For the past several years, I have belonged to an ever-shrinking unique group of Americans. We are often mocked and ostracized…sometimes by those closest to us.
People are incredulous when I tell them. They roll their eyes.
I am told I am woefully behind the times. Old-fashioned. Stuck. Out of it.
My crime?
I have been cell-phone-less.
And I have relished it.
The un-connected-ness. The freedom from interruption. The lack of embarrassing moments. The absence of the compulsion to flip it open every 3 minutes to see if anyone might be calling me in that instant. The keeping it charged and remembering to take it with me WHEREVER I GO. The NOT having to pay another bill each month.
Alas, no more.
The enemy has infiltrated. It is charging on my kitchen counter. It is a Christmas gift FOR my mother. But it's mine.
I let it sit on my coffee table for a week or so, giving it dirty looks when I passed it by. I finally took it out of the house this weekend. I have made a grand total of two calls on it. When I called my mom at home, she said great! now what's your phone number? Um. I had no idea. I now know that the number 4 figures in it rather prominently, but it'll probably take a while to be able to rattle it off like your average 8-year-old.
It took me about 5 minutes to compose one text message this morning. This is going to be one rough adjustment.
Excuse me while I go chop some firewood for the cookstove.
6 comments:
Did you keep the reciept? Maybe return it. I give anyone who doesn't have one props. If you've gone this long, maybe that's the answer.
Or not.
I enjoy your writing! You make me laugh!
Listen, welcome to the club. I still take 10 minutes to compose a text message to Erika asking a question that I could have asked in seconds had I called...
studiosmith…
yeah, I'm still not thrilled about it, but it really is for my mother's peace of mind!
Mike, I know someone who can give you lessons in texting if you're interested!
Hi friend,
so sad... but, the phones are largely as much of a nuisance as you let them be. set ground rules early. turn it off when you want to. friends will learn to deal with it. parents are trickier. i feel badly for people like Yesi who have their job controling them through a cell phone.
the cell-phone-less crowd is losing members quickly! my husband has one now, too. he may not keep it; it's a trial run.
I totally understand. I leave my mobile (notice the adjective) phone in my purse to use when I'm MOBILE - meaning out of my house. When at home my purse sits by my coat & car keys by the front door - where I can't hear it ringing. THis isn't a problem for me because I have TWO house phones, one upstairs and one down. Seems you could reach me on either floor of my house and anytime I'm out and about. People seem to think this is uptight and "unavailable". I get your big vision. Call me and we'll talk about it! ha!
Andrea
At least you had a choice.
They made me have a blackberry at work, and they connected it to my e-mail account. That stupid worthless thing kept buzzing/beeping everytime an e-mail came in.
It "quit being cost effective" and "had to be turned in".
That is going to have to be my next post...thanks for the idea!
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