# So who's a luddite? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 23, 2004, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-a-luddite/276247 "2004-11-23T07:09:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-a-luddite/276247/21 "2004-11-23T15:39:38Z")
I don’t have a cell phone, even though, in thinking about it, getting one would help me to better coordinate my attacks on cotton mills. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-a-luddite/276247/22 "2004-11-23T16:05:14Z")
This may be a slight hijack but what the fuck are people doing (especially in Europe) when they are text messaging people all the time? My mind simply cannot comprehend that. I was in Paris a few weeks ago with my wife and two-year old daughter. We got a cab at the airport and told the cab driver where to go, he pretended to listen to our destination but didn’t really because he was trying to drive and text message with his thumb with his phone at least 12 times on the 40 minute ride. My wife, who is fluent in french, finally told him to cut it out. Apparently, younger people in America are starting to get in on this action too. I hate to say it, I am a techie, I have been a systems analyst for huge companies, and I don’t understand the social aspect of some of this stuff at all. You lost me somewhere between e-mail and Instant Messaging. What are people actually using this stuff for. I am thrilled when the phone rings, it stops ringing, and then I see by the light on the phone that they didn’t leave a voice-mail. Jackpot. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-a-luddite/276247/23 "2004-11-23T16:11:56Z")
I’ve heard that Text messaging is usually quite expensive to use. Or do they use the text instead of actual calls? ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-a-luddite/276247/24 "2004-11-23T17:38:54Z")
Text messaging is trivially cheap but when I was in Germany this summer I got the impression that there was actually a fairly high charge per text message. Perhaps I read the adverts wrong. My wife and I used to text message all the time but it’s kind of tapered off. I make my living with technology so I can’t divorce myself from it for work. I am somewhat of a luddite when it comes to firearms. I do competetive action shooting with reporoductions of guns that are mostly pre-1873 technogy - civil war and earlier era pistols and lever action rifles. ---
**Author:** ![Zcrysis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zcrysis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zcrysis)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-a-luddite/276247/25 "2004-11-23T17:50:47Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > Bastards won’t take cheques in Hong Kong. Where do you shop? I’ve had Wellcome and Park’n’shop both accept them from me. A Hong Konger without a mobile phone is something admirable. This is after all the city with two active mobile phone connections for every person in it. Ive got a mobile in the UK because it costs too much to install a landline but its generally something thats not used very much. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-a-luddite/276247/26 "2004-11-23T18:03:37Z")
No Cell phone here. And none any time soon. ---
**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-a-luddite/276247/27 "2004-11-23T18:14:09Z")
No cell phone. No PDA. No MP3. No answering machine. No DVD player. No TIVO. And I never watch WB. I don’t think this makes me a luddite. Just old. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-a-luddite/276247/28 "2004-11-23T18:27:58Z")
Even though tottering on the edge of decrepitude, I’m still a gee-whiz freak for electronics…except for a cell phone. I hate the damn things and only carry one if my job requires it. Even then, I usually don’t turn it on and get bitched out by those trying to find me. ---
**Author:** ![Abbie\_Carmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-a-luddite/276247/29 "2004-11-23T19:03:34Z")
I don’t have one, either. Can’t afford it at the moment, and plus I have a problem with getting roped into a 2-year contract. What if I don’t LIKE the phone and want to get rid of it after 6 months? They want I should pay for an extra 18 months anyway? Bah! ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-a-luddite/276247/30 "2004-11-23T19:07:05Z")
I don’t own a cell phone. (I own a mobile phone) ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-a-luddite/276247/31 "2004-11-23T19:45:53Z")
No mobile phone for me. I, like many others in this thread, just don’t have a need to talk to people on the phone that often. If I have plans with friends, we make the plans prior to the moment they are supposed to begin. When I am not at my house i don’t have the need to call people. Not to chat, not to get information, i do that before i leave or after i arrive. And for those “just in case” people, i can’t think of a single time i did not have a cell phone and there was some situation where one was needed. Now were someone deathly ill and need my assistance? were my wife in her last timerster of a pregnancy? i might get one until the need subsided. But the fact is i’m just not a phone person. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-a-luddite/276247/32 "2004-11-23T20:14:54Z")
I own no cell phone, and never have. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-a-luddite/276247/33 "2004-11-23T20:23:29Z")
Had one. Hated it. Got rid of it. I don’t wear a watch either. However, similar to **Chefguy** , I’m all about the gadgets _at home._ DVD, TiVo, digital projector, surround sound, looking into wi-fi… But no cell phone. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-a-luddite/276247/34 "2004-11-23T20:36:08Z")
Unfortunately, there are 2 very good reasons for me to have a cellphone. A 80 mile a day commute (yes, I’ve used it when I was forced off the road and into the ditch) and the fact that long distance calls are maybe half the cost on my cell phone that they are on my land line. > [@yosemite](#): > > I used to aggravate one of my friends greatly because he assumed that if I had a cell phone, it was strapped to my hip and on at all times. He’d leave me these really annoyed voice mails about how “you should have your cell phone on!” I used to get these messages all the time too. I’d check messages maybe once a week. Maybe. So I changed my message to “Hi, you’ve reached my cell phone. You know I don’t listen to this, so call me at work or at home” If they don’t know my home or work number, I don’t want to talk to them. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-a-luddite/276247/35 "2004-11-23T20:59:26Z")
I have a cell phone, I like my cell, phone, I use my cell phone and I am not sorry at all. BTW, wouldn’t a Luddite technically be someone who doesn’t have a phone becaue they are opposed to technology and innovation, instead of someone who just doen’t feel the need for one? (I don’t have a PDA, simply because I don’t need one). ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-a-luddite/276247/36 "2004-11-23T23:37:08Z")
I don’t have one. Whenever I see ads on TV comparing low, low prices, I think, “I can beat _that_ price…” ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-a-luddite/276247/37 "2004-11-24T01:03:05Z")
> [@Agrippina](#): > > I’ve heard that Text messaging is usually quite expensive to use. Or do they use the text instead of actual calls? My aunt told my mom that my cousin recently got a phone bill for six hundred dollars, because she text messages people all day long. I thought this was the stupidest thing I’d ever heard, until I remembered which cousin we were talking about. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-a-luddite/276247/38 "2004-11-24T02:23:17Z")
> [@Zcrysis](#): > > Where do you shop? I’ve had Wellcome and Park’n’shop both accept them from me. When were you last here? They certainly don’t take them now. Hard pressed to think of a retail outlet that would. ---
**Author:** ![TheInterruptingCow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9c0ed/32.png) [@TheInterruptingCow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheInterruptingCow)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-a-luddite/276247/39 "2004-11-24T03:09:11Z")
I love technology. Love it. That being said, I’m a chronic “late adopter”. Most of my music is still on vinyl. I kept my BetaMax until I couldn’t get tapes for it any more. DVDs? 2 years ago. Cell phone? Got one, but only because my company pays for it, and if I don’t recognize the caller, I ain’t answering the damned thing; nothin’ says I have to be available ALL THE FRICKIN’ TIME. I actually bought a Walkman last week. One that plays TAPES, dammit, not MP3s or CDs. (Okay, I sprung for XM Radio in the truck, but I have a really long commute…). PDA? HAH!!! Bread machines? HAH!!! If it weren’t for the Dope and e-mail, the Internet could take a flyer, too. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-a-luddite/276247/40 "2004-11-24T04:06:12Z")
Hi, my name is Mighty\_Girl and I don’t own a mobile phone. I did have one that my last employer assigned to me and which I dragged around for 7 years. When I quit my job they offered to transfer the service to me free of charge, I could also keep the phone. I declined. I regret it very little. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-a-luddite/276247.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-a-luddite/276247.md?page=3)