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.

Quote:

About a fourth of the cell phone users polled, 26 percent, said they can't imagine life without their cell phone. Three-fourths of cell users say they have used it in an emergency.

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?

Jam it back in, in the dark.