Cell phones forum: Poll: Could you live without your cell phone?

What did we do before cell phones? Well, we all worked in big offices where we sent paper memos around, and hung around the water coolers. We had phones on every desk. And when we were out of the office, we could find pay phones on virtually every corner in a big city, and next to most big stores in the suburbs.

Well today, the pay phones are almost all gone, and a lot of us -- a LOT of us -- work for ourselves or in small businesses, where there is no receptionist, no assistant to man the phones. It's just us. When I opened my small design business in 2000, I resisted getting a cell phone. I could use pay phones and friends' phones to check my answering for messages whenever I was out of town. I kept that attitude for about eight months, where not returning a phone call for 90 minutes meant the loss of a job that would have brought in $5,000 (they found another designer before I could call back).

I bought a cell phone the next week (an early b&w Treo) and haven't looked back. These days, my cell phone is never far away, especially when I'm out of the house. With a cell phone, I'm always "in" my office, whether I'm out to lunch, at the beach, or shopping at Target.

I agree that people who don't get off the phone when they're at Starbucks, a cashier or a bank teller should be eligible for the death penalty. But otherwise, I feel my cell phone (currently the iPhone, after years with the Treo 300) is as important to my business as my landline. I would never give either one up.

My husband and I made a pact about 35 years ago when we told each other that we would be the first people on our block to own a Dick Tracy wrist radio. Cell phones go one (ok, 1000) better. I rarely use mine in public. Our family uses them to stay in touch, inform each other to location, estamated time home, etc. I don't like to see folks forever on their phones, but I understand why. Communication!!!

Before we had cell phones, you could stop at a convenience store or street corner and use a pay phone. Now, most pay phones are being taken out of these locations because of crime - drugs, etc. Either you have a drug dealer using the phone for contacts, or they are hanging out waiting to make a call or receive calls. (Receiving calls have been taken away at most if not all of the remaining pay phones). There are other reasons such as convenient store owners do not want people just hanging out in the front of the store to use the phone. They feel that this takes away from actual customer space. Also, because pay phone users are making less money because of cell phone usage.

Since most pay phones have been taken out and most people have cell phones these days (yes, it is a bit of a catch 22), we have to have cell phones for contact purposes and safety. If I breakdown on the road, it is very comforting to know I have a contact line to the outside, AAA roadside service, and so forth. I remember one time I broke down on Adamo Drive in the middle of the night. I got picked up luckily by a man who was a father and he gave me a lesson in finding pay phones. I was lucky because another man could have stopped that was not so nice. Yes, it was in the before-cell phone era. Bottom line --cell phones are a necessity for safety and convenience stake.

Depending on what you do for a living, you may NEED a cell phone.
Being able to get constant updates on a situation in the corporate world gives a constant advantage over competing businesses.

It also depends on age.
Those people that are older tend to not care for such technology because it was introduced to them at an age where they are most likely fully developed in routine and are not open to new ideas.
--This is not denouncing older people as stubborn.

Younger folk are in the process of developing as people. Communication is a part of this developing process. Cellphones are the way to communicate unless told otherwise.

I am absolutely digusted to see people with cell phones glued to their ears while they are driving. That is a known safety hazard and is banned in many countries. I am also annoyed when people in restaurants have their cells glued to their faces and carry on loud conversations. I consider it to be rude and obtrusive.

I have cell phone -a Jitterbug - which I have mainly for possible calls to 911. I also use it to tell people when I am running late for appointments. Even then I pull off the road,if necessary, to use it.

I don't think you need to be swearing at this person. They have a right to their opinion as well.

I can understand many people detesting the intrusion and tethering by cell phones but I think the question of are they essential to modern life or are the bane of it comes down to having a good reason to keep a cell phone. My simple Motorola C115 has been my ownly contact while I had no permanent address. I could not have done without it for that reason. They serve as a insurance against mainline failure. You can keep one as a backup on a low use plan. There is no substitute for having a cell phone for emergency calls if your car breaks down for instance. If your business requires one then appreciate it for the income it helps bring you. Turn it off when you want to leave your work for the day. They are a tool. You either need one or you do not. Just never let it become something that controls you. That is the moment it starts to ruin your life. But it will not be the fault of technology or people, only the owner.

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.

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

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.

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?

???

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!

why 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

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.