Broke down, and got a cell phone the other day. Not real excited about it since I had to answer phones at work for 36 years. Learning functions as I go. It is just a Verison, card avtivated one. If I don't adapt, I am only out the price of the phone and cards. I don't like dragging it around. To see what I am doing, I also need my "readers". Lots of stuff to haul around so someone can call me. You know me, I can't complain.

''because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle". Stick, just a case of old school (I don't need that crap) vs the new tech age. Ya gotta keep up or ya get too far behind. Heck, ya figured out how to enjoy PB on the puter. I had to break down and get a cell a couple of yrs ago but now actually relish the advantage of seeing who's calling while I'm out in the barn or out in the garden. You'll get used to it.

I also have an electronic leash. I don't turn it on much - I get enough emails and office calls to know better.

Adapted to it's use. Text more than calling. I don't carry it all the time.

Convert.

I've carried a phone since the old bag phone days. I use it to make and receive calls. It's just a phone. My Wife says that I need to join the rest of the world and get an Iphone. That way, I can always be in immediate touch on EMails, can look up websites when away from my puter, etc. Not likely to happen.

Yes, it has a camera that I could care less about. I'm not a camera person.

Yes, I sometimes receive texts that I sometimes, but not always, read and then erase. I never respond to them because it's just too much trouble to hit small keys with big fingers.

I too have a cell phone, however it is not permanently attached to my person....matter-of-fact, I'm not even sure where it's at. I'm sure its battery is probably dead. I think it's under the seat of the pickup.

No texting, no pictures, no games, no apps.... I don't want to be that accessible all the time. No one outside of my immediate family has my number, so that's less than 5 people. And they know it would probably do no good to call it. (dead battery).

At the risk of being ostracized, I believe you would have to look a long time to unearth another modern day convenience that has done more to promote rudeness in the general population than cellphones have. I just don't think there are that many circumstances that require one to be in constant communication with the rest of the world, constantly.

The only reason I carry a cell phone is for any emergency like when I might fall in the pond when fishing alone - are they water proof?
No camera - no texting - no apps -(whatever that is) - NO NUTHIN!

Without a cell phone it would be very difficult for me to move to the farm as I just did. There are no wires within a mile, so if I wanted a land line I would have to pay for that mile of wire. Plus it would be such a long loop the only data it would support is maybe 9.6K. I am using 3G from Verizon (mifi) for my data right now and Verizon cell for voice. Working with another carrier deploying 4G LTE right now and will be in the trial for that so my data connection will get faster yet. So for me cellular service and advances in it are allowing me to move rural and keep my current job. Otherwise I would still be living in the Chicago area and not enjoying the beauty of the farm on a daily basis

I'm like a lot of you guys. Just keep it for emergencies and to talk to
my 2 boys. I had a land line, but canceled it when I realized that the
only time I used it was to call my cell phone when I lost it.

There is an app for that.

Security app I use is Lookout and when I'm mad at Momma, I report her cell lost, and wait for it to start screaming in her purse.

It's hilarious, but I would advice you to only do this once. Second time, not so much fun. The good part was first time I did it was at Walmart, and nobody even looked up when she was chasing me down the frozen food isle. It must have been hit your husband with a frozen pizza day.

Actually, we live on our cell phones. There's always spreadsheets or pdf's I need from work, and there's an app for that. I do all my contacts and appointments on my phone, and there's an app for that also.

Other than the office at work, I can't remember the last time I even talked on a land line.

Without cellular communications and the Internet my business would require three times the IT specialists. With the high cost of qualified, experienced IT people that would end the business.

No biggie, you didn't build it anyway.

I know, but I'm not going there.

Now that was cute Randy. Dwight a brilliant answer ! BTW did you know this is a business computer and I didn't build it but I sure did pay for it.

Maybe that's where I'm missing the point. I don't lump browsing the internet and making a call on a cellphone in the same category. My desktop is connected right now through a 3G broadband connection, but I don't carry that desktop down the aisles at Walmart, oblivious to everything and everyone else around me while I type a reply on Pondboss....nor do I make the person with whom I am engaged in a face-to-face conversation with, wait while I use that desktop to reply to a sudden email.... Just plain rude.

Sure, there are legitimate reasons for answering a sudden call, or carrying on an unexpected conversation. But I just don't believe that EVERY call, or EVERY conversation warrants that kind of "drop whatever else you're doing right now" response, that so many cellphone users, (at least the ones I'm seeing), seem to abide by.

To me it's rude, and it shows a complete indifference and disregard for anyone else around them. But maybe it's just me.

Nope - not just you Sparky - very rude - I reply to strangers on the street thinking they are freindly and speaking to me until I see that thing sticking out their ear - heck I'm a dynasaur - I don't even know what Facebook (?) is....

Guys I totally agree about the way that some (most) use the technology is very rude. What worst than bluetooth headsets is push to talk. That drives me crazy, glad for the most part it appears to be dying of.

This coming from one that makes their living on deploying cellular networks and other next generation technology

To take this whole cell phone thing to a more dangerous level, we're seeing more and more single car accidents caused by inattentive drivers.



Driver had minor injuries, but this has got to stop. As we were trying to divert traffic to keep the work scene safe, other drivers were literally hanging out the windows trying to take pictures with their phones.

lassig - put the blame on my generation that started all this stuff with NASA spin-off technlogy with teletype machines and punch cards ...

It's really a judgement call on whether you are ready to let technology pass you by, or not.

Either choice is fine.

For example, my Dad never used email. The fax machine was the latest, hip, communication advancement that he ever embraced. He's tried to carry a cell phone, but really has no idea how to make a call.

Funny thing is, he was always a technologist.

So, he's only 76 years old. Fax machine came out en mass, in what, '85/'86/'87?

By '87, my Dad was successfully self employed in a growing business.

Point being, he would not be employable by anyone else without embracing emails, cell phones, etc.

Regarding the driving/cell phone usage, in my mind, it's a no brainer. The laws should be strict against it.

Speaking for myself, I'm not against technology, or the enhancements it can bring into our lives by any means. I'm just tired of what a I perceive as the near constant erosion of common etiquette, and generally accepted good manners. I simply can't fathom the reason to have a phone in your hand constantly... ever go to a family function, or other social gathering, and half the people in the room have their phones out, either talking, playing games, paying bills, whatever?
In my book, that's rude. There's a time and a place for those types of actions, and anytime you're interacting in an environment with other people is most certainly not it. At least it's not in the manner in which I was raised.

If it's a business tool, fine. There's a time and a place to conduct business. But I believe far too many people let themselves get caught up in the novelty, to the exclusion of everything else.

What irritates me is when I go into a store and a salesperson is helping me (usually at the counter) and they take a call and spend too much time with the caller when I took the time to come into the store, and am ready to buy something. A simple "hold on please and I'll get someone to help you" works, but noooooo, they have to call Leroy in parts to see if the item is in stock and then offer 18 alternatives while I stand there like a potted plant. It's the ol' "bird in the hand" theory %#@^&%, take care of me and let me get the %&#$ out of your ^%&%%$#$% store.....

I agree with both of your guys points! I have voice mail on my phone, and it works. It gets used too. I'll pick up if someone calls twice in a row if I'm busy, but even then I'll usually say that I'm with someone and can I call them back when I'm done.

I don't take calls when I am face to face with someone. That is what voice mail is for. When done with the face to face discussion I check the voice mail or if none call the number back anyway.

These are common courtesies that most parents are not be teaching their children anymore. It is another branch of the "it is all about me" mindset.

The technology isn't the problem, the people using it are the problem.

I agree with everyone about the rudeness or lack of common courtesy. Personally, I hate talking on my cell phone; I'd much rather have a landline or cordless for speaking.

Exactly.