Did you turn your wall phone off at night so that it wouldn’t ring? If not, then it’s exactly the same as a freaking cell phone that can ring at night. “If the phone rings in the middle of the night I want to be able to hear it in case of emergency” is not a new or bizarre sentiment for people to have.
Yep, on all night charging next to my bed. It’s my alarm clock and my only phone (no land-line) and I’ve got a mother who lives alone who recently had a TIA, a kid I share 50/50 physical custody of and a 20 year old who doesn’t drive. If any of them need me in the middle of the night, I want them to be able to get hold of me.
Only once has a patient called me in the middle of the night, and I made it clear to her that it was NOT going to happen again. I’m not an emergency medical service. If it can’t wait until morning, call 911.
As others have said, charging all night, on because it’s my alarm. I do power it down from time to time, maybe once a week or so, just because.
[QUOTE=ThelmaLou
I’d like an explanation of the reasoning behind this policy if **blondebear **would be so kind:Some of my friends do this, and it makes me nuts on those occasions when we’re supposed to meet somewhere and I’m trying to call to say I’m going to be late or that there’s an accident on the highway or something. [BTW, I’m compulsively prompt and never late unless there’s been some kind of unexpected event.]
There’s no $$ charge for keeping the phone ON, and if someone calls WHOM YOU’RE NOT EXPECTING, you don’t have to answer unless you want to. It makes NO SENSE to me to own a cell phone and not have it on a good amount of the time. Don’t have to have the ringer on, don’t have to answer, but you can glance at the screen every now and then to see if you missed any calls that you need to follow up on.
[/QUOTE]
I do this (have a cell phone but keep it off by default). If there’s a potential issue where I need to be reachable I keep it on but most of the time I forget I even own it. I’ve never felt I had to be in constant touch. If someone’s stuck in traffic, running late or has to cancel at the last minute, I’ll find out eventually.
Well, I used to do it because the cell phone was my only phone, the ringing was usually my crazy family, and it set off panic attacks. I’ve known other people who do it strictly as a rebellion against the idea they should be always available. The cell phone is still my only phone, and I’d do it still, except I have transit alerts and Twitter bounced to SMS, and I actually kind of want those.
I also used to do what was effectively the same thing with a landline – I hooked it up to an answering machine, turned the bell off, turned the volume down on the machine, and put tape over the blinking number. My theory was that if someone was dead at 8am when my mother tried to wake me up with ringing, they would still be dead when I called her back at three in the afternoon. I don’t expect other people have enough crazy relatives for this to be the normal reason, though.
I have it turned on 24/7 but I put it on silent when I sleep and at certain points during the day (meetings, movies etc). It might seem weird that I keep my phone on silent rather than just turning it off during the night considering I cannot hear any calls but I like the ability to check it during the night to see whether I have any missed calls/important messages.
The idea that you have to turn off a phone to be free of it IMHO is based on the erroneous belief that a ringing phone must be answered. The thing is, it doesn’t. And it doesn’t even have to ring.
Back in the day, you had to answer the phone to find out who was calling and what they wanted. With the advent of answering machines and voice mail, you don’t. Having a phone and having it on does not make you reachable at all times. You are in control of your personal time/space even if you keep your phone on and the ringer off. I keep my phone pretty much on my body at all times (for reasons mentioned above), but I am by no means reachable at all times.
Miss Manners says that in the Olden Days, that was what the butler was for, namely, to tell people you were not At Home, even when they could plainly see you sitting in the parlor. She says that answering machines (and voice mail) are the butlers of today, and unlike the old days, everyone can have one.
Maybe it’s my age, but I’ve experienced a few emergencies when it was a damn good thing I had my phone with me and had it on.
On. Alarm clock. And, emergencies, though I’m not sure if that has ever actually happened.
But I do hate getting sales calls and sales texts in the middle of the night. I’ve put myself on the do-not-call list and kept that updated, and have sometimes complained about the sales texts, and if a politician proposed putting advertisers in jail for these things I’d be inclined to become a single issue voter and vote for them. I’d spend hundreds of dollars a year for a service that seamlessly blocked sales calls and sales texts.
(bolding mine)
That kind of begs the question… Why not?
I totally understand that there could be myriad reasons why you don’t have one, (no service in your area, don’t have a realistic need, etc.) but there are quite a few reasons (economy, convenience, portability, etc.) that can make a cell phone a better alternative to a ‘land line’. YMMV 
I’m just a naturally curious person, (sometimes, too much so, for my own good) is the only reason I ask. Feel free to ignore the question, if you feel it’s too intrusive.
I voted “On, 24/7.”
I frequently turn the ringer off, (at bed time, when I just don’t want to be bothered, in a meeting, etc.) but it’s nice to be able to have a record of missed calls and know that I can always receive messages via voicemail.
Even if I have the ringer turned off, I can check the voicemail and determine if it’s a call that needs to be returned immediately.
I realized in seeing the subsequent comments that I was misleading in my answer. I do have a land-line, so people can phone me on it at night (or during the day) and it will ring. My comments were specific to my cell-phone (I answered the third choice - off at a different time for other reasons). I never have wrapped my head around needing to be instantly available 24/7 regardless of what I am doing. If I am out and I get an emergency call on my land-line I’ll get the message when I get back. Exactly the same idea as before cell-phones. I do compromise a teeny bit - if there is a situation where I am waiting for a call then I’ll either let the person I am waiting for know my cell number (warning them that it is useless to phone me on my cell if I am not expecting it) or forward my land-line to my cell.
Missed this post, before I posted.
I couldn’t have said it any better (and certainly not as eloquently) as ThelmaLou! 
How do people know you are going to call them?
Mine is off at night, but I know I won’t miss any calls since they will be automatically transferred to my landline. Texts, not so much.
I turn mine* off at night while sleeping, due to emails as such coming in all night. The exception is when I’m the “After-Hours On-Call Tech” for that week.
*My employer’s, really, but we’re on an unlimited plan and they don’t care if we use it for personal use, as long as we’re not racking up the international calls or dialing 1-900-Sex-Me.
Mine is on all night, mostly because I use it as an alarm clock, but also because I functionally don’t have a landline and would want to be available in case of unforeseen emergency.
Me too. But my phone isn’t the one in the house that’d get a call if there was an emergency at night. When that changes, I’ll probably start leaving it on all the time.
How would they know we’re going to call them if we leave the phone on?
This is my position too - with elderly parents in another town, you never know when an emergency might happen. I power mine off at work though since my folks have my work number to call during the day.
I suppose the easiest way to explain it is that I got along fine before there were cell phones, and I get along fine now. I simply do not feel any need to be “available” all the time. If I’m meeting someone I will turn on my phone when I head out to the restaurant/theater/airport, etc, in case someone is delayed. Frankly, I think cell phones enable people who can’t seem to be anywhere on time–why worry about being prompt when you can just call and say you’re running late?
Always on.
It is my alarm clock, watch, calendar, email, internet, flashlight, camera, etc.
We haven’t had a land line in years, but we both have elderly mothers in assisted living that may need contact.
Always on, smartphone that’s smart enough to silence notifications when I’m sleeping but wake me with a loud alarm. It is on the nightstand to charge while I’m sleeping, and is my only phone and only alarm clock. I like to be able to pick it up whenever to check the time. I also “check in” while lounging in bed before I get up for the day, by checking headlines, Facebook, Twitter and email. I get up around noon, so there’s usually stuff to get updated on.