and then decided not to pursue it because she couldn't find anything about him online and thought it was suspicious.

 

[GraemeT]

I could live without one. Sure it's handy sometimes. I'm nearly 53 so I've lived without one for most of my life, and I'm still here. Text messaging is good for getting information (not chat) to people when you need to. Being a pilot operating out in the sticks sometimes, mobile internet access for weather and the like is a revelation, but I always managed before. Could take it or leave it.

 

[ttsoldier]

When you're boss can call you any hour of any day, the answer would be yes; I do need my cell phone.

Emails are also very crucial.

 

[HeyCori]

I don't have a landline, so yes. Phones, in any form, are still very important. Maybe I don't need a smartphone but I do need some sort of communication device.

Granted, we don't need anything more than food, water, shelter and companionship to survive. :grin:

 

[Justin429]

That's an awesome signature! I liked it so much, I signed up and created one also.

 

[DavidinCT]

I could live without a tv, tablet, phone, etc. That doesn't mean I would want to.

EXACTLY my thoughts

 

[Dileu]

I battle against this question constantly on philosophical, mental health and environmental grounds.

I rarely make phone calls and my phone is permanently on silent, but I do use it extensively for texting, email, photography, calendar, maps and music/podcasts, and before I abandoned social media, for checking twitter way too often.

Last year I deliberately went a month without a mobile and I really enjoyed it - the first time I haven't had a phone in my pocket for 18 years. The only issue for me in that month was I missed a course I had paid to go on because I wasn't able to use a map to find a place, and I wasn't able to call or text a colleague to get directions. That was down to my bad planning rather than a lack of phone, of course!

But for me, what brought me back was my relationships with other people. My partner felt uneasy not having that "potential emergency contact", and my friends missed the ability to text me.

I guess that's my point here - you are making a choice not just for yourself, but also for other people in your life when you change your relationship with communications technology. It's about learning to strike a balance and think about ways of setting a level that's right for you and others too.

For example, do you REALLY need your data connection to be permanently on?

 

[montsa007]

Can surely live without it
Infact I'll be going on a 10 day re-treat without any cellphone, internet, radio, music player, TV, not even newspapers.

 

[cgk]

I've been thinking about this - I need a cell phone but I don't need to do a lot - I was going to switch from WP back to Android when I realised that my usage of my phone (as opposed to my nexus tablet) was so limited that I might as well save the cash and just buy a cheapo Lumia 520 or an ascend w1.

 

[gedzum]

I reckon I can do fine without a cell phone. I'm not the type of person constantly on my phone to begin with. It's more a matter of convenience to be able to just whip out the device and immediately have access to calls, text,emails, news etc. when needed. But I guess it's easy to say that, but when I have no phone I'll have like withdrawal syndrome or something :wink: