I don't get cell phones!

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Depleted

Guest
#1
#1
I don't get the attraction at all:
1. I use my phone when I need it, and I only want to answer it if it is someone I know or need. Why do cell phone users seem to be on them 24-7? What is so important that you just have to take that phone call right then and there? Have you ever had a phone call that if you had missed it your life would have changed forever? You couldn't call back in a little while?

2. Why do you need to answer the phone to tell someone you're walking down the street/your checking out at the cashier in a store/your waiting for the doctor. Does that person care so deeply they just have to know at that moment?

3. Many people tell me, "But the call could be important." So important you can't wait to go home? Exactly how important can it possibly be? When hubby was sick, I opted not to take my landline phone to my bedroom if "the call" came in the middle of the night. I didn't want to be woken up to be told he was dead. He'd be just as dead the next morning when I was braced to click that message on my machine. If they had to perform an emergency operation, (and they did), they already knew what I wanted, and could judge from that. Not like I was going to say, "No, he has to keep that big machine attached to him." "Of course he shouldn't be put on dialysis. Why would I want that just because his kidneys failed? "Of course he shouldn't get that surgery you've been planning for a month to save his life." I've had the phone calls that were that important. They know when I'll be home, (because they knew how long it would take me to get home after leaving him for the day), and tell me the problem. OR they waited for me to see him that day, so I could sign the papers.

4. Other emergencies: What if the car dies in the middle of rush hour during a blizzard? Experience. Every single person passing by me asked if I wanted them to call the cops. Cops came in five minutes, (Probably because they got a dozen phone calls. lol) What if you need a ride? Well, you're either home where you can use your landline, or you're at a store, office, or hospital where you can use theirs, or your at a friend's house, so you can use theirs.

I don't get cellphones. Many people on here are complaining that they can't see what they're writing on their cellphones. There already was an answer to that. It's called a keyboard! Why squint, when you can be writing on a large screen? Or why write everywhere every time?

And I'm scared to call someone on their cellphone, because usually they're driving their car. WHY ARE YOU ON A CELLPHONE WHEN YOU SHOULD BE PAYING ATTENTION TO THE ROAD?

So anyone want to try and make sense of the cellphone to me. It feels like we've gone from owning a phone to being owned by a phone. And frankly, I really don't care that you're so bored waiting for a cashier, because I'm not that bored that I want to hear about it!

:)
 
Rockrz

Rockrz

Banned
#2
Dec 3, 2016
1,674
25
0
#2
And I'm scared to call someone on their cellphone, because usually they're driving their car.
Click to expand...
Just get a life insurance policy on them... you'll feel better after the pay out!
 
R

renewed_hope

Guest
#3
#3
Unfortunately, I will admit the phones own us, but that is because we can do so much with them when in the past we had to use several different methods to get the same result :(

I feel guilty even saying this, but I can't get by day to day without my phone because I use it constantly keeping in contact with the two doctors I work with and my coworkers have my number so I get a phone call or texts daily even on my days off about work related issues. There are some nights tho where I turn my phone off and relax because I don't want to be bothered.
 
Y

Yahweh_is_gracious

Guest
#4
#4
I don't understand the attraction of cell phones. I have one, but I rarely use it. My current situation dictates that I must have one, but if that changes, I will go back to a landline phone and answering machine in a heartbeat.
 
W

wwjd_kilden

Guest
#5
#5
Well...
When you are applying for jobs, the company expects you to pick up the phone when they call.
be it when you are at work (i.e I currently work in a temp job), at the store, or just out for a walk.

or if you have the kind of job where they call you when you are needed (very popular in kindergartens here, and also used a bit in the healthcare sector)

and, at least here, a cell phone ends up cheaper than a landline anyway :p
 
Reborn

Reborn

Senior Member
#6
Nov 16, 2014
4,087
216
63
#6
Lol, Lynn
You're funny.

No one uses their cell phones to make actual phone calls.





Fun fact: they're also known as portable selfie machines.
 
resurrection33

resurrection33

Banned
#7
Dec 19, 2009
27,513
128
0
71
#7
I'm not rich, so I didn't want to pay for a cellphone AND a landline, and I already had a land line. But if the electricity goes out or my modem stops working, I cannot communicate with anyone with a phone or email. So I recently broke down and bought an "emergency" cellphone ($9.99 + 800 minutes for $99.00). It is safely hidden away until I need it. I'll use it when I drive up to Oregon to see my brother, also.
 
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Depleted

Guest
#8
#8
renewed_hope said:
Unfortunately, I will admit the phones own us, but that is because we can do so much with them when in the past we had to use several different methods to get the same result :(

I feel guilty even saying this, but I can't get by day to day without my phone because I use it constantly keeping in contact with the two doctors I work with and my coworkers have my number so I get a phone call or texts daily even on my days off about work related issues. There are some nights tho where I turn my phone off and relax because I don't want to be bothered.
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I'm not saying don't use them. I'm honestly trying to figure out the why. All those calls you get -- what is it about them that you, or they, can't wait until they see you again?

Back in the olden days, (when there were cellphones, but roaming charges, and it always cost the cellphone owner more money, even when the phone rang), I was the bookkeeper for two factories in one building (owned by the same people.) I was going on vacation with hubby to a remote lake in Canada to go fishing, and the owner "needed" a number to call me in case they had questions. No phones where we were going. He thought I was kidding. And I told him, "exactly what scenario could hit that you just need to call me anyway?" (He had the checking account, so he could see if they had the money. I wasn't the one putting money in the account or taking it out. And I did have the books up-to-date, when I left.)

He said, "No, really. We need a phone number to call you."

So I gave him one. 1-800-Get-Real. (We had a good relationship, so not like I was saying that in a huff. lol)

Sure enough, we went on vacation, returned a week later, and the factory did not die in my absence. :eek:

I don't get what has changed since then, other than bosses assume they are free to call employees 24/7. Now you say coworkers and employees call each other often for business reasons? Why? What changed?
 
D

Depleted

Guest
#9
#9
Yahweh_is_gracious said:
I don't understand the attraction of cell phones. I have one, but I rarely use it. My current situation dictates that I must have one, but if that changes, I will go back to a landline phone and answering machine in a heartbeat.
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Hubby insist I have one too. And so, I do. And I used it 2.5 years ago to let him know the wait at the doctor's office was longer than anticipated, so hold off on dinner. $15 a month for that phone call. (And it's supposed to be $10 a month, but 50% extra for taxes, because government thinks phones are luxuries.)
 
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Depleted

Guest
#10
#10
wwjd_kilden said:
Well...
When you are applying for jobs, the company expects you to pick up the phone when they call.
be it when you are at work (i.e I currently work in a temp job), at the store, or just out for a walk.

or if you have the kind of job where they call you when you are needed (very popular in kindergartens here, and also used a bit in the healthcare sector)

and, at least here, a cell phone ends up cheaper than a landline anyway :p
Click to expand...
For the employers, do they also expect the sound of a toilet flushing? Honestly, when I was applying for jobs, most the times I just-missed the call, I was either in the bathroom or my hands needed to be dried after washing the dishes or handling meat for dinner. Even if I was out, the longest wait would have been an hour. It's not like I didn't call back. It's that they didn't want to waste their precious minutes waiting for me to get to the phone.

And is it truly cheaper? I haven't worked in 17 years, but I knew what I was worth an hour back then. Since I was the business, paying for my phone (and all assets) was part of my hourly rate, so $30 an hour. I average 5 calls a day, (most of them junk calls), and if I answered them, I'd start charging at answer. Each call takes roughly two minutes. That's $3 a day just for answering phone calls on my time. What does it cost you at an hourly rate to keep answering your phone? Because with a landline, I cut that down to about one call per day. The rest are screened by the answering machine as "delete." Something that takes about 30 seconds a day to do. lol

Healthcare providers? Funny thing. The lower they are on the pay ladder, the more phone calls they have to pick up. A surgeon isn't going to pick up the phone all that often. A traveling nurse/therapist is on the phone almost nonstop, including when they're with a patient. So even their patient isn't as important as need-you-right-now at the other end of that phone.

What does "kindergarten" mean to you? Because I'm picturing a teacher teaching 4-5 year olds needing a phone. Honestly? If a child that young needs to call the teacher, the teacher isn't doing a good job watching that child. lol
 
A

Adstar

Senior Member
#11
Jul 24, 2016
7,425
3,474
113
#11
Depleted said:
I don't get the attraction at all:
1. I use my phone when I need it, and I only want to answer it if it is someone I know or need. Why do cell phone users seem to be on them 24-7? What is so important that you just have to take that phone call right then and there? Have you ever had a phone call that if you had missed it your life would have changed forever? You couldn't call back in a little while?

2. Why do you need to answer the phone to tell someone you're walking down the street/your checking out at the cashier in a store/your waiting for the doctor. Does that person care so deeply they just have to know at that moment?

3. Many people tell me, "But the call could be important." So important you can't wait to go home? Exactly how important can it possibly be? When hubby was sick, I opted not to take my landline phone to my bedroom if "the call" came in the middle of the night. I didn't want to be woken up to be told he was dead. He'd be just as dead the next morning when I was braced to click that message on my machine. If they had to perform an emergency operation, (and they did), they already knew what I wanted, and could judge from that. Not like I was going to say, "No, he has to keep that big machine attached to him." "Of course he shouldn't be put on dialysis. Why would I want that just because his kidneys failed? "Of course he shouldn't get that surgery you've been planning for a month to save his life." I've had the phone calls that were that important. They know when I'll be home, (because they knew how long it would take me to get home after leaving him for the day), and tell me the problem. OR they waited for me to see him that day, so I could sign the papers.

4. Other emergencies: What if the car dies in the middle of rush hour during a blizzard? Experience. Every single person passing by me asked if I wanted them to call the cops. Cops came in five minutes, (Probably because they got a dozen phone calls. lol) What if you need a ride? Well, you're either home where you can use your landline, or you're at a store, office, or hospital where you can use theirs, or your at a friend's house, so you can use theirs.

I don't get cellphones. Many people on here are complaining that they can't see what they're writing on their cellphones. There already was an answer to that. It's called a keyboard! Why squint, when you can be writing on a large screen? Or why write everywhere every time?

And I'm scared to call someone on their cellphone, because usually they're driving their car. WHY ARE YOU ON A CELLPHONE WHEN YOU SHOULD BE PAYING ATTENTION TO THE ROAD?

So anyone want to try and make sense of the cellphone to me. It feels like we've gone from owning a phone to being owned by a phone. And frankly, I really don't care that you're so bored waiting for a cashier, because I'm not that bored that I want to hear about it!

:)
Click to expand...
Usually it is teenagers and older ones who have grown up and had these phones in their teenage years who are addicted to them. I think it is because of the importance of friends in peoples teenage years. The fear that if they do not respond emediatly to a call / text that they will be dumped as a friend and be shunned from the group.. Lots of young people these days are so afraid of being shunned by their peer group that they will go to extraordinaty lenghts to fit in.. And that means they will respond to a text right away no matter what.. Because friends are more important to them then the danger that making a call might present to them when they make that call..


Driving while texting not a good idea:::


[video=youtube;hlBFAA-mZv8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlBFAA-mZv8[/video]
 
D

Depleted

Guest
#12
#12
resurrection33 said:
I'm not rich, so I didn't want to pay for a cellphone AND a landline, and I already had a land line. But if the electricity goes out or my modem stops working, I cannot communicate with anyone with a phone or email. So I recently broke down and bought an "emergency" cellphone ($9.99 + 800 minutes for $99.00). It is safely hidden away until I need it. I'll use it when I drive up to Oregon to see my brother, also.
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Get the plan where you have to pay for the minutes too. $15 a month + minutes. (It's not really $10 a month. They forget to mention taxes and fees.) That way, you're like me -- wasting $15 a month, until you need it, and then a mere quarter a minute when you do need it. Much cheaper than $100 a month for not needing it. What's the worst thing that can happen? You spend another $10-$20 when you visit your brother? The only reason I can think of for needing the phone more then, is if you get lost and you call him for directions.

Then again, do men ever ask for directions? :confused:

Funny thing. We bought our cell phone because our landline went out and we had to call the phone company! It took months to get Verizon to fix our landline!
 
Willie-T

Willie-T

Banned
#13
Feb 7, 2015
22,418
413
0
#13
Depleted said:
Hubby insist I have one too. And so, I do. And I used it 2.5 years ago to let him know the wait at the doctor's office was longer than anticipated, so hold off on dinner. $15 a month for that phone call. (And it's supposed to be $10 a month, but 50% extra for taxes, because government thinks phones are luxuries.)
Click to expand...
That's just about the last time I had mine turned-on, too.
 
W

wwjd_kilden

Guest
#14
#14
Depleted said:
For the employers, do they also expect the sound of a toilet flushing? Honestly, when I was applying for jobs, most the times I just-missed the call, I was either in the bathroom or my hands needed to be dried after washing the dishes or handling meat for dinner. Even if I was out, the longest wait would have been an hour. It's not like I didn't call back. It's that they didn't want to waste their precious minutes waiting for me to get to the phone.

And is it truly cheaper? I haven't worked in 17 years, but I knew what I was worth an hour back then. Since I was the business, paying for my phone (and all assets) was part of my hourly rate, so $30 an hour. I average 5 calls a day, (most of them junk calls), and if I answered them, I'd start charging at answer. Each call takes roughly two minutes. That's $3 a day just for answering phone calls on my time. What does it cost you at an hourly rate to keep answering your phone? Because with a landline, I cut that down to about one call per day. The rest are screened by the answering machine as "delete." Something that takes about 30 seconds a day to do. lol

Healthcare providers? Funny thing. The lower they are on the pay ladder, the more phone calls they have to pick up. A surgeon isn't going to pick up the phone all that often. A traveling nurse/therapist is on the phone almost nonstop, including when they're with a patient. So even their patient isn't as important as need-you-right-now at the other end of that phone.

What does "kindergarten" mean to you? Because I'm picturing a teacher teaching 4-5 year olds needing a phone. Honestly? If a child that young needs to call the teacher, the teacher isn't doing a good job watching that child. lol
Click to expand...
What I meant by kindergarten and healthcare is that that are the kinds of jobs I m applying for, in addition to IT,
but in kindergarten and health services, the jobs are often the kind where they call you one hour before they need you to show up :( and as unemployment rates are going up, it won't help trying to tell the employers it's no fun not having a full- time scheduled job, they expect you to be happy with anything.
 
T

Tinuviel

Guest
#15
#15
I don't have a cell phone...not even an old "flip phone" kind much less these smart-phones you see today. And I confess more than half the time I feel like ripping a person's smart phone away from them and chucking it in the nearest trash can when they are fiddling with it when I'm talking to them :eek:. I somehow don't think that'd be taken well.

As for always answering the phone, I'm afraid I'm the opposite! I hate the phone so much that I will stare at the caller ID and wring my hands if it's a number I don't know, and not answer it. Then I'll feel guilty later...but just a bit guilty :p. Mostly I'm just glad I didn't have to talk with the strange person on the other end!
 
D

Depleted

Guest
#16
#16
Adstar said:
Usually it is teenagers and older ones who have grown up and had these phones in their teenage years who are addicted to them. I think it is because of the importance of friends in peoples teenage years. The fear that if they do not respond emediatly to a call / text that they will be dumped as a friend and be shunned from the group.. Lots of young people these days are so afraid of being shunned by their peer group that they will go to extraordinaty lenghts to fit in.. And that means they will respond to a text right away no matter what.. Because friends are more important to them then the danger that making a call might present to them when they make that call..


Driving while texting not a good idea:::


[video=youtube;hlBFAA-mZv8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlBFAA-mZv8[/video]
Click to expand...
A couple of years ago, I went to my brother's house for our annual family Christmas celebration (in January, because one brother is a chef, so never gets holidays off.) Everyone in the family was there, including in-laws and out-laws. (Out-laws, the family of the in-laws. A term my grandmother created. lol)

After the pictures were taken and people were wandering around, I noticed the long-table where the majority of people ate. Each place setting had a doohickey or thingamajig. (I really can't tell the difference between cellphones, smartphones, and tablets, so they all look roughly the same to me.) Each place, and there were people from age 20 to age 80-something sitting there. My nephew delivered pizzas back then. My brother is a 63-year-old financial planner. (So 61, when I saw this.) His ex in-laws had been retired for years, and yet every single place had some electronic thingamajig there.

We can't blame it on the young anymore. And the voice that faded in and out (because he was driving across New Jersey right smack in-between NYC and Philly, so everything fades in and out there) was my brother's voice as he drives. He drives an Escalade, (Cadillac's SUV), so I suspect it's hands-free, but I really don't know how people drive and deal with talking on the phone too. Especially if there is no guarantee the next sentence goes through. (I know I was more worried about that then he ever is, because that is what he does for a living. lol)

Texting? (Up there with cellphones to me. I just don't get it. Seems like a step back in progress. lol)
a. I've never done it.
b. I think most folks know it's bad, but knowing it and not doing it are two different things.
 
D

Depleted

Guest
#17
#17
wwjd_kilden said:
What I meant by kindergarten and healthcare is that that are the kinds of jobs I m applying for, in addition to IT,
but in kindergarten and health services, the jobs are often the kind where they call you one hour before they need you to show up :( and as unemployment rates are going up, it won't help trying to tell the employers it's no fun not having a full- time scheduled job, they expect you to be happy with anything.
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Ohhhh, okay. At least we're still using the same word then.

I used to substitute teach, so I would get the call that I'm needed that morning. But it was still early in the morning, so I was home, and being home I could then dress appropriately for the day. Do they ever call you when you're out shopping already? And, if so, do you have to shop and run errands in business attire all the time?
 
D

Depleted

Guest
#18
#18
Tinuviel said:
I don't have a cell phone...not even an old "flip phone" kind much less these smart-phones you see today. And I confess more than half the time I feel like ripping a person's smart phone away from them and chucking it in the nearest trash can when they are fiddling with it when I'm talking to them :eek:. I somehow don't think that'd be taken well.

As for always answering the phone, I'm afraid I'm the opposite! I hate the phone so much that I will stare at the caller ID and wring my hands if it's a number I don't know, and not answer it. Then I'll feel guilty later...but just a bit guilty :p. Mostly I'm just glad I didn't have to talk with the strange person on the other end!
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I've been almost-run-into more often in the last few years, then my previous life all together. I'm the one who has to duck for walking-while-phoning, riding-a-bike-while-phoning, possession-of-a-shopping-cart-while-phoning, leaving/entering-a-doctor's-waiting-room-while-phoning. I'm a big woman in overalls. Hard to not see me! Worse yet, out of the two of us, I'm the only one who noticed the person almost ran into me.

And my sister? I don't like talking to her, because she's always in the middle of doing something with that thing, so I wait. And then she tells me I can talk while she's doing that, but when I do that, it is guaranteed she'll stop and ask, "Wait. What did you say? I was busy on Facebook/Twitter/whatever is cool now." The best way to talk to her is on FB, however, even there it's all about pictures of her dog or her latest BF. I've given up friending her BF, because I know he won't last but a few months. Probably because he got tired of waiting to talk to her. I'd tell her that. Alas, she's busy. :rolleyes:
 
S

sevenseas

Guest
#19
#19
honestly I would never have a land line again. I think it depends on your lifestyle

I don't like texting and I don't answer calls if driving unless I am the only one on the road...which can happen

I used to have I think it was something like 15 Gs for data cause of what I do, but I've unplugged cause it's way too hypey for me and reality check, you do it cause everyone else is doing it but one day I said 'what am I doing?' LOL!

my husband would always just have basic service with a flip phone so he can track me haha.

I just think it depends on how you live and use your brains and don't text and drive or yack all day for nothing

I think they are great but I use it, it does not use me
 
H

Hellooo

Guest
#20
#20
I stream music and podcasts from my phone to my car, to my headphones, and to my speakers
I can answer the doorbell, a knock, or just a lurker on my step from anywhere in the world from my phone
I can transfer money around my own accounts or to other people (I stopped spontaneously at a garage sale a few weekends ago, and was interested in the wheelbarrow being sold...i rarely carry cash, but I paid for the wheelbarrow by transferring money directly to the seller on my phone)
I use mobile coupons in stores
I can navigate anywhere with gps
I get price alerts on flights or itineraries I'm tracking
I can get home security alerts
I can check in to my flight and access mobile boarding passes
I can pull up concert/show tickets that can be scanned from my phone for entry
I was able to esign, scan, upload/email almost every document for my home purchase on my phone up until the closing, since a lot of time i was at work or out of town
I did a temporary side job once for a few months and a phone app tracked all my driving mileage for taxes
I can get delivery alerts on packages
Sometimes if I see something I'm interested in when im not home, particularly books, I can snap a picture on my phone and i can review my library catalog later to see if its available to check out to my kindle
While I prefer my hardcopy planner, I add things to my phone calendar if it's something I really need to do or remember so I get an extra alert

Could I get by on a flip phone or landline? Absolutely. However, I'd be lying if I said I don't enjoy the convenience.
For me, the value of my phone doesn't lie in being social, but rather in streamlining a lot of tasks and processes to reduce time, reduce paper usage, save money, or give me a better sense of security. I'm actually not very social on my phone. Other than actual calls or texting with a few people, the extent of my "social networking" is here on cc or browsing through pinterest.
 
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