So, how DID you survive without a cellphone

Well done society.. Well done to all the marketing companies around the world.

They have programmed the current generation of people both young and old, to not even begin to fathom life without a cellphone. To people young and old, a cellphone is as vital as a glass of water, it is like checking you have your coat on before going out into the cold, the same is with checking you have your cellphone before you leave the house.

And why should it not be like this? why should children not have a cellphone to contact their parents with predators about, or is it not essential for people going camping in remote regions to have a cellphone to call for help if they get lost or have an accident.
And what about meetings, both personal and business, how else would you know when and where the person will be, without having that text a few minutes earlier, informing you that he is the person with the grey suit standing by the coffee shop. And of course, how would we survive without being able to ring `jane` twice a day to check how she is, and tell her how special she is.

If you read the last paragraph, there is every reason in the world for cellphones to be essential, and in some cases the `can not live without it mentality`. (Justified in many cases).

However, this brings me onto the point.
We WERE able to live without it (and no im not talking about when we were cavemen using trees and leaves as toilet paper)... im talking about even in modern times 15/20 years ago, we were able to monitor our kids just fine without cellphones, we were able to get to that meeting in time fine without cellphones, and hey.. we were able to even keep in touch with `jane` just as much, through landline fone calls every evening.

So, now the question turns into

How did these phone companies turn our brains into thinking that one of the most important accessories needed to mankind (just as important as a bottle of water before setting out on a long journey), is a cellphone.

We survived but not nearly as efficiently as we do today. They are a wonderful piece of technology.

You may miss the days of getting lost and looking for a phone booth, hoping the phone book isn't ripped out, just so you can find an address, but I prefer to get that information almost instantly.

Being able to call my husband if the car breaks down while keeping the doors locked is far safer than having to walk around the city looking for a place to call.

The severe weather alerts and Amber Alerts have saved lives.

Yes you can live without it, but not as well.

reply to post by mlifeoutthere


Hmmmm well I had a friend who uses facebook as the main form of communication but occasionally he uses other people's phones

We used to have to plan.
Then you had to tell your family what your plans were.
That's how it worked back in the olden days.
Breaking down at night or in the boonies was bad news.
Good luck finding a payphone today, there's none where I live anymore.
In ways your cellphone is more of your "real" address than where you live if you move often.

It didn't take much to sell us on the idea of cellphones.
They just had to make them small enough to be convenient.
Brick phones wouldn't fit in your pocket.

reply to post by Spookybelle

Yes you can live without it, but not as well.

Oh please. I have never had a cell phone and I see no need to carry an electronic leash around.

reply to post by mlifeoutthere


I'll never forget when I was about 6 or 7 years old and my mom's Pinto died on the side of the freeway, in the rain. There was no call box nearby. My mom and i walked a bit along a brick wall off the roadside and she spotted a hole at the bottom of the wall. She asked me to climb through the hole and go knock on the door of the house whose backyard that hole led to. I didn't fit though, so back we went to the car. A while later a car full of Mormon missionaries pulled over and helped us.

I share this as an example of how, yes, we DID survive, luckily, without a cell phone, but should that happen to me today, my phone is with me to call for help, and there is no chance I'll need to send my child through a random hole in the wall for assistance.

I only have one now because my husband had to get one for his job about a year ago. Mine is just a basic flipper, and I only have it because it took me four hours to make a 20 minute drive one night due to bad weather and bad weather traffic. He freaked out, so when he got his device plan, he got me this basic one so he'd never have to worry like that again.

In general, I liked being without because there are times I don't want to be found.

I don`t have a cell phone, i`ve never had one and I don`t plan on ever getting one..i`m surviving just fine

buster2010
reply to post by Spookybelle

 

Yes you can live without it, but not as well.

Oh please. I have never had a cell phone and I see no need to carry an electronic leash around.

Oh please, I never said it was a need, I said it made life easier. You may think its a leash but most of us find it a convenience.

One day, when we have a microchip implanted in our brain stem that does all of these things we will have threads here wondering how we survived when we only had cell phones.

Technology advances.

We lived without a lot of things at one time or another. Cable TV, cellphones, high speed internet, wifi, dvr, etc. These are all things that are supposed to enhance our lives NOT take them over. It is not the fault of the device if the owners don't know the meaning of personal responsibility.

I am glad that I have a phone that lets me make calls, receive calls, pull up GPS, etc. It helps in a lot more ways as well. There can be a line crossed where it is used too often but that is so with a large number of things. Due to financial reasons we have done without cellphones a few times in the last few years. It can be done and it can be done easily, but it is certainly easier and more comforting (safety wise) to have one since we didn't have a land line either.

I didn't get my daughter one until she was 13. I never call her and she never calls me unless it's an emergency (missed the bus). She does not have unlimited access to everything on it even at 16. She also has an allotted amount of minutes, text, and data to prevent her from living and breathing with it attached to her hand.

Technology can always be a double edged sword IMO.

As an aside, I know the dangers of staring at screens too long. We used to go to arcades and feed quarters into infernal machines that never let your mind go until you ran out of money. By then your mind was mush. Nothings changed.

Except now you can carry the infernal machine around with you everywhere.

What do you think 25 years of that is going to do to your cognizance?

intrptr

As an aside, I know the dangers of staring at screens too long. We used to go to arcades and feed quarters into infernal machines that never let your mind go until you ran out of money. By then your mind was mush. Nothings changed.

Except now you can carry the infernal machine around with you everywhere.

What do you think 25 years of that is going to do to your cognizance?

Its made me into the killing machine I am today.

If we are ever invaded by rows of aliens, I will grab my joystick and destroy them all thus saving the planet.

We used a firebow to make signal fires. Sometimes, if we were lucky, we had a flint and steel and some tinder kept in a waterproof tin which we carried everywhere.

reply to post by mlifeoutthere


Way back when....
On every corner darn near, there used to be a Tardis.
Of course they were abit smaller and the wrong color, and mostly deactivated, but the phone part still worked.

reply to post by Spookybelle

If we are ever invaded by rows of aliens, I will grab my joystick and destroy them all thus saving the planet.

Poor aliens…

reply to post by buster2010


Nice you still are hanging in there. I had to give in back in 2005, after resisting for many years. I got an old Nokia "brick", and it works perfect. Can only make calls, and send texts... nothing fancy.

There is no way i would go out and buy a "smart" phone - EVER!

To sum that up, here is an old piccy

Thank God cellphones were not a requirement when I was a teenager. I'm glad my parents couldn't call me at any time they wanted. My parents would've keeled over dead with some of the things I did.

But, exactly the same reason I'm glad my kids have them now (now that I'm a parent)


The texting habit is outrageous though, it should be outlawed.

reply to post by kloejen


No offense but that makes as much sense as not upgrading your computer.

Are you against technology or something?

Is it ethically wrong for you to use gps for directions?

Does the ability to access a game of solitare no matter where you are keep you up at night?

God forbid you might want to capture a picture of a stunning event that you happen to pass by.

I don't get your fear. Its as if not upgrading is some sort of badge of honor with you guys. I think its rather silly and foolish.

No disrespect meant at all of course. To each their own I say.

I have a cellphone.
The only time I use it is to make a call to let people know I am ok, then it goes back into my pocket. I use it mainly as an mp3 player. Never text with it, never use it for the social functions that go with it, but I love that I don't need to have 2 separate things in my pocket.

So the only time you will ever see me with my face staring at a cellphone is to press the call button to call someone or when I am in bed at night and can't fall asleep.

Ah yes the bad old days when everyone had what Lewis Black described as "A big, ugly rotary dial phone that was so big & heavy if a puma came at you, you could kill it".
Lol.

We survived because they didn't exist. I love my Samsung, no more standing in the rain or freezing cold digging for change to make a call. Ever put a pay phone receiver up to your ear when it's all of 20 degrees outside? Not pleasant.