the article had some valid points.
makes one tink a bit about whether not using a cell is necessary or even sensible to be using..food for thought.

I dislike a lot about cell phones

- the annoyance of having my train of thought during a client appointment interrupted by the client’s phone ringing,

- the poor sound quality when I am the recipient of a call from a cellphone, usually because the caller is calling from a moving car, a public street or other place with high ambient noise,

- being forced to listen in on lengthy, loud, inane conversations when I’m trying to have a quiet lunch in a restaurant or admire a sunset at the beach or pick out my produce at the grocery store (and yes, people do speak more loudly on cellphones than in a face-to-face!)

- the bad manners implicit in all of the above.

That being said, I have one. Of course, I have a prepaid (phone and 1100 minutes for $150) on which I’ve used 234 minutes in the last nine months, mostly when I’ve been on vacation road trips.

In three months, I’ll pay another $10 to get 100 more minutes and renew the ones that are left from this year which will probably be over 700. Assuming I can do that for one more year beyond that, my average monthly cost for cellphone and minutes will be less than $5. The emergency security and on-the-road convenience is definitely worth that amount.

That being said, I now own a cell phone. Do I know what the number is? No. (I’d have to look it up. LOL) Is it ever turned on? Only for the short period of time it takes me to make a call. Why do I bother to have it? I live in the country and there are some mighty long stretches of lonely road and critters that like to run into the road. When I return to “civilization” for doctors’ appointments and to visit friends, I feel safer with it sitting in my purse beside me.

I think I’ve used it 5 times since I got it. Once, a tanker had overturned and getting past the resultant mess made me 2 hours late for a consulting job. I waited until I could pull off before I dug it out and dialed to let them know I’d be late and why. The other times were to let friends know that my appointment was completed and to meet me at the restaurant.

As for the guy who called you a luddite… if he’s not in some sort of a support position, I’d love to know when was the last time he got a call from a customer at 9pm or 1am and actually answered it. LOL If he calls a business outside of business hours for anything other than an emergency, I’d say that he’s a totally self-centered, mannerless pig.

Some people do find a cell phone cheaper than a landline and I applaud them for researching their options and finding the cheapest way to go, but to insist that all businesses have to be accesssible 24/7… I think not!

This discussion has reminded me that it’s been a couple of years since I researched all of my phone options based on my needs. Sigh. Another thing to add to my task list.

Thankfully we have left that life behind. We rarely get calls and let the answering machine pick up on most of them and during the weeks preceeding the election, we let the answering machine pick up all calls as it was a nusance to answer the phone to only hear computer voices telling us who to vote for. We only answer phones during set times and family members know this and have been told that if there is an emergency to says so on the message and we will pick up the phone.

I too get creeped out seeing people walk around with those ear things as if they have to be in constant contact at all times with all people. These aren’t OB doctors who may have to dash off to deliver babies, but ordinary people who I doubt if they get more than one IMPORTANT call a day.

I’m glad the one poster has seen the error of his free spending ways, but too bad it wasn’t sooner to save him and his family from the financial mess they are now in. I wonder how many other posters in their love for their cell phones can actually afford the bill–maybe that bill is paid on time, but are all the other paid in full? I don’t understand how families can afford the cost of all these gadgets and that is what they are.

I well remember being limited to 10 minute talks on the phone with my boyfriend back when I was 15 and my sister would get her 10 minutes and we could actually keep the phone humming most of the evening. Of course we only had one phone in the house and it was in the living room so all conversations could be monitored by mom. How many kids would be better off if parents were actively monitoring their kids conversations and phone time?