Cell phones: Poll: Could you live without your cell phone?
- 10/17/07 2:23 PM
No way
by jahan - 10/17/07 5:43 PM In reply to: Poll: Could you live without your cell phone? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
We don't even have a landline anymore. it's all mobile and VoiP for our house now.
well what did you do before?
by andified - 10/17/07 5:43 PM In reply to: Poll: Could you live without your cell phone? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
the poll asks what you would do if there was an emergency and you didn't have a cell phone...well what did everyone do before? honestly, everyone acts like we were all lost little children before the invention of cell phones. there are always options, it's just that we've basically forgotten them because we depend so much on our cell phones. typically I don't even use mine, I just have one because my parents think it's necessary for "emergencies." but I can make do with pay phones and the like since there typically is a phone basically everywhere I go. it's just kind of silly for people think say they can't live without a cell phone I think.
don't rely on pay phones in Manhattan
by dg27 - 10/17/07 6:02 PM In reply to: well what did you do before? by andified>>>" since there typically is a phone basically everywhere I go..."
I take it you do not frequent New York. Good luck in an emergency there w/o a cell.
Not a snowball's chance in hell...
by gallusnation - 10/17/07 5:44 PM In reply to: Poll: Could you live without your cell phone? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
My mobile literally is my only form of outside communication i can count on. Internet access is nearly always being in a temperamental state or not working at all... i dont have a house phone... dont have a car... public transport is attrocious... and unfortunately i dont live in the good old fashioned days where everyone i knew lives a mile from my front door... more to the point i dont have a front door i can call my own cos im moving about too much :S
so yeah... my phone is kinda important to me...
on a sidenote... slightly off topic... the main annoyance i have with modern communications... mobiles/cell phones included is that we no longer know our neighbours... that bugs me... i know more people on the other side of the world than i do in my own street 
Time management dream
by bambootoy - 10/17/07 5:47 PM In reply to: Poll: Could you live without your cell phone? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
When I need information I don't need to write a note to myself, wait until I get to a wired phone, dig out my notes, and communicate. I handle tasks as they come up, no matter where I am. If stuck wasting time (waiting rooms?), I can use my time for something productive. I can pick up voicemail anytime and anywhere, and respond in a timely manner to requests for information. Cellphones allow me to get a lot done in those frequent 'idle minutes' that would otherwise simply be wasted! Cellphones are a godsend!
response choices are flawed
by dg27 - 10/17/07 5:59 PM In reply to: Poll: Could you live without your cell phone? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I selected "No way! This is my main point of contact and . feel naked without it. (What if you were in a dead zone?)" with great reservations, because it's very misleading, as are all of the choices: they are way too extreme. I always turn my cell off in theatres, restaurants, and anywhere else where I feel that I do not want anyone to be disturbed. In general, I probably use it less than most users, but it is very convenient for someone who moves from place to place during the course of the day. What did I do before I had it? I wasted a lot of time checking my answering machine [no longer even have one @ home]. And before answering machines? Well then things really were a bit of a pain and even more time was wasted and opportunities lost. Would I give it up? That's akin to asking whether I'd give up modern dentistry, homogenized milk, or, a computer, for that matter. My answer is a resounding no--why should I? Just as guns don't kill [it's the one who pulls the trigger who takes care of that], cell phones don't disturb others--it's the insensitive, brainless cretins who misuse them who do.
Use Wisely or Leave Them at Home
by arou42 - 10/18/07 7:28 AM In reply to: response choices are flawed by dg27I agree with the sentiment that the choices were too extreme; beyond that, I think of cell phones as somewhere between a necessary evil and a blessed convenience. I've had prepaid service with AT&T since January 1 of 2001. My service costs me a total of $100/year, plus tax. I've never, in all those years, used up my minutes and have always carried a balance of WAY over $150 (they've always had a rollover plan and my unused minutes have never expired). This is because my cell phone has always been for emergencies, "hi, 'bye," and "I'm here, where are you?" I even retrieve voice messages on a land line. I can't afford a regular plan and don't want one. They sound terrible compared to land lines, they get hot, and God knows what they're shooting into your brain. In addition, I agree that users' manners are atrocious. I once heard someone on the street complaining loudly that he'd witnessed a car accident caused because s woman talking on her cell phone; she continued to talk as she got out of the car. This is lunacy. I have NO interest in hearing other people's one-way conversations and I make it a point to try to be courteous with regard to my own (such as they are).
I'm delighted that this technology exists and that I can have it for my purposes at such a reasonable price, but I think many people overuse it, sometimes creating hazards and very often creating irritation.
Yes...
by t0ny1957 - 10/17/07 6:06 PM In reply to: Poll: Could you live without your cell phone? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
It is a great convenience, but I don't even bother taking it out of the car when I go to a restaurant or into church, etc.
Ya know, one of the things that seperates us from the lower animals is civility and I think that there's a real lack of civility and manners in modern society. Perhaps we SHOULD give people that use cell phones in restaurants the evil-eye. Maybe they'd get the message, maybe not. You'd most likely get the standard American "It's a free country, I can do whatever I want", but that's not how our Bill of Rights reads to me.
We have freedom, but not when our freedom tramples on the rights of others. Someone using a cell phone in a restaurant or delaying a line in a coffee shop because they don't have common sense or manners tramples on my right to expect prompt service and, in the case of the restaurant, a quiet meal.
What happened to teaching kids manners as they grow up? What happened to expecting adults to act in a civil manner? If technology allows us to be rude, then to what depths have we sunk?
???
What if there is an emergency?
by cathrynm47 - 10/17/07 6:07 PM In reply to: Poll: Could you live without your cell phone? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I had to weigh in on this conversation because this very thing came up for me. I witnessed a car go over the side of the road, so I stopped to get on my cell phone (this was in 2005) and call for emergency. Guess what? I was in a no-service/dead spot or something, so I couldn't make the call. Lot of good my cell phone did me then. Fortunately someone else came along and was able to use his cell phone (I have no idea which company he used) enough to get out an emergency call. Needless to say, I was very upset. I don't depend on my cell phone for anything. I have a prepaid plan and I do take it with me when I travel, but I also think through where the emergency phones are, rest stops, etc. Even where I live, my cell phone cannot get service--I have to walk a mile up to the end of the road to get a faint signal. For me, the cell phone is just not reliable technology even for emergencies--not even addressing the issue of inexcusable rudeness on the part of many cell phone users.
Poll: Could you live without your cell phone?
by amckenas - 10/17/07 6:08 PM In reply to: Poll: Could you live without your cell phone? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I use a cell phone exclusively. I have a land line but mostly use it if I need to send or receive a fax from my PC. The cell phone has proven invaluable when I have had auto breakdowns. People can reach me if necessary (no more 'phone tag'). However if I am called while I am doing something and would be inconvenienced or would inconvenience someone else, I press the 'quiet' button and deal with the call later.
I am annoyed by some people don't have the brains to do their own shopping. Or those who interrupt a conversation with me to yak on the cell. Or those who speak like they are shouting to someone in the next block.
Before cell phones I used to run across people who obviously had a screw loose and were talking away to people who were not there. Now I find myself checking to see if 'one person' conversations involve a cell or just someone whose deck got shuffled!
The cellphones are not the problem. The people are.
by FrankWoolf - 10/17/07 6:14 PM In reply to: Poll: Could you live without your cell phone? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
You guys in the US and Europe are lucky. Try living in Hong Kong and you will see how bad it can get.
It is quite normal for locals to hold conversations shouting at the top of their voices in buses, elevators, restaurants, etc. Cellphones just make the problem worse as we now sit in a bus or restaurant, etc and have to put up with with bored passengers calling one friend after another and shouting their conversations through cell phones.
I use my cellphones a lot but I am sure I never cause annoyance to other people.
why you say like that
by shebeeb1900 - 10/20/07 5:39 AM In reply to: The cellphones are not the problem. The people are. by FrankWoolfwhy you say like that people in US and Europe are lucky. people who know to use the cellphone are rare but there are people in US also who don't know to use a celphone
Pay Phones
by Tinatoo - 10/17/07 6:16 PM In reply to: Poll: Could you live without your cell phone? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I find pay phones very hard to find these days. I have a cell phone but is is hardly ever turned on. When I do use it I am parked in a parking lot, usually asking if I need to pick up any groceries.
Where are all the pay phones ?
by suedihfed - 10/17/07 6:21 PM In reply to: Poll: Could you live without your cell phone? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I really wish I could do without my cell phone. I think society has become detached and rude because of them. I have noticed that there are very few pay phones around any more and I work nights. If I have car trouble I want to be able to call the AAA without having to walk alone at night looking for a working phone.
Cell phones- actually good for games
by glen271 - 10/17/07 6:32 PM In reply to: Poll: Could you live without your cell phone? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Recently, I got a mediocre Nokia cell phone. (It's too soft and you have to put it on speaker to hear well.) I am on a pay as you go plan, so I don't make a lot of calls, and don't really regard my cellphone as essential. But then I discovered that it came with some actually fun games! Better than solitaire. I am killing my cellphone battery playing games. Who cares about the calls?
Glen271
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