Man, the Machine Elf union really got hit hard when the smartphone industry replaced their tiny hands and magic with robots during the recession, huh?
My phone is just a phone. Doesn’t even have a camera in it. If it rings, I pull it out of my pocket (unless I’m driving) and look to see who it is. If it’s a number I don’t recognise, I don’t answer. Since I’m not supposed to be talking on the phone when I’m at work, if I get a call at work and it’s a number I do know, I just remember to call back when I’m on break; if it’s an emergency, my wife or the kids’ schools will be calling the office number, not my cell phone.
You said everything I wanted to. I sometimes wonder if these people will look up from their phones one day to discover their children have grown and their spouses have left them while they were playing angry birds and then go back to playing and texting.
Other than that I think cell phones are a great convenience. I just don’t understand the point of texting so much. They make these great things called mouths and ears that require much less effort to use. It’s more personal too. You can actually hear emotion in someones voice. And you don’t have to use a 
to let someone know you are happy. What will they think of next. Of course you can’t secretly plan your next hookup in the mall bathroom while ignoring your granny who came to visit and will die before you see her again but hey, you can’t have it all.
It’s the same with me; actually making or receiving calls is probably what I do the least. I use the Internet access and email capabilities of my device far more. Like many people, I don’t answer unless I’m expecting the call or know who it is.
That said, using any kind of mobile phone almost always makes it easier to screen calls this way. Anyone I might call or receive calls from goes into my contact list, that way their name flashes on the screen when they call. Thus, my contact list is useful for dealing not only with my good contacts for the usual reasons, but also for handling nuisance calls. Those numbers can be sent straight to voicemail.
Nobody should expect anyone to answer a cell phone unconditionally because there are too many places and situations where it is inappropriate, illegal, or imossible to talk on one. Obviously, you’re also not answering your land line while you’re out, so it shouldn’t make any difference to the caller. They’ll get over it.
Who do you think makes the goddam robots?
I pay ten cents a minute, and I’ve never gone over $100 in a year. My cell phone use is pretty similar to yours for similar reasons.
That’s what I thought this pit thread was going to be. That (IMO) a much more worthy rant than the thing about people wanting something they don’t need/can’t afford.
People who stumble about blindly, stand blocking doorways or traverse stairs at a snail’s pace because they can’t peel their eyes off a screen are a public menace. People who can’t organise their own finances are generally not many other people’s problem.
My wife and I both have the dumbest phones available and pay $60 a month for both of them. I get maybe one call a day - from her. Her phone is usually in the car and usually dead. We used to pay for a third one for our son, but we cut him off on his 18th birthday because he was blowing money on stupid crap. At one point, he tried to push me into upgrading him to an iPhone (HAHAHA!!). When I asked him what the iPhone would let him do that couldn’t already by done by the iPod touch and cell phone he already had, he realized he didn’t have a leg to stand on.
After we cut him off, he made an attempt to buy himself a smart phone, until I pointed out that the $80 a month(!!!) it would cost him was well over what his mom and I pay for both our phones combined. He ended up getting a cheapo pre-paid phone plan. One of the few moments of fiscal responsibility and common sense he’s ever displayed.
You know you are getting old and cranky when those “Jitterbug” commercials start piqueing your interests.
This picture is appropriate http://cheezburger.com/6771850496.
It’s a quote from Einstein “I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.” above a picture of people at dinner where everyone is looking at their phone.
We did the Tracfone thing for years, but our daughter was running into Walgreen’s and buying extra cards just for the texting. Of course, she never told us this, so I thought I was SO smart for just doing pay-as -you-go. Once we found out how much texting our kids were doing, an unlimited text plan turned out to be much cheaper.
We checked after our first month: if we’d paid for each text, our two teens would’ve cost us $750 in texts.
LG400G? As my niece said, “It’s so cute! It thinks it’s a real phone!”
Oh for fuck’s sake. It’s “lying” and “liar”
You’re very clever, young elf, but I’m afraid it’s robots all the way down.
I have absolutely no idea what else I could take from it. You went to a public place and then got all snarky and left when other members of the public turned up.
Are 7 year old kids really pre-school where you are?
I agree that not even buying anything is just rude though.
It’s curlcoat. The problem is most likely that someone had the nerve to bring children anywhere near her(?), thus forcing her to be anywhere near non-adult human beings.
'Public menace" - I like that. How about we also make it socially acceptable to just walk right into people who stop dead in the middle of a mall walkway to text?
Sure, but only if I have permission to stab couples who stop right outside a busy doorway to slooowly make out goodbye.
I know people who are so addicted to their phones they are literally on them every waking moment. That is so sad.
I finally broke down and got a cell phone. Someone called me at 5:30 Sunday morning. When I called back at 7:30, he had the gall to ask “Why didn’t you answer? What were you doing?”
ETA: I predict that in the next two decades the average age of death is going down. Young people do not get outside and exercize anymore. Too busy with their technology.