Last year I misplaced my phone and didn't get it replaced for over a month. I don't think it was necessarily irresponsible of me, though it was difficult sometimes to organize things and inconvenient when I needed to take care of business immediately, I enjoyed having to plan ahead and live risky in a very old school way. When's the last time you really sat and imagined what life was like before you had a cell phone? You really did have to wait by the phone and radio at home or work to win concert tickets, "Hey I just landed, I'll meet you at passenger pick-up" was NOT an option, and oh my favorite, not being able to connect through text with everyone you know on the drive home probably made the roads a little safer.
I remember the very day I got my first one. I'd held off for as long as possibly could, too. I graduated from college and spent the entire summer working freelance but it wasn't until after August that I was hired full-time to a production house in Houston it became necessary for me to get a cell phone. Mine was basically a rock with an antenna and pebbles for numbers. Archaic and basic.
Thing is, it's now socially acceptable to sit in a waiting room, at the gate of your flight or in a restaurant and talk loud enough for the entire continent to learn about your drama/business/car problems. Call me old-fashioned, but I think it's rude. I have absolutely no problem with giving a "Shame, shame, shame, I now know your name!" look to the annoying cell phone talker. Once as I was waiting to board my plane, an extreme case of "no clue anyone else on earth exists" was taking place and I wrote the man a note and passed it to him.
Will I get my kids a cell phone? I did just fine on the freeway as a teenager without one. Have the times changed so much that now a teen on the road or at the mall or outside waiting for a ride home from school necessitates a cell phone and is a safety concern? Maybe. But I still have a long way to go.
Regardless, I was at dad's this week helping get Andrew get on a plane to Florida and I accidently left it behind in dad's backseat. This was Tuesday, it's now Friday. I haven't missed that phone one bit either!
Will I get my kids a cell phone? I did just fine on the freeway as a teenager without one. Have the times changed so much that now a teen on the road or at the mall or outside waiting for a ride home from school necessitates a cell phone and is a safety concern? Maybe. But I still have a long way to go.
Regardless, I was at dad's this week helping get Andrew get on a plane to Florida and I accidently left it behind in dad's backseat. This was Tuesday, it's now Friday. I haven't missed that phone one bit either!
2 comments:
I hear ya!
I got into a really bad habit of always calling a friend when I was driving. And then, I found myself making a couple of really stupid, potentially dangerous driving errors.
So, I decided not to talk when I drive. Every once in awhile I'll slip and answer the phone but most of the time I "just say no" to the cell phone while driving. I mean who really NEEDS to be that connected anyway?
Hi Liz,
I love listening to you on the radio as I drive home each afternoon. Recently I had the misfortune of my cell phone falling out of my pocket while I was moving my lawn. I proceeded to mulch mow over it with my ride on mower. I was impressed by how well my mower mulched! I was a few days without my phone and even longer before I had the numbers that had been stored in there. It has become too convenient. My pet peeve about other cell phone users??? The women who think it is ok to answer and talk on their cell phone in the stall next to mine in a public restroom. Talk about an invasion of privacy! Jenny
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