was your life better before you starting using mobile phones?

[Poledancer]

I love mine, thought I'd lost it for a couple of weeks and couldn't cope. Didn't have anyone's phone numbers, couldn't text my friends and couldn't cancel a meeting I had at the last minute, so had to attend.

But when I found it again, I realised how much freedom the last few days had given me.

Our parents worked or still work before mobile phones were widely used, I know they are useful if your car breaks down in the middle of the night on a country road. But do we really need our phones as much as we think we do?

[gela]

Today my friends phone died, and I left my phone at home because I though I was just driving her straight to the train.

We missed the train, so I had to meet her mum somewhere to drop her off. We hoarded our change together so we could use the pay phone, but because we had barely any change, we only got to have half a conversation with her mum.
I drove around for about 15 minutes looking for the exact location that her mum was at. The whole time we did nothing but complain about how lost we are without our phones.


I mainly use mine for practical purposes. I barely use it just for chatting and socialising. So yes, I do need my phone as much as I think I do. I basically didn't have a life before my mobile phone since I got my first one when I was about 12. Because I grew up with it, I have no idea how I could have survived without it.

[HelioPrime]

Um.. life without a phone?


Well for one without a personal contact device tracking down and making plans with people is far more difficult. And if In had no phone I'd probably just use AIM then more often.

[Radhian]

Way better with cellphones... Cause now we can also IM with them... Which could sometimes replace computers, also...

[Matt W]

No, mobiles aren't really needed as such. They are useful, and make getting in touch with people easier, for sure, but before the advent of mobiles, I could remember several key numbers of friends & family, be in touch on a regular basis, etc, etc, etc. I managed to resist getting one for quite some time.

[TempusFugit]

Quote by: Matt W No, mobiles aren't really needed as such. They are useful, and make getting in touch with people easier, for sure, but before the advent of mobiles, I could remember several key numbers of friends & family, be in touch on a regular basis, etc, etc, etc. I managed to resist getting one for quite some time.

I agree. They are nice, make things easier, but are not exactly a life or death necessity. I found that sometimes they can be counterproductive to work. At one point, I had this friend and we were really, really close. We texted each other non stop throughout the day. When we stopped talking for various reasons, I found that I was able to accomplish so much more work. I have also found that people have developed this warped social sense because cell phones have become so widely spread. For example, I have found that if you don't answer someone's text message immediately, they assume that you are ignoring them. This being said, they have certainly facilitated many aspects of life.

[DCAPBTLS77]

I am an addict, I admit it , I go through cell phone withdrawl when I dont have it by my side, i really dont think i could live without it , I almost love. it as much as the hubby . Vive le my celly!!!

[Nono]

I admit that I have one. But it's really only there in case I have car trouble, and since I hardly ever drive, well ...

Mobile phones exist only to a marginal extent for actual communication.
Mostly they're a fashion accessory -- a way of showing off, of feeling important.
And of making tons more noise than people used to make.

Quote by: TempusFugit They have certainly facilitated many aspects of life.

I take it you're Italian. Mobile phones are a particular plague in Italy because, as one observer pointed out, they constitute a new way of being Italian (see above).

[megadeth425]

I've never owned a cell phone and, as of now, don't intend to. I agree with Nono, it's not about communication anymore. It's about what five people you deem worthy of talking to for free, how fast you can text people, how good the camera in your phone is...it's all become incredibly pointless and has been relegated merely to a gadget that takes human interaction out of communication. It becomes so less personal when you're talking to somebody walking down the street, or having what could be a phone conversation through quick messages even less substantive than on MSN. It's become more of a social symbol that takes the actual socialising out of things.
And this is completely ignoring the fact that there's always that asshole on the bus who talks way too loud about really unimportant shit. Yeah, morons can now have meaningless discourse anywhere and annoy everyone.

[Sappho]

I have a Samsung with soft pink trim on silver. It slides to uncover the keypad and toggles through menu options making emails and internet searches more efficent. It has a memory chip that can save FM recordings, mp3 files, cds, pics, vids, cool games, contacts and diary. Oh yeah... and it takes good pics too.

It came with software that allows it to sync with my computer, download mp3 files and cds, update my diary and contacts on either side, edit shots and vids, create special effects to ready for printing or to burn on cd.

The screen theme I run with is the Sydney Opera House with birds flying by a sunlight sky, by day, and shooting stars across a moonlight sky, by night. My ringtone is the magic flute, by mozart... Oh yeah... it makes and takes phone calls too.

Do I use it all? Yes, except the games. I'm a technocrat. I love my gaggets.

[shawmutt]

No, it wasn't better before. I was a late-comer to the cell phone world. I put it off until I got my motorcycle and my wife was pregnant with our first. The ability for her to call me anywhere, anytime was invaluable. I'm a practical user as well, except for when I call my family around the US (for free!) once a month.

The whole perception of "the good ol' days", in my opinion, is a false perception. All of these phones come with an off button

It's also my alarm clock, my pocket watch, my camera in a pinch, and my timer, so it's one of the most helpful gadgets I carry around.

[Kate2008]

I use it to keep track of my son; the electronic tether surprisingly gave him more freedom earlier.

Jason Siegel has written a great essay on the cell phone's cousin: The Facebook network

A bit from Jason's essay:

We have been socially diluted, stupefied and consumerified. Most unfortunate of all, we are learning not to care. We have stamped our “statuses,” our most intimate feelings, front-and-center on our very own virtual billboards; we have made peace with two typed words and a smiley as an annual happy birthday wish in its totality, a spectacle made possible courtesy of Facebook date reminders; we have come to accept, even if in jest, that no relationship is official “until it’s on Facebook;” we have become “fans” of colossal corporations; we have read the News Feed and we have liked it; we have lost the motivation to be interested, to inquire, to earn the trust of those who matter most; we have replaced chocolate boxes and teddy bears and cupcakes with their sterilized digital impostors; we have consumed photographs as we do gum, briefly and with little thought; we have associated ourselves with events and groups and global causes not by participation and attendance and thorough involvement but by the flick of a petty finger, and our actions we have disowned just as swiftly with a simple delete or de-tag. Of these offenses I am personally guilty, and maybe you are too.

[Nono]

Good piece. But fortunately there are resisters, though precious few.

Quote by: deth There's always that asshole on the bus who talks way too loud about really unimportant shit.

So true: "Buy low, sell high, blablabla etc."

Here's what I do on the bus when one of the damn things starts ringing: Either shout "Telephone!!!" or "I'm on the bus!"

[Nono]

Bill Bryson in "Notes from a Small Island":

"Hello, Clive here, I’m on the 10.07 and should be at HQ by 1300 hours as expected. I’m going to need a rush debrief on the Pentland Squire scenario. What, no I’m at the loop on Maris Pipers, listen can you think of any reason why anyone would employ a total anus like me? What’s that, because I’m the sort of person who’s happy as a pig in shit just because he’s got a mobile phone. Hey, interesting concept.

Then a few moments of silence and, Hello love, I’m on I’m on the 10.07 should be home by 5. Yes, just like every other night, no reason to tell you at all except I’ve got this phone and I’m a complete f**kwit. I’ll call again from Doncaster for no reason.

Then, Clive here yeah I’m still on the 10.07 but we had a points failure at Grantham so I’m looking now at an ETA 13.02 rather than the forecast 1300 hours. If Phil calls will you tell him that I’m still a complete f**kwit?"

[Poledancer]

I have a new phone today, I didn't buy it but I get a new one free every year with my phone contract. There is nothing wrong with my old phone, it still works, but the camera isn't as amazing and the MP3 player is better on this one.

I really don't need these gadgets , but feel obliged to use it now it has come through the post.

[Night]

NO! I would be lost without mine. In fact, about 10% of my posts on here were posted off my phone.

Asides from the fact that it's a phone, it holds all my music, calender, pictures, videos, internet browser...everything I do on my computer pretty much. Albeit, using the computer is faster, but when you're stuck in a boring situation, it has saved me hundreds of times. It has also been extremely useful in directions because of GPS in it.

I think everyone should get an iphone 3G

[Diogenes]

No mobile phone..never had a cell phone...never had a car phone...never even had a pager...

life is good