Forget petty vents, this is a REAL crisis...

[caseydog]

Sometime between 6:00 and 8:00 this morning... my iPhone died!!!

I'm in San Jose, and when I get home to Dallas, I have no land line. No phone. NO PHONE!!!

How do people survive without a cell phone?

Pray for me sisters and brothers. Hope I make it until tomorrow morning, when my new iPhone arrives.

CD

 

[Just Cooking]

ain't first world problems hell??....

 

[msmofet]

My hub REFUSES to get or use a cell phone.

 

[GotGarlic]

It *is* a crisis! My whole life is in my cell phone! Thank goodness its all backed up so if something happens to it, I can get everything back.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I do just fine without a cell phone...

 

[Andy M.]

Oh, that really stinks. Hope you can get back in play soon.

 

[roadfix]

I use a hand me down iPhone 6S, prepaid, voice only, $25 every 90 days.... I don't yap on the phone, 2 hours a day, every day, like some people. My calls are very short, and maybe one or two calls per day max, on average. I text more often, and that's free. For data, I use free wifi....they're everywhere.
We got rid of our land line more than a dozen years ago. It was just a matter of convenience to carry cell phones instead. But I'm sure in twenty years from now I wouldn't want anything to do with cell phones unless they came with simple, huge, quarter-sized mechanical buttons, and none of this touch screen crap.

 

[Merlot]

Oh I'm so sorry!! My phone is my life line! Sad but true. I like to be able to get a hold of my child, my parents and my fiancé and like them to be able to get ahold of me. Work is a different story.

 

[caseydog]

Just to clarify, my tongue was firmly in cheek with my OP. Sort of.

It is amazing how central a cell phone is to most people today, especially the self-employed, like me, and those who are on the road for weeks at a time, like me. I feel like I'm on the moon without it. I depend on my iPhone for calls, texts and emails -- especially on the road. I'm trying to work out two jobs for the next three days, and can't call or text my customers.

It is really amazing how these little objects can become so central to your daily life.

CD

 

[Kayelle]

Casey, I can sure understand how your lifestyle dictates how much you need your cell phone more than most of us.

For me, my flip cell phone is for emergencies when I'm not at home, and that's all. In fact, I don't even turn it on when I'm away from home, unless I want to use it. We have little control of many things these days, and that freedom of not being available every second makes me feel "powerful".. I've never sent or received a text in my life either. I'll voice speak with you on my land line when I get home, thank you very much.

The mother of my DIL said she only texts with her grown kids because she doesn't "have time" to talk with them.
You can imagine what my response to that was! That will be the day I'm "too busy" to talk with my sons on the phone, or in person!! Hearing their voice can make my day.
What's happened people?

 

[Just Cooking]

Just to clarify, my tongue was firmly in cheek with my OP. Sort of.

It is amazing how central a cell phone is to most people today, especially the self-employed, like me, and those who are on the road for weeks at a time, like me. I feel like I'm on the moon without it. I depend on my iPhone for calls, texts and emails -- especially on the road. I'm trying to work out two jobs for the next three days, and can't call or text my customers.

It is really amazing how these little objects can become so central to your daily life.

CD

I can certainly understand how today's business world can be a bit of a mess without the cell..

Before the wide spread use of cell phones, I constantly traveled the country on business.. Looking back, the only saving grace was that we had no idea that constant contact with customers and associates would eventually be the norm.. In some ways, I see how we did it was both kinda good and kinda bad..

Ross

 

[roadfix]

We were all on a level playing field. There were no cell phones, but we all carried pagers.

 

[Cheryl J]

I mainly got into the habit of texting when my daughter had a newborn, a toddler, and a pre-schooler. We wanted to keep in touch and decided that a text alert was better for her to get back to me at her convenience, rather than having the phone ringing away. I also have a couple of friends who are disabled and I never know when they can easily get to the phone, so texting helps there, too.

I see where cellphones are necessary nowadays. My brother runs a business out of his home and like so many others, doesn't have a landline. He depends on his cellphone for business. For me, half the time when I go out I forget it - I figured I got along nicely without it for decades, so I don't panic when I realize I left it home.

I do love the great pictures it takes though, and found they're even better than my digital camera which has sat in a drawer for a couple of years now.

 

[blissful]

10 years ago my boyfriend at that time (DH) really wanted me to get a cell phone in case my car broke down. What I found was that everyone had them and would lend me one if I actually had an emergency. Finally got one, not a smart phone just a flip phone, and I pay for service a year at a time 4000+ minutes for $150. I don't care to talk much on the phone and I generally don't text and I can use it for 12 minutes per day and not run out. I left it upstairs 3 hours ago and I don't miss having it on me.

 

[GotGarlic]

I got my first cell phone in 1996 when I had a job just outside Washington, DC, and still lived here in southeastern Virginia. I drove up on Sundays (four hours), rented a room in a house and drove home on Fridays. If I had a breakdown on the highway two hours from home, the last thing I would want is to depend on someone else to call for help for me.

I got my first smartphone 7 or 8 years ago. My job was to develop and maintain a large website, which included keeping up with technology, including mobile webpage development and QR codes; I needed to be able to test it. And I'm a computer geek It's fun. I play Scrabble (Words with Friends) with friends who live in other states; I can keep up with the weather, which changes frequently here; and lots more.

And now my calendar, my contacts, my photos and lots of other information is always available to me.

Btw, just because someone calls doesn't mean you *have* to answer

 

[RPCookin]

Wife and I both have cell phones, no land line. But that doesn't mean that I'm tied to my phone just because I can take it with me. I figure that's what voice mail is for. I'll turn it off for 4+ hours when I play golf. When I'm out in the mountains, I'm often out of service range. I don't get shaky or sweaty palms. Guess I'm just an anachronism.

I like the technology, but I can leave it behind without any qualms.

 

[roadfix]

I think I only spend less than 1% of my smartphone time actually talking. The other 99% I use it for texting, using the web, emails, taking pictures, playing games, etc...

 

[Cooking Goddess]

casey, you killed your phone. Poor little thing probably never had a vacation in its life. I suggest you get a back-up phone next time, just to be sure you can always be connected for work.

...We have little control of many things these days, and that freedom of not being available every second makes me feel "powerful".. I've never sent or received a text in my life either. I'll voice speak with you on my land line when I get home, thank you very much...

Katie, you don't have to be available "every second". If you have an answering machine, do you screen calls before deciding if it's a real call (family or friend) or a junk call (telemarketer)? A cell phone is the same. Look at the screen, if it's someone you know answer it. Heck, you can even set up a personal ring tone for each person who calls you often, and tell by the ring. I've found over the years that if it's a junk call they usually don't leave messages. I never miss anything important.

As far as text messages go, it isn't the matter of time to talk, it's the pleasure of thinking out something before replying. When we head to OH (or FL, or VA) to visit family or friends, it is so much easier to exchange plan information via text because you actually can make an arrangement before texting back or calling. Saves a lot of "let me check on that and get back to you". I was an avowed anti-texter...until the first time we spent Christmas at our daughter's. Between her work and our making arrangements on our end, I was convinced of its purpose.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

...I got my first smartphone 7 or 8 years ago...It's fun. I play Scrabble (Words with Friends) with friends who live in other states; I can keep up with the weather, which changes frequently here; and lots more.

And now my calendar, my contacts, my photos and lots of other information is always available to me...

Most of the time, ours aren't our phones. They're jjust tiny, pocket sized computers we have at our fingertips when needed. Heck, between Himself and me, most months we rarely talk even the minimum 100 minutes! Unless we have to call our (terribly understaffed) doctor's office.

 

[dragnlaw]

Like a lot of you, I don't have a land line, why pay twice for a service that doesn't even give you as much? I am not a slave to it. If I can't answer - leave a message!
If it is important to call back, they will leave a message, if they don't... too bad, so sad, no call back.

I also don't hold the phone to my ear, unless I absolutely have to - everyone goes on speakerphone. It makes me gag when I see other's phones with sweaty ear prints on the face of them... shudder.

Both my boys have jobs where they cannot answer their phones - so I text and they answer when they can. Both my girls live in a 2 hour time difference - so I text, again, they answer when they can. One has a hearing loss (since birth) so in actual fact texting is ideal!

I too, love the camera on it - my digital is also sitting lonely in a corner! It is my alarm clock, appointment reminder, GPS, weatherman, step counter (show more steps and longer distances than the FitBit ).

There are more gizmos but I am far from being a techy and don't know how to use them It sounds like my DIL has the same kind of job as GG did, so when they come out I get her and/or my son to show me something new. LOL don't overload me with TMI!.