Thread: Am I the only one in the world who never had a cell phone ?

I was in the PO this morning picking up a package that needed a signature. In the line were a couple of people with those "ear bug" phones. So they are babbling , one of them in what sounded like Swedish, and it appears to the casual observer that they are talking to themselves.

In the fifties and sixties it would have appeared they were crazy and I always am slightly amused when I see someone doing this. If they don't have the ear bugs their elbow is bent with their cell phone firmly pressed to their ear. Driving, in line at a store....even while getting tattooed cell phones are ubiquitous.

Is there anyone else out there but me who has never owned a cell phone ?

I have had them off and on.

Right now I have an emergency only phone that I pay for every three months. Tracfone. Good stuff and cheap.

I plan to continue this because I am becoming paranoid and do not like to be that connected.

Edit:
I remember when you would come home and check your answering machine. You know the thing with the two or one tape. Loved those things.

I only have a cellphone, no land line....

Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

I only have a cellphone, no land line....

They laughed at me because I still have a land line. Until the hurricanes knocked out the power for days and then everyone wanted to use my phone.

I used three different cell phones for about ten years. After I quit pizza delivery, the benefits of having one were no longer worth the costs so I canceled my service. I keep the phones though. Cleaned up, they make great toddler toys (at least mine do - none with tiny removable or breakable parts of course)

There's something about the phones that attach to the ears that make me think of Darth Vader and borgs. I probably shouldn't entertain that connotation, as I'd hate to bias myself against someone just because they have blue light coming out of their ears and act as though it's perfectly normal.

Jimmy, are your experiences with people who do have cell phones somehow related to the reason you've never had a cell phone, or were the amusements you recounted only a curious side-story?

Actually I am thinking back, and I abandoned my phone sometime before I quit pizza delivery. I remember one afternoon talking to a customer whose house I had re-arrived at (nobody was present on my first delivery attempt.) She remarked that tried to contact me by phoning my store so that they could contact me on my cell phone and let me know she was not home yet, and I replied that I did not have a cell phone. I expected her to look shocked that I didn't have one (based on her assumption that I did), but instead her reaction was, "oh really? I'd get rid of mine too if I could." Then I smiled and replied, "I used to say the same thing!"

Some people have to have them and some people don't. And many more enjoy using them and playing with them. As much as my wife likes to play with her newest phone ($7 on eBay, hehe - shhhhhhh), I think my 1 year old is even more fascinated by them. Just try and take hers away - I wonder how long I can get away with leaving the battery out before she confronts me about it

Mine is required for my business otherwise I wouldn't have one.

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

Jimmy, are your experiences with people who do have cell phones somehow related to the reason you've never had a cell phone, or were the amusements you recounted only a curious side-story?

Lee, about 15 years ago I was working for a tattoo shop where they wanted me to get a beeper. Remember those ? I told them there was no way. I don't have any family so I don't need a cell phone for that. I don't use an answering machine. I figure that if someone wants to get hold of me they will keep trying.

I have no objection to cell phones in general as long as people don't drive and talk on them. I am a road bicyclist and I would hate to get killed or injured by someone paying more attention to their phone conversation than the road.

I have thought about getting one for when I ride off road trails on my mountain bike. I have been injured and alone out on the trail and bleeding badly with no one around. I managed to tie the wound off with my waist belt and pedal out. If I had been wearing spandex bike shorts instead of my usual cut off Levis I wouldn't have had a belt and might have been in deep do do. Anyway, I have nothing against cell phones per se.

I didn't have one of my own, but Mom loaned me hers when she knew I would be going out on New Years eve, riding my bicycle. I took it to humor her. Long story short, I used it that night to call for an ambulance and some friends at the Church I had just left. If I hadn't had it, I don't know how long I would've lain there, as no one could see me (no street lights, and my whit shirt wasn't visible from the road).

Cell phones are FUN! Jump in, guys! The water's warm.

I have never had a land-line, as an adult. Cell phones all the way baby!

Mac