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Could you manage without a cell phone?
ChadTower:
I'm not really talking about cell phone manners. I'm talking about the actual necessity of having a phone with you at all times. RandyT touched on the idea. Say you're in an accident where minutes mean the difference between life and death for yourself. What are the odds you are able to make a phone call in that situation? You're nearly dead, right? Can you still coherently access your phone and use it in that situation? How did people managed to not die in those situations prior cell phones? To me that point of view sounds more like a scare tactic than a reasonable possibility.
Another one I hear a lot, mostly from women, is "I have kids in school so I need to be reachable at all times in case of emergency." I have two kids in school and there has never been an emergency where a parent was urgently needed. Yeah, they have been sick at school. The school may or may not make a call to have them picked up. Yeah, one has been in trouble a couple times. Again, they call, and the kid hangs out until I show up. It should also be noted my kids' schools don't call cells first. They record which number is a cell and try landlined daytime phone numbers first. When I asked about this I was told "we are often told after leaving cell messages that the parent is not allowed to use their cell at work and thus did not get the message." So, at least the schools here, prefer landline contact numbers.
It is a valid point that there are very few payphones anymore. Odds are good, though, that if you are in an area where a payphone would have been you're also in an area where a landline can be used. A couple of times I've had a car break down, walked into a small business, and been allowed to use their phone for 5 minutes to call AAA. That's how it was before cells, right? How often is anyone in a place where they can't find someone who would take $5 to use their cell phone to call for roadside assistance?
Malenko:
--- Quote from: Howard_Casto on April 08, 2011, 12:46:43 pm --- Any place I'm at will have a landline, so I don't need it there. Most of the places I drive to have spotty cell coverage at best so they aren't of use in an emergency. Aside from that, I don't think you can even buy a car anymore without On-Star in it, whihc eliminates the need for a cell phone in the case of a breakdown anyway.
People often ask me why I don't carry a cell. My response has always been... "If I did then people could talk to me."
--- End quote ---
Any place you go to will have a land line, its the in between . You must live in the sticks because I'm in Delaware, the home of absolutely NOTHING and Ive had good cell coverage with more then 1 provider. As for On-Star , its a subsidiary of General Motors; so unless you're driving/buying a Chevy and the like, it's not coming with OnStar.
I do sort of agree with the "no time to myself" but Ive got this great habit of turning my phone off when I don't want to be bothered. I would probably have a phone even if I didn't need it for work but I wouldn't use it much; because other then work related things or texting my GF while shes at work I really don't use it much now. The only NON phone thing I really do with my phone is use it as an alarm clock and use it as an MP3 player.
EDIT : Grammar
lilshawn:
i exclusively use my cell phone, i don't even have a land line anymore. even my apartment buzzer is tied to my cell. :dunno
besides, i would rather be stuck broke down then stick my ear up to a payphone receiver.
pass the hand sanitizer please...
HaRuMaN:
I don't remember the last time I saw a payphone out 'in the wild' (I have one in my gameroom)...
RandyT:
--- Quote from: ChadTower on April 08, 2011, 01:59:04 pm ---I'm not really talking about cell phone manners. I'm talking about the actual necessity of having a phone with you at all times. RandyT touched on the idea. Say you're in an accident where minutes mean the difference between life and death for yourself. What are the odds you are able to make a phone call in that situation? You're nearly dead, right? Can you still coherently access your phone and use it in that situation? How did people managed to not die in those situations prior cell phones? To me that point of view sounds more like a scare tactic than a reasonable possibility.
--- End quote ---
People didn't manage not to die in the more dire situations. And the ones who were saved, were saved because they were lucky enough to have been found by someone who either administered first aid (who even knows how to do that anymore?) or ran to the nearest house to use the phone or have someone inside call an ambulance. I remember at least 3 incidents growing up where this happened, 2 who used my parents phone and 1 where we had to use the phone of another to save a friend. The dirtbags who use this as a ruse to gain entry have ruined the ability to reliably receive this kind of help from strangers.
I'll bet dollars to donuts that the first thing that goes through your mind when someone who stops to help you when you are pinned behind the steering wheel coughing up blood, tells you that they have to go find a phone to call for help, is "I can't believe that this idiot doesn't have a cell phone". ;D
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