Who doesn’t have a cell phone these days? It seems that virtually everyone has a cell phone these days from the very young to the very old and everyone in between. In fact, many of the younger people with cell phones (younger = 35 years old and below) do not just have cell phones, they may have a cell phone addiction.
Do you know someone who absolutely MUST have his or her cell phone on their person at all times? Do they get phone calls on the cell phone and then run into a corner to talk to whoever is on the other line about a gigantic secret (likely what to eat for dinner that night)? Think of who this person is in your life – the person who is constantly text messaging or reading their e-mail on their phone. Now think about whether or not that person could survive without their cell phone.
Probably not, huh? Come to think of it – could YOU survive without your cell phone? The New York Times ran an article today talking about how the writer of the article voluntarily gave up her cell phone! From the article:
The first inkling that I’d stepped over the line was when my husband called Verizon to cancel my account and the service representative reacted as if we were trying to pull a fast one. My husband’s account of the call:
Rep: “Is there a problem?”
“No,” my husband said.
Rep: “How can I change your mind?”
“She just doesn’t want her cellphone anymore,” he said, adding, “I feel like I’m talking to a counselor at a suicide prevention hot line.”
The rep laughed nervously, as if hearing a rumor of the Apocalypse. “She’s really just going to switch to an iPhone, right?”
The article is pretty interesting and it got me thinking about a few things like whether or not I need a cell phone at all and, if so, then what services I need on the phone. I guess I do need a cell phone at this point in my life, but I could probably pare down the service somewhat (which is already down at the lowest level, I think). Take a read of the article, I think you’ll enjoy it!
I have one, and use it, but keep it to a minimum. Could I live without it? Yes! Do I want to live without it? NO!
I hear ya! I found myself in the middle of a maddening amount of text messages after I put this post up. Then I found myself in a conversation with my co-workers about whether or not we should all get smartphones with full internet access to keep us hooked into the system when we’re out of the office.
All I could keep thinking was, “Wow – poetic justice.”