I was a late-comer to having a cell phone. I didn’t see the necessity, and for a long time, I had the cheapest, most basic phone around. It’s only in the last few years that I caved and got a smart phone. And, yes, I like it. Apps are helpful and being able to look up things on the run is great.
BUT it’s not always on me - partly because I’m still not used to it (it’s only been 5 or 6 years) and partly because I’m female, and our jeans and pants are sadly deficient when it comes to pockets. I try to set it down in the same places in the house, but there have been more times than I like to admit that I had to have it called so I could find it. And when I leave the house, I don’t always remember to put it in my purse.
I wonder if it’s a generational thing. For some people it seems to be an extension of their body, and they all seem to be much younger.
So, I’m 71 and I frequently forget where it is or have to run to another room to answer it. Your turn!
It’s not always in my pocket, but it’s almost always in the same room with me. Over there on the table. Maybe I left it on the couch. I dunno. It’s around.
First, I always have it when I go out, but as you point out, I’m a guy, with big pockets, and I use phones of the slightly more reasonable size. I do also have a smartwatch paired to the phone via BT, so I don’t have to take it out of my pocket to just check the time or get messages. At home, I normally leave the watch on, but put the phone down on the charger. Thus the yes/no.
As an aside, my wife has very similar complaints about pockets, to the point she gave up out of envy of mine, and bought my guy’s brand of pants in roughly her size. She’s much happier now. Also at work, she’s in a clean room, so has a hard case with a clip so she doesn’t need pockets to hold it in.
(for the record, I’m in my early fifties, and was a somewhat late to bothering with such, mostly due to cost, but I’m not shy about using tech)
As for losing it, I have a dedicated charging area, so I haven’t lost it in the house, I did get some Tiles for my folks for theirs, and of course if I lose mine, my watch can ring the phone.
This, pretty much. When I’m out it lives in my breast-pocket and I always have a breast-pocket. It usually doesn’t sleep in the same room as me though, barring a real need like someone having an ongoing health emergency. I haven’t been on-call for years (back when we used pagers for such things) and I dislike being bothered by it at night. I also will go hours without glancing at it some days, which slightly annoys certain texters in my life.
I am in your camp. I didn’t buy any kind of cell phone until 2017. Part of it was I just didn’t see the need. I sat next to a phone at work and have phone at home. I remember getting into a playful argument with a friend over this, and in a one year period there was only 3-4 times I really would have found a cell phone useful. Part of this was probably stubbornness as it became part of my identity because everyone else had one, and I liked being different.
Then my oldest kids started getting old enough that they had lots of activities and that was getting hard to keep track of. I broke down then and got a smartphone just to keep track of it all. I do like it, and even though I am male and have pockets I have more than once called my phone to find where I left it.
It does come with me when I’m leaving the house (I’ve had too much experience with problems like car breakdowns to be comfortable not having it). When I’m home, it lives on an end table in the living room unless in use (such as being a kitchen timer). It does not come into the bedroom when I’m trying to sleep unless I have reason to think I might be getting an important call.
Well, I’m as new to this as someone can be. Although I carried a go phone for many years, my experience with a smart phone began less than a week ago. I’m not tech avoidant – far from it – but due to a lack of decent internet until quite recently and no cell tower reception from any carrier, I had no reason to invest in a smart phone.
It’s my practice with any new tool to force myself to use it, and that’s what I’m doing with this phone. It has already changed my habits. I have it with me always, either adjacent to my regular bludging spot or on the bed or on my person. I returned to carrying a regular purse in order to keep it nearby instead of trying to use pockets.
I keep it on the bed next to me because my parents are elderly, especially my dad. He’s going through a rough patch health wise, and I don’t want to miss any urgent call.
I didn’t get a cell phone at all until people started assuming that every driver had one; I’m often driving old cars so I started taking one when I went somewhere. I didn’t start carrying one otherwise until I got the heart diagnosis; if I keel over all at once that’s OK, but if I’m conscious but feeling too much in trouble to get any distance to a phone I’d like the option to call for help.
It’s a flip phone, though: seriously waterproof and shock resistant, and doesn’t take much pocket space; but the screen’s too small to do anything much on, and it’s generally set on vibrate only and I may not notice that depending on what I’m doing. So if doesn’t take over my life.
I learned my lesson Big Time on November 7, 2007 when I left my phone in the car while I dashed into an office to drop something off. What dropped was me. I fell off my darling Born platform shoes and broke my ankle. I lay in the parking lot for an hour or so throwing pebbles at a nearby window to no avail until (literally) two Boy Scout leaders found me and went to my car to fetch my phone.
Now I keep the phone close by. The dearth of deep pockets in women’s clothing is a problem. I have some teeny shoulder bags that I can carry my phone in. Many of us women at The Home have these cute bags for this purpose.
It makes me nuts when people say things like, “I just need to disconnect so I don’t carry my phone with me!” Don’t they know (1) you can turn it off, and (2) you can put it on silent so you can see if you missed an important call?
I also put the phone on the floor outside the shower when ever I’m in the shower. And if I get up on a ladder or even a chair to reach something, I put it on the floor near me. I may never need it – and I hope to God I never do – but IF I do, I want the phone right there.
I know stories of people who lay on the floor at home for hours (my mother in her apartment in San Diego) to three days (a 80-ish year old man back in my old neighborhood) because no one missed them and they had no way to call for help. I got my mother one of those “fallen-and-can’t-get-up” buttons but she left it hanging on the wall instead of wearing it. I told her if you’re not going to wear it, at least leave it on the floor so you can crawl to it.
These electronic marvels aren’t crutches, and they won’t cause us to lose IQ points-- they’re TOOLS to be used to make our lives safer and better. Like “The Wheel” and “Fire,” you know, the good stuff. I remember the days when we thought nothing of driving 5-6 hours across the state of Texas, often with many completely EMPTY miles between towns and no way to call for help if something happened. I don’t care to do that any more. I don’t care to walk around the block without a way to call for help if I need it for myself or someone else.
In our building of about 40 residents, we (the residents on our own) have set up a text phone tree so that if there’s an important announcement, one person texts a couple of people, and each of them texts someone on the next rung, etc. ONE woman in the building is a cell phone holdout. I don’t know what she thinks she is proving or what principle she is upholding. But it’s a nuisance to the rest of us.
I’ve had a cellphone since they became pocket sized in the early 1990s. And a smartphone since about when they were invented. I’ve also worked an on-call job most of my adult life, so that heavily conditioned the habits I’ve had now for ~30 of my 67 years.
It’s on my person or adjacent to me 24/7/365. The big exception being the beach, where it’s in a waterproof bag in my backpack on my towel while I may be out in the water. When I get back to gymming here soon, it’ll live in the locker while I’m working out. Otherwise we’re inseparable.
It charges on my nightstand, or sits on the arm of my armchair while I’m in it, or on the table when I’m sitting at one, or rides around in a pocket while I’m upright. It sits in its charger cradle in the car. It doesn’t get set down at random around my (admittedly very small) residence.
I solve the noises waking me up at night by having the phone automatically go into silent mode from 9pm to 8am, which encompasses any plausible time I’d be sleeping overnight. Then I have just a couple of important contacts programmed to break through silent mode. Anybody else can wait until morning. Once I wake up, I switch off silent mode right then; the 8am thing is covering for the very occasional sleeping in.
Always on me. I’m a larger lady so my pockets can be a bit larger and that helps since I don’t carry a purse. I spend most of my days in pajamas since I work from home, so I make sure my PJs always have pockets. Half of the year I wear a hoodie all the time so that helps.
My mom was not in the habit of carrying her phone everywhere, or leaving it across the house or in her purse. I made her get an Apple Watch so she can at least see when someone is trying to contact her. And she can reply to texts via the watch. And it will contact me if she falls.
I neglected to mention that twice I had jobs where phones weren’t allowed past the lobby. Yanno, so we didn’t text about the classified work we were doing. That was the decade my Nokia rarely left my car. So while the rest of society was connected, I was just barely on the communication fringe. And it worked for me.
I do try to keep my phone nearby when working outside. In fact, I crocheted a little bag to hold my phone, so no excuse really to not carry it. I just can’t quite seem to remember…
During work hours, the phone is usually in my shirt pocket. At home, it lives in the kitchen. However, I do have an apple watch, so if something happened at home, I can use the watch for emergencies. Its also tied to my Ipad, so technically its everywhere in my house
Heh, Hoodies have saved me from the no pocket thing. I have a few yoga pants with phone pockets but they hit me in the wrong place. Kinda an unflattering look. a big square lump.
I also have summer weight hoodies. My scrawny arms get cool in the AC. No…it’s really the kangaroo pouch I love.
I own one. (Two, actually, but the other one doesn’t have a SIM card and so I’m uninclined to think it qualifies as a phone). The one that’s capable of making a phone call sometimes leaves the home office with me: if I have reason to think I’m going to need to make a phone call or hail an Uber.
Otherwise it stays here next to the computer, where I use it for two-factor authentication and for participating in Teams meetings.
Cell phone is always within reach partially because I use it for work and people call frequently at random hours of the day and night with emergencies.
I have been doing this for so many years I don’t even notice it.
Occasionally I get sick of it, turn it off and bury it under a pile of towels.
Mine stays on a wireless charger on my end table in the den. I hardly ever carry it with me as I move about the house. I may also be a bit unusual in that I leave it there when I go to bed. If there’s an emergency call, or if some family member passes, I won’t know about it until I get up in the morning and go out to the den. I’m retired…it can wait.
I try to have it with me anytime I leave the house and am driving. Would likely not bring it if just walking the dog. And might not bring it if I was with my wife and she had her phone.
Right now I’m at home, and I’m not 100% sure where my phone is. Well - I would bet it is one of 3 places, but it is not within reach or sight. Not sure I have the sound switched on either.
Many a day, if I am not driving anywhere, the phone never comes off the bedside charger.
I’m enthusiastic about smart phones, using it for calls, texting, authentication and mapping functions. But my leisure doesn’t otherwise center on usage. Yet I always carry chargers for it with the phone everywhere.
a big square lump.