Cell Phones, curse or blessing?

[azsnowman]

This week has shown me just how many people cannot live without their cell phones......how much do you depend on your cell phone??

We use ours VERY little, for business and emergencies, "THAT'S IT!" We do not take ours into restuarants, to church etc, etc.I believe that cell phones, 99.9% of the time are a curse on mankind, if the phone calls are THAT important, then dang it, stay at home, the office, DON'T push your business on others while trying to enjoy dinner, a movie, a drive in the country

Dennis

[GalvestonDuck]

I agree, Dennis!

Mine usually stays plugged into the charger during most of the day. I use it at night and weekends if I'm going to call my grandparents (or anyone else long distance, which is rare). I take it with me as a means of emergency contact if I travel . And I usually have it with me when I'm out in big crowds like at Mardi Gras or when I'm playing designated driver at parties. Mine serves more or less as a walkie-talkie between my best friends and me if we just need to say "Where are you? Lost ya somewhere" or "While you're out, could you pick up such-and such." When we go to movies, out to eat, or something like that, it stays in the car.

[Miss Mary]

Well, I'm the last remaining hold-out I do believe. I do not own one. Do one want one! Hubby has one, but it stays in his car. If we're both away from home, we take it with us so the kids can reach us (restaurants, etc.). But we turn the sound off! Can't count how many times I've heard one ring - in church, meetings, religious programs, etc. That's when they're inappropriate, IMO. My mom worries all the time - Mary, you don't have a cell. Well, I don't travel for a job, so I rarely if ever get on an interstate. If I did have car trouble, it would be in my community, and I could just easily go into a business and use their phone.

That said, I know I'm not the norm now. I know of many mom's, not working, who have them. They say they *have* to, to keep track of their older kids. Or they say it's important to give teens their own cell phones. Nina told me she's heard them going off in class a lot - students forget to turn the sound off. Teachers get mad - I would too. Disrupting to the class! I've also said if I ever am able to return to work, then I'll consider one. Until then, I just don't want one!

Forgot a major pet peeve of mine - if I ever had one, I would never use it while driving a car. Never! Since everyone I know has one now, almost daily I encounter a driver who's yacking away on one, forgetting to turn left at the arrow, or stay on their side of the road. I swear it's so bad, they almost forget what they're *supposed* to be doing at that moment - driving a car responsibly!

[FreakyWxChick]

The other day I was in the grocery store behind a woman using her cell phone. I had the unfortunate timing to follow her into the store while she was talking and somehow I managed to be behind her the whole time, on every aisle. There were a few times I pulled ahead but she always seemed to catch up or met me on the next aisle. I tallied this up while I was there...

Times she ran into my cart: 4
Times she ran into other people's carts: 5
Times she stopped dead in her tracks during an interesting part of the convo causing me to quickly stop: 9
Times she said OH MY F'ING GAWWDDD: 7
Amount of time her important conversation held me up: 15 minutes
Times I thanked God I wasn't behind her in a car: Not enough

This woman talked on the phone the whole time she checked out and as she walked to her car she was still talking. I don't think I have ever put my groceries in my car as fast as I did that day so I could beat her out of the parking lot.

[FreakyWxChick]

Mary,

I'm with you! Neither my husband or I have a cell phone. There was one month we talked about getting one for times when I was out and needed to call him to tell him something important I counted up the times I used a payphone that month and it was 5 times.

5x $0.50= no need for a cell phone.

[bfez1]

Love me cell phone and wouldn't want to be w/o it. I can be reached 24/7 and I like it that way.

[coriolis]

We don't have one, but I'm thinking about it. I could have used one yesterday.

I was at work. The school nurse called and said that my son was sick and should go home. I called home. My wife had just left to go to our daughter's house (I didn't know that). I leave to go to the school, and she decides to stop by my work to say hi. She shows up at my work, and I'm not there. They were paging me repeatedly. Meanwhile I bring my son home and she's not there. I'm getting irritated by now. We stop at a pay phone and call our daughter. Mom's not there (she hadn't completed the 30 minute trip yet.) I take my son back home to decide what to do. Then my wife calls and wants to know where I was! We get everything straightened out and then I have to take my son to our daughter's house before returning to work. I missed 2+ hours of work. Fortunately my boss is understanding about these things, but it was very frustrating to me. If one of us had a cell phone, I could have avoided all that.

[TexasStooge]

Gotta have a cell phone just in case you get stranded.

[azsnowman]

Ed.....indeed, it's time like that that a cell phone comes in handy but dang it....trust me, if we didn't own a business, we would "NOT" have one "PERIOD!" We travel WAY out in the sticks with our business, we need one JUST IN CASE we break down, sometimes, we are anywhere from 45-50 miles away from mankind, it's a LOooooooooooong walk back to the main road!

Dennis