Cell phones neat, but annoying (NEWSFLASH!)
 

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/ptech/0....ap/index.html

Okay, so the article isn't really the point, but there was a figure in there that made me do a bit of thinking.

Personally, I find that an increase in communications technology usually just means that you are more at the whim of other people than you would be normally. My friends all expect me to get on ventrilo after work and play games online with them, going so far as to leave a bunch of messages on my cell phone, telling me to do so.

The cell phone itself is usually ringing with people I could just as well talk to once I reach my home phone, and the annoyance of having it ring during class (Who could it be? Impatient friend that wants to do Baal runs, or your friendly neightborhood telemarketer?) is...well, annoying.

So my question to you is how much you have come to rely on your cell phone. Is it a necessity, a convenience, or an annoyance?

It's a convenience. I turn it off whenever it would be inappropriate to take a call.

I down't even own one, so derive my answer from that.

Hardly necessary, as I don't call very many people and few ever call me. I haven't even used it in a real emergency yet, just a panicked call for directions to a wedding rehersal.

If I were back in California and in college, though, I would want one due to spending more time away from home than not. Still, most of the calls I recieve are from friends wanting to chill, so it isn't really necessary except for that what-if-an-emergency-arises scenario. I could ditch cellphones altogether and hope for a good samaritan if I am in an accident, but we can't be too idealistic.

So, the end result is: cellphone = convenience

It's simply convenient for me. I have a friend who lives in another state, so rather than paying long distance or using calling cards, I just use the nights and weekends minutes from my phone plan. The cell phone is also useful because I sometimes have questions I need answered on short-notice and do not have the time to wait until I get home to make a call or walk to a payphone. There’s also the sanitation issue from the latter. Having a mobile phone is also a way for friends and family to give me information or remind me about something without having to worry that I might not receive the message.

Cell phones have become more and more, essential for me. I use my cell phone so much now that it's getting ridiculous. I really don't think that I would be comfortable going back to life without my cell phone.

I don't own a cell phone, but I am told that I will be recieving one in the near future. Perhaps I'd use one more if I actually had my own, but, as of now, I don't really use one.
Granted, they are very good to have even if you don't need one for constant use.

I don't really despise cell phones as much as I despise the degeneration of etiquette at their hands. People taking calls in a line, and then not ending the call when it's their turn, therefore holding up the line, is a real problem. It's also practically inevitable that a phone will go off during an improtant meeting, thus disrupting it and annoying evberyone. People often forget to turn them off, and some don't realize that oftentimes the vibration is JUST as annoying and loud as the ring if it's on a table or in a bag. Then there's the people that are ALWAYS on the phone, even when they're with someone! How rude is THAT! There's also the loud talkers that talk so loud into the phone that the whole store can hear the conversation, and now with walkie talkie features you can hear both conversations. The Trigger Happy TV sketches that had him on a giant cell phone literally screaming into it on buses and elsewhere in crowds just had me in stitches. HELLO?! YEAH!! GREAT!!
The other funny thing to come out of cell phones is hands free calling, which basically makes you look like you're talking to yourself from the wrong angle. I still blatantly stare at people who use it, and look at them like they're crazy.
I don't have one, but I use my wife's from time to time. I always forget I have it, and it's always off. It's more for an emergency or if I need to get a hold of her to change plans.
I don't like the idea of not being able to get away either. Some people just don't need to know where I am sometimes.

Right now, I am embroiled in a bitter, stubborn stand-off with my cell phone provider. I was low on cash for a couple months due to more urgent expenses, so my bill went unpaid for the duration. As soon as I had the money, I submitted the total back money owed, plus the current rate. Verizon cashed the check but didn't give me credit for having paid one of the months. They asked me to pay up and I produced documents showing I paid, yada yada yada, but they refused to admit there was any error. And since I refused to pay twice for the same period, my cell phone service was suspended.
They still send me a monthly bill and the total owed keeps growing. But I'm not paying them a dime. I see no reason to be charged for months in which they refuse to let me use my contracted service, stemming from a penalty they incurred upon me for an error they commited.

Due to this annoyance, I've been without a cellphone since January. And aside from a few moments when I've wanted to call a doctor or business while I was at school, I haven't missed it that much. I barely used it before, certainly not as much as my 500 free minutes per month allowed. I was lucky to use up 100.

So I can't say my life has changed drastically with or without a cellphone. They're a nice convenience but I'm not dependent upon them. Hell, I've never text-messaged anyone in my life. I don't even know how, that's how unimportant cellphone features are to me.

It's more of a convenience for me. I get calls from Skills and a few others while I'm out sometimes, which is pretty good cause it's usually funny stuff and helps take my mind off of boring crap.

Other than that it doesn't see much use. Like Rydia I sometimes use it to get short-notice answers on certain things, and sometimes certain family members use it to contact me since I'm on the road (or up north at my fathers house) half the time. Other than that it just sits on my belt clip. It's nice to know it's there though, had to use it once at the scene of a car accident a year or so ago (I wasn't involved).

Ahahaha, I saw this on the news a few minutes ago. I laughed. HARD.

So much for our independence on technology, huh Minion?

Sure, some of us are smart enough not to rely on this shit exclusively. I can NOT imagine ever saying "I couldn't live without my cell phone!" I certainly can! And I am sure others can too!

I'd love to know the pool they polled. Besieds just 18-24 year olds. I really DOUBT the entire nation is 1 in 4 like this. Consider 1 in 4 people may not even possess a cellphone.

I know most adults to have a cellphone; even those with low income probably possess a cell phone. At least that's what I've seen. Some people I know don't even have house phone plans because they and anyone they live with have cell phones.

They are useful, but not necessary. Admittedly I don't even use mine that much anymore. It was certainly fun when I first got it, however.

I have my reasons for depending on my phone. One personal, and some business. I work for Cingular, that's where my business reasons come in.

It'd be pretty easy, just imagine not walking in circles while screaming "CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? HOW ABOUT NOW? YEAH, I'M IN A SHOP AT THE MOMENT, HANG ON, I'LL JUST YELL EVEN LOUDER"

No cell phone- they give you brain cancer. Truthfully I would own one just to keep in a car, for emergences.

I think that they are annoying as all hell- in class idiots don't turn them off; worst I see people driving with them, like Americans need more things distracting them while driving.

Don't even get started with that text messaging bs. I don't see anything that you can do on a cell phone that you can't do from a computer with internet access. Why the hell would you pay money to call someone when you just send them an email?

[Thinks about it some more] Screw it, I'll just get a palm pilot or Blackberry or a PSP, something that has more uses then eating my money.

Loved those Trigger Happy TV spots.

I would say it is a little more than a convenience when I got in a car accident on an empty stretch of highway, and used my cellphone to dial 911.

Actually, I'd say it's damn near a necessity now; I rightly put it as my home phone on all forms of identification. I have a landline phone at my house, but I never use it, because it's always getting calls for my Mom or her boyfriend. Even if I had an extra line installed, it would be an annoyance, since most of the calls I recieve are ones that require immediate response, and naturally happen while I'm away from home.

You know, one does not need to instantly become an asshole when he or she owns a cellphone. I personally always find a quiet place away from other people when I make or receive calls, so people aren't bothered by it. Also, when I can't do this, I try to keep my responses quiet and concise, and end the conversation as quickly as possible. I probably only use my cell phone for a minute or two each day on average anyway; I'm not one who likes to stay on the phone.

If people would learn to use some restraint, then there wouldn't be such a problem with bad cellphone habits.

Double Post:
http://www.askmen.com/sports/health_...ns_health.html

But anyway, despite my post, I could live without one. It would complicate things a whole lot more though.

There's a large sign that can be seen immediately after entering my university library asking students to turn all cell phones off or at least keep them on silent. Although I don't hear many loud rings inside the library, people still tend to have the phones vibrating on tables, and they talk loudly in quiet study areas. If it's an emergency and I see someone calling me, I try to go between shelves and keep the conversation short as well.

I don't need or want a cell phone, I barely use my land line as it is.
So many people become hooked on them, and a recent trend is using a head-set is very weird. Some are so small, I can't even tell if they're talking to me or if they have a phone shoved in their ear.

Yeah, that bugs me too. Especially considering how so many people are obnoxious "loud cell phone talkers". You know what I mean? They have the headset 2 inches from their mouth but they're raising their voice as if the person they're talking to is thirty feet away... ?

I only have a cell phone because my employer requires me to carry one at all times in case something goes down at the plant. Otherwise, I don't give two shits about it. I've never given my cell phone number to family or friends. I just don't wanna be bothered when I'm out and about.

A cell phone is merely a convenience, in my opinion. For me, it never became an obvious necessity, although, the ability to have a phonebook in your phone is very convenient and the portability of it is also good for emergencies.

But I don't use the phone much to begin with. I usually keep it on silent throughout the day, but it makes me oblivious to it, and oftentimes friends and family get annoyed when I don't answer promptly.

To me a cellphone is a necessity. My life pretty much revolves around my work and for people from work or clients to reach me it's necessary that they can do so during business hours and last I checked, I still have to show up at the printshop on a daily basis.

This isn't to say that the phone doesn't have its fair share of being a nuisance though. There are times when I just want to be left the fuck alone and my friends will call me like it's going out of style.

It's a double-edged sword, at best but I'll take my chances. After all, there's a reason why mama always said never to run with sharp objects.

It's definitely a great convenience. Because of my pay-per-minute plan, which suits me just fine, I can't perform long conversations with people. I avoid this anyway and just use a landline for such conversation. It's just used for people to find me, or if I need to let someone know something urgently important. Basically, and emergeny thing.

My cell phone is more of a convenience since I try to limit the amount of people that actually have that number. I mainly use the phone as my "watch" and to play games. Sometimes it serves as my alarm clock.

Some of my friends refuse to buy mobile phones for moral reasons.

As a result, they never find out when we're going out and have virtually zero social lives.

Take that as you will.