 Billionaires all |
Your boss not knowing how to type, John Madden refusing to get on planes — these are adorable quirks caused by being old, or phobic, or old and phobic. But a cell phone is so simple to use, so harmless, and so integral to how we’ve agreed to communicate as a society, that refusing to own one isn’t just the act of a Luddite. It’s a pretty serious power move.
Everyone has a cell phone now. There are more than 280 million mobile subscribers in America, according to the Federal Communications Commission. According to a 2005 international study by Advertising Age, 15 percent of Americans have interrupted sex to answer their phones. Even people who are videotaping themselves having sex, like Paris Hilton, stop to answer a call.
Not having a cell phone is a way of getting the world to run on your time. A lot of powerful people are already on to this. Warren Buffett doesn’t use one. Nor does Mikhail Prokhorov, the 45-year-old Russian billionaire who owns the New Jersey Nets. Tavis Smiley doesn’t own one, either.
I only use my cell phone as a phone.
Found by Cinàedh.
I have to live on the phone at work and that is enough for me.
I have refused to be on a leash and have never carried a cell phone. I have a tracfone that is off, charged and in my glove box for emergencies. I also do not answer my home phone, it goes to an answering machine and I pick up if I feel like talking to however is call and I happen to be near the answering machine.
I dont own one either… they are all overpriced and do not perform good enough to command such a price..
used be for a time that one could pull up to a corner phone and drop a few coins in to make a call whenever you needed to.
If your phone / pda controls your life then you have a bigger problem and its not tech.
Lets take away the personal secretaries that run these guys’ schedules and see how they do. There are different kinds of dependency.
Having a human personal assistant instead of a digital one doesn’t make you better, it just makes you richer.
hhopper said: “I only use my cell phone as a phone.”
Funny – I only use my Nexus One cell phone as a data connection. I do make the occasional VOIP call. My cell number is not on my business cards.
Even before mobile phones were invented, I hated talking on the phone. Now, I see people with two phones hanging off their belts and I even know two guys who have phones with TWO SIM cards! What’s up with that?
Some of this sounds as pompous as “I don’t even own a TV”….
A phone is a tool – just as a computer, a hammer, a spatula, etc are tools. As tcc3 said – if your tools are taking over you, you have other issues than the tools themselves.
I rarely use my cell phone. Late last year, I bought a prepaid from Target, put $15 a month on it, as required, and the balance keeps going up because I don’t use it much. Only for a couple of friends who are too stupid to call the real phone, the “other man”, and pre-ordering pizza from Costco when I’m en route.
Once in a great while, I’ll be out somewhere and need to make a call, and since pay phones are nearly extinct, I’ll use the cell.
No internet, no aps, 2 pictures of curiosities that I encountered in the last 6 months while out walking. That’s it.
Wrong, wrong,wrong! They have a mobile phone. You just can’t see it.
These guys are rich enough. They can afford to own the invisible North Korean mobile phone. It was invented by the Dear Leader himself, and demonstrated at the 2010 World Cup by the NK team coach.
BTW… I’m not joking. The NK coach actually claimed he had an invisible mobile phone invented by Kim Jong-il that allowed him to get real time coaching advice from the soccer genius Kim Jong-il.
I can NOT believe that 280,000,000 people out of 300,000,000 have a cellphone.
There is NO WAY 90% of the USA has a cellphone, every man, women, CHILD would have one. Im NOT giving a cellphone to a 2 year old. I know religious groups that HATE/wont use tech..
I know many people that cant AFFORD even a BASIC cellphone. AND a WIRED phone has options that CELLPHONES DONT.
I will admit that Call as you go, cellphones services are very cheap. And hard wired phones are getting VERY expensive.
I also think that spending Over $100 for a cellphone that has OPTIONS/FEATURES/APPS, is looking for a FALL. Loss/theft/damage and you could loose it all in a FLASH.
#7 yanker – I’ve had one of these invisible phones but they’re not very useful in that you can only call and receive from other invisible phones. I tried one out once but lost it when I laid it down somewhere. I can hear it ring but since it’s invisible I can’t seem to pinpoint the exact location. It has a GPS so it knows where it’s at though. Damn, I wish I could find that phone….I just know that it’s that crazy Kim calling me.
I think #3–tcc3 has it about right. You think these guys are “out of touch” when not in their office?
But a related issue might be old tech that is better? I for one prefer
1. analogue clocks and clock radios to digital ones. In a sense, an analogue clock provides “more information” than does a digital one. Clock radios are easier to set.
2. wired mice instead of wireless so that I know where they are (plugged in!).
3. hard wired for power rather than batteries.
4. In fact, wired whenever possible like my router too.
5. Books when possible, not kindle.
I do like led’s over incandescent though.
No cell here. People want to reach me they can call the home landline and leave a message. Yea I have family and friends who, in this day and age, are annoyed that they cant talk to me immediately. Its their problem.
I develop apps, so I need a phone. The one phone I have that is connected to a cell network is a smart phone. It’s my gps, my calendar, my e-book, and my e-mail reader.
I don’t really use it as a phone because it is hard for me to hear through that cell speaker. I’d prefer a text or a Facebook invite.
When I do talk on the phone, conversations go like this:
ME: Hello
CALLER: We’re meeting at _______ restaurant at such and such a time.
ME: Okay, see you. Bye.
#16 bobbo said,”5. Books when possible, not kindle.”
Bobbo m’boy – gotta disagree with you on two counts. – wireless mouse? Absolutely yes. The fewer wires on my desk top, the better. Of course, I sometimes throw the image onto my TV and sit back in my easy chair with a wireless mouse and wireless keyboard. Reclined with a gin and tonic makes Pedro easier (not easy) to put up.
A couple of months ago, I would have heartily agreed with you about the Kindle. But someone gifted me a Nook. Except for some used books stores, casual reading material is hard to come by here and used or new, darned expensive. Now, when I go off into the wilds of Burma or northern Laos, I can not only take a dozen novels with me but a couple dozen medical references. True, doing “bush” medicine I don’t often need them but every now and then. The Nook also has a rudimentary browser on it so, when sitting in the coffee shop, I can either read or scan DU.
It’s a different experience than reading a paper book but, in some ways, better. I think if I were doing a nine to five in the States, I’d be reading ex-tree books. But here, in SE Asia, I love my Nook!
Animby==in the wilds of Burma huh? Well, – – – and I don’t actually “wish” this on you – – , I hope you never find yourself crounched down over a hole doing #2 and finding yourself with only a Kindle. You know, books ain’t just for reading.
#12-13..
Look up the entourage. Its a Ereader and Android in 1..NO PHONE.
Guess what? I have a cell phone, and only answer the caller if I feel like it. I give out the number rarely. I NEVER answer my home phone, and disconnected my answering machine. So what?
So what if somebody does not have a cell phone? What the fuck do you care?
All of these guys have a P.A following them around and they do carry a cellphone.
I do not own a cell phone, and quite frankly, I enjoy the freedom that others no longer have. Save for work, I am boss of my own time.
#14 Bobbo: That’s what banana leaves are for. Failing that, you can always grab a passing monkey.
Animby==banana leaves? Too waxy, things get spread around instead of wiped off. I’ll let YOU find out what happens when you “try” to use a monkey. Not a pretty sight.
It’s au courant to say “I ONLY have a cell; got rid of the landline” but I go nuts trying to have a conversation with some kid on a celly that’s only working simplex and breaking up too. When the damn things sound as good as my Western Electric “touchtone” did in 1962, I’ll switch over.
Meantime, T-mobile will give you 1000 minutes for a year for a hundred bucks -no monthly. After a whole year of “honey I’ll be there in 10” and “they’re out of raspberries do you want blackberries”, I’m going to roll over 300 minutes.
Love it.
Nope, they’re just pricks that leech off other people’s cell phones.
# 21 bobbo said, “…banana leaves? Too waxy, things get spread around instead of wiped off.” Turn ’em over. They’re ribbed. For your pleasure.
“I’ll let YOU find out what happens when you “try” to use a monkey.” Deja vu! Didn’t I just answer this in Mecca Time? Like I said, grab your fruit and let the monkey run between your legs. Do NOT be looking down when that tail springs up…
No cells-what dorks. It’s 2010-get over it. Likely no one wants to talk to you anyway.
Nope, I have no cell phone. If I’m not home you can’t call me. And I don’t answer the phone ever, anyway.
I refuse to do any kind of financial transaction online. None. No online banking, no ordering stuff off the internet with a credit card, no online bill pay, none of it.
I wouldn’t have direct deposit pay except that most US employers refuse to give cashable paychecks. I miss real paper paychecks that put(untraceable)cash in my pocket.
I don’t wear my watch (A Rollexx bought in Beijing for 80 quai that doesn’t usually work).
I also don’t have a car. No car insurance, no registration, no gas, no tickets. I take the bus, bought a monthly pass.
I have checked out of the American Dream, said goodbye. I’m cooked and done with it. I am a 57 year old Luddite.
But I do love my computer. 🙂
#25 i LIKE IT.
iF SOMEONE COULD PUT ME IN A spot, with full internet access and NO BILLS, they could have 1/2 my check. 2/3 of my check.
Leave me alone and let me VEG..
# 25 cookie_crumbs said, “I miss real paper paychecks that put (untraceable) cash in my pocket.”
What, exactly, is untraceable about a paycheck?
Nope, no cell phone here. My wife and kid have one each and I hate being out and see them “having” to answer some stupid text about ma-in-law dying of constipation again.
And yes, I answer the landline, that is why I have it.
I have two cells (work & personal) and a pager. My new personal phone is a Sprint EVO and it is awesome. I am just beginning to get into all the neat stuff I can do with it.
I do have a phone but like many here use it only when needed. And only for actual phone calls. Hell, I don’t get the craze around these smartphones. Give me my trusty (and plain) Tracfone any day of the week for reliable coverage and low cost. Don’t need anything more.