I was another late adopter of cell phones; I hate talking on the phone and almost nobody calls me. I finally came around to using one because (a) there’s all kinds of stupid 2-factor authentication stuff nowadays and (b) my wife sometimes wanders off without me when we go somewhere and now I can call her to find out where she is (although she answers the phone maybe 10% of the time, it seems).
I don’t carry my phone around the house when I’m at home, though. I have a tablet that I use if I want to futz around with mobile games or whatnot.
I used to not always have it with me, but I do now for medical reasons. I keep my drivers license in my phone case since I’m more likely to have my phone (especially now!) than my wallet.
Ditto. I’m really surprised that shirts with pockets haven’t made a fashion comeback - much handier than in pants pockets, less chance of harming the phone.
The recent versions of the Android operating system allow “modes”. The first one I set up was for sleeping - Do Not Disturb from 12 - 5 (and, yes, you can tell it “disturb me if it’s a text or call from a select group of people”). Recently I set up a DND for work hours. You can also tell it which aps are allowed to send notifications. I’ve turned most of them off.
I used to be able to say I didn’t have it when swimming, surfing, or playing pickleball. But now I have an Apple Watch which keeps me connected to my phone at all times.
I got my first regular cell phone in 1999 against my will because work required it. I didn’t use it a whole lot.
I got the second generation iPhone a couple of days after launch so June of 2008. My friend had gotten on launch day and showed it to me. I was kind of meh but the thing that convinced me to take a look was what they called “visual voicemail”. I would sometimes have a voicemail saved and then I had to either listen to the whole thing or go through a song and dance to get to the next one. The next day I went to the AT&T store in the afternoon and took a look at the sample on the counter. I looked down to play with it and didn’t look up again for almost an hour. I was hooked. I got one the next morning.
It would be fair to claim that I am addicted. It is never very far from me. Even now when I am posting this on a laptop.
I am exactly the same, though mine stays on the kitchen counter. I don’t carry it with me if I’m just running a quick errand, such as to the corner store. My office is in my house, so my business landline is much more important. I’ve got three or four extensions, so I can take a client’s call from anywhere in the house. Friends know this, so that’s how they reach me.
I do take my cellphone with me if I’m going to go somewhere for a while. If I’m travelling, an app will give me weather conditions, another app acts as a GPS, and if I go to the racetrack, another app will give me racing selections. I’ve got airline apps, so I can check in for my flight. If I find myself having to wait before my flight or appointment, I’ve got a couple of games.
Whenever I’ve made the mistake of putting my phone in a shirt pocket I inevitably lean over some time in the next 20 minutes and the phone slides out and crashes to the floor.
That doesn’t happen in my pants rump pocket; it’s in there to stay. And the phone won’t break if I sit on an upholstered surface or even a hard bench.
I’ve had phones come out of my back pocket when dropping trou to sit on the throne - luckily, they mostly fell to the floor, tho once one dropped in the bowl.
I don’t run with a phone.
Many years ago, I was trail running on a late Fall afternoon when I landed on something (rock? root?) that I din’t see under a fallen leaf & rolled my ankle. I didn’t go down, I didn’t get hurt, I didn’t even break stride but realized if I did sprain it I would literally need to crawl out to a road because it was late in the afternoon so probably no one else on those trails to rescue me so I bought a cheap, small, light, always-powered-off, serviceless, flip phone as an insurance policy. Without service it could only call 911, who I’d probably need to come rescue me if I did get hurt as anyone else I knew doesn’t have a key to the gates that block the trails. Unfortunately, that was a 3G phone so it won’t even make that one call anymore. I probably should look for a more modern version.
If it’s a non-run day & I’m going for my (usually) nightly walk, I only take it if I’m going to talk to the SO; otherwise I don’t like carrying it in gym shorts/sweatpants.
If I’m at home & dressed (to go out) it might be in the pocket of my pants; however, if I’m not ‘dressed’ (IOW, just shorts or sweats) then it’s in one of a couple of places but frequently not the same room. If I’m just going up/downstairs for something, like laundry, I won’t take it, & even when I do have it, there’s one game that I play exclusively in airplane mode so as to not get ads. I been known to sometimes forget to turn that off when I’m done so it can’t communicate for hours at a time.
Wheel of Fire is great stuff.
Hell, this weekend I had the phone in the car with me but no service for significant portions of the drive as I was cruising thru rural areas
For me, I keep my phone in my left front pocket any time I’m on the go. I have my wallet and car fob in the other. Even if most phones are safe for a casual sitting-upon, there’s risks. Then again, I’m protective of my phones.
@ThelmaLou -this thread reminded me of our talk about your beloved but no longer fully supported phone. We confirmed full 4G/LTE support back in the day, but even that is heading towards End of Life.
If it’s still with you, it’s sadly time to start shopping for a new option - not immediately, as the leaked documents say 2+ years, but sooner rather than later. Especially since it had only a limited number of 4G/LTE bands available.
Soon to turn 71, ALWAYS on my person or in my hand. Its’s my phone, my camera (I use it not just for photos, but to take pics of things I need to remember), a notepad, a compass, a calculator, magnifier, internet, email, maps/directions (hey, Siri, directions to…), my music library, clock, flashlight, guitar tuner, alarm clock - timers - stopwatch, medicine reminder, QR reader, language class, and so on.
ETA: Venmo, Apple Pay, PayPal. Also podcasts and white noise to sleep.
If I’m out and about, the phone is in my purse or possibly pant’s pocket depending on what I’m wearing. At home, I only wear pants with pockets so I can have it with me in case I fall or something.
Funny you should ask this question because something today sort of amazed me. I was at lunch with a friend. We sat outside and shared a picnic table with a couple who looked to be in their 40s, early 50s. They were on their phones while waiting for their food. When the food arrived, they placed their phones against the napkin holders and continued to scroll the entire time they were eating. They never said a word to each other. It was a beautiful day, the food was great and they couldn’t be bothered to even look up. After they left, I told my friend that this is why humanity is fucking doomed.
Sometimes I go out to the store or something and leave it behind intentionally. I’ve had a cell phone since the early 90s, but a smartphone since about 2010 (iphone since 2012).
I dont carry it around everywhere but I’ve had nightmares about having it and it’s not functional, or I can’t find it, being somewhere I was trying to leave! I don’t use it at restaurants or in some places, but for sure in airports.
When I’m at home, my phone spends most of its time on the charging stand, which is on my desk. I spend a fair amount of time at my desk (like now) so I can respond to it fairly quickly. I can hear it ring (or make the “you got a text” noise) from the next room, but not from the upstairs (kitchen, living room with TV). So I don’t always respond right away, just like with email.
I try very hard to remember to take it with me when I go out. Sometimes I need it for the map to my destination, but not having one if something goes wrong (flat tire, accident, some delay getting home, etc.) would be a pain. I put it in a pocket, either trousers or jacket, and then try to remember to put it back on its charging stand when I get home.
I use mine constantly, but almost literally never as a phone, ie making voice calls. (That person-to-person contact is accomplished by texting on the phone.) I have a television but haven’t watched OTA content in years, I watch all of my shows and movies on the phone. Have a PC, but rarely turn it on because I do all my computer work on my phone. All of the things I do on the internet are on my phone, including writing this. The phone is my only working camera. My photo and video editing are done in apps on my phone. My phone is my source of reading books, aquiring books, and getting recommendations on books. The only entertainment I don’t do on my phone is often comics and manga, which I do read some on the phone but also transfer from my phone to my Kindle for the larger screen. (It also acts as my only alarm clock, and if I happened to need a radio for some reason I’d use the phone’s built-in radio and not try to find the box my old physical radios are packed away in, along with things like portable CD players. And on that point, I rarely just “listen to music”, but when I do, it is on my phone.)