My Life Without A Cell Phone: An Amazing Tale Of Survival.
I don’t own a cell phone. I never have. When people learn this fact they usually react with an exclamation of shocked disbelief. As if the human race didn’t manage to somehow get along just fine until about 1995, when suddenly everyone—not just the doctors and drug dealers—seemed to get a cellular. As a single girl in New York throughout the 1990s I can tell you that, back then, the guy in the bar with the celly was the biggest douche in the room, and he was definitely overcompensating for something. My girlfriends and I laughed at those self-important clowns.
The truth is, not having a cell phone all these years has afforded me and my close associates many pleasures and benefits denied to the rest of you decibel-challenged screamies. Let’s count the ways, shall we?
Convenience: So, you can call anyone you know at any time, and that’s so convenient for you, right? Well, it isn’t. Do the maths.
How many numbers do you have stored in your phone? Fifty, a hundred, more? Well, they’re the people for whom your phone is a great convenience—they know that they can call you and wherever you are, even if you don’t pick up, they have asserted their presence as a part of your day. Want to know real convenience? Leave a message on my machine, or email me, and I’ll get back to you when I damn well feel like it. Now that’s convenience.
Punctuality/Attention Span: If we have a date, I’ll almost always be on time, because I can’t call you at the restaurant to tell you I’m running late. Also, when we are together, you will have my undivided attention. Really. I will never glance down at the corner of the table to see who is calling/emailing/texting while we’re in the middle of a conversation. Which, by the way, is gross.
Cancer-Free Skull: Don’t kid yourself. Go Google “cell phones” and “brain tumors” and proceed to piss your pants.
Freedom: Last but certainly not least, I am a free being, kids. Seriously. No device can interrupt my life. Recently, I had to admit to another parent at my daughter’s school that I don’t own a cell. She looked at me as if I was a criminal.
And yet I continue on, cell-less, while my friends and family wonder: When will she break down and just get a mobile already? I don’t know the answer to that question. I realize there are genuine emergency situations in which a cell phone can literally be a lifesaver.
And as a parent of two my life is not the only one for which I am responsible. My resolve will crumble at some point, I guess. But it will be a sad day when I finally succumb.
Source: My Life Without A Cell Phone: An Amazing Tale Of Survival
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