Sooooo with you on every part of this. I only have a cell phone because I needed one originally for work, and then kept it around because it comes in handy once in awhile (like it did tonight, calling a cab outside a club), especially now that there are barely any payphones left, but I don't give out the number, and it's usually off in my bag. I very much do NOT want one that can do fancy stuff, because I don't even want to be tempted to waste more of my time. We all lived just fine before this stuff, and we actually occasionally interacted with each other in real life too back then.
I wouldn't be tempted, so it would only be a waste of money. Even with the phone I do have I was calling after the first month to cancel a whole bunch of extras that came with the contract (like text messaging, I don't like talking on the phone but man do I fucking hate texting). It has come in handy (not for calling cabs since you can't call a cab in Baltimore *grumble stupid city*), but not to the point where I'd really miss it if it was gone (or if I downgraded to a phone where I just paid for X number of minutes for potential emergencies and that's it, more like it).
We all lived just fine before this stuffExactly. Why is it such a big deal to have to wait until you get home to make phone calls or get online? What are you doing that is so important it can't wait? I still remember when it was different and we all got along just fine (maybe even better, depending on who you ask
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My phone is actually a pay-as-you-go deal, I load it up now and then and then never worry about it because it takes so long to go through my allotted minutes, since I only use it for those occasional things. I have Vonage for my land line, and it's great - cheap for unlimited calls, and they don't sell your phone number to telemarketers like Qwest obviously does.
My theory is that people these days don't really believe they exist unless someone else confirms it for them. They don't enjoy experiencing things unless someone else validates them. So that's why they need the constant texts, phone calls, FB updates, etc.
Why can't you call a cab?Because, allegedly, there are so many cabs in this city and allegedly with assigned areas to patrol, that you shouldn't need to call one therefore you're not allowed. Which is absolute bullshit. Now, if you're in downtown this is absolutely true they are everywhere, for most of the time I've lived here (minus the year in the ghetto) I've lived on top of Penn Station, where there are cabs lined up around two blocks all day long so getting one is easy. Anywhere else in the city, you usually only see cabs if they're taking someone else by. If there are actually cabs assigned to specific areas (and I don't really believe there are cabs just circling around places like Coppin Heights, Cherry Hill, the nastier parts of Pigtown; when we were living in West Baltimore we hardly ever saw cabs, and sometimes had a hard time finding someone willing to drive us out there, we say Payson st. they say get out) it must be only one or two and your chances of getting one that's actually empty are just about nothing
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I pretty much agree. My new phone came with an option for the internet, and I was pretty clear with the woman that I didn't want it, but the first month, the bill came with a charge for the internet connection, and I had to call and complain and get it cancelled and whatnot. I really don't wish I had internet I could carry around with me all day. I don't understand why so many people think these things are absolutely essential allthetime.
I only have a cell phone and not a land line because I don't want to pay for both, and cell phones are more convenient. I do like texting though, but not for conversations. More for things like, "Hey, sis, when are you getting home?"
I don't get it either. The idea that people can get a hold of me anytime is not fucking appealing, I have always valued my private time. I think I spend too much time on the internet as it is, but that's largely because I don't go out so much anymore, something that is apt to change very shortly. I'm very rarely thinking about the internet when I'm out and enjoying myself, I don't see what is on here that I absolutely must have access to constantly.
There are some people that text me when they're not certain if I'm awake and they don't want to wake me up, apparently not realizing that my phone admits an ear piercing shriek every time it gets a message that is just as apt to drag me out of sleep as the ringing does. I can live with it for, like, passing information that I need to be clear on and remember later. But for conversation? Yet another thing I don't understand the appeal of.
I hate people who text in movies and shows. Sometimes when I'm performing, I see people's faces lighting up in the audience because they are texting. It's so disrespectful, not only to me because I am a person performing for them and can see them, but also to EVERYONE else in the audience who is distracted by that little glowing square. It takes everyone else out of the world created by the movie/show, which messes up that experience that they paid for. Stabbity.
Have you ever been tempted to stop dancing and tell them all they have one minute to put those damn things away before I walk off stage and you wasted your money? Its obnoxious enough at a movie, but at a live performance, where the person you came to see has a clear view that you find twitter so much more enthralling than her hard work and effort...I really do not understand how people can be both so inconsiderate and so oblivious as to what they are doing.
I really think there should be laws now about cell phone use in publicEven where there are though, they are very rarely enforced. The only place I've seen it myself was on Amtrak's quiet car, where they really mean no cell phones and will bitch you out if they catch you on one (since they warn you about it at literally every stop and there are signs about it everywhere, yet every trip people try it anyway). Everywhere else, there might be signs but no one cares. In the movie theaters (and oh gods, I've seen people that brag about how they twitter there opinions of a movie while they're watching it, like this is okay - no, its fucking not!) that would be easy to enforce if they wanted to, the phone lights up your fucking face very easy for an usher to find you and make you leave. In the library in Wayland that I used to go to every week for online access, there was a sign at eye level right on the front door about no cell phone use, but people get and receive calls all the time and no one makes a peep
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Finally! Someone with a brain! I bought the Motorola Motofone F3. Know why? Because I want a phone that's just a phone. It doesn't have a camera or go online, though it can text a bit if you wanted to do that. I don't want to have to spend several hundred dollars for a screen reader to make it talk so that I can text (which costs money) or go online (more money) or any of the other nonsense that they put in phones today. Even if everything talked or if I wasn't lazy and just torrented the software I wouldn't like it. I have a laptop for all of that. The only thing that I'll admit that I've found for a phone that would be absolutely incredible is the KNFB Reader, a piece of software that turns the phone's camera into a talking ocr scanner. So basically, I could go into a restaurant and read the menus or read the boxes of food in the grocery store. There's another software, that can be used with the first, that's a talking gps. But when you add the cost of the phone (it'll only work with the N82 and another cheaper but still
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And the thing is, that $2,000 phone will last you...what? Maybe a year, maybe two, before it becomes outdated, before you're forced to buy the latest (and probably much more expensive) model. That's the other thing I really hate about technology, its not even a long term investment since things become obsolete so damn quickly.
Also, a lot of what you mention up there could very easily classify as necessity, at least in my mind. Its extras that are really making certain things in your life easier, and if you did spend the extra cash on it I wouldn't bat an eye. Most people out there are paying that much money so they're able to twitter to the world that they're taking a dump in Denny's like right now lololololo!!! Oh yeah, that's so something people can't live without. *eye roll*
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We all lived just fine before this stuffExactly. Why is it such a big deal to have to wait until you get home to make phone calls or get online? What are you doing that is so important it can't wait? I still remember when it was different and we all got along just fine (maybe even better, depending on who you ask ( ... )
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My phone is actually a pay-as-you-go deal, I load it up now and then and then never worry about it because it takes so long to go through my allotted minutes, since I only use it for those occasional things. I have Vonage for my land line, and it's great - cheap for unlimited calls, and they don't sell your phone number to telemarketers like Qwest obviously does.
My theory is that people these days don't really believe they exist unless someone else confirms it for them. They don't enjoy experiencing things unless someone else validates them. So that's why they need the constant texts, phone calls, FB updates, etc.
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I only have a cell phone and not a land line because I don't want to pay for both, and cell phones are more convenient. I do like texting though, but not for conversations. More for things like, "Hey, sis, when are you getting home?"
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There are some people that text me when they're not certain if I'm awake and they don't want to wake me up, apparently not realizing that my phone admits an ear piercing shriek every time it gets a message that is just as apt to drag me out of sleep as the ringing does. I can live with it for, like, passing information that I need to be clear on and remember later. But for conversation? Yet another thing I don't understand the appeal of.
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Also, a lot of what you mention up there could very easily classify as necessity, at least in my mind. Its extras that are really making certain things in your life easier, and if you did spend the extra cash on it I wouldn't bat an eye. Most people out there are paying that much money so they're able to twitter to the world that they're taking a dump in Denny's like right now lololololo!!! Oh yeah, that's so something people can't live without. *eye roll*
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