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Life without a cell phone
- pinaceae 13y ago? His troubles could be solved by not sharing his private number to people he does not want him calling. Like his professional contacts. Just switch numbers and don't share the new one. He mentions he can focus on a conversation rather than play on his cell - but owns an iPad. Not sure what his issue really is. Life without a cell phone is awesom until you need it. Like when you have an emergency and need to call for help. Mobile phones have saved countless of lives. Be it to call for help for yourself or for someone else in need - without leaving them alone to find a goddam phone. Next up: Life without arms.
- nbrogi 13y agoYou're probably right. I looked into having a private number, but from other people's experience your number always gets shared. You might give it to 1 person for some reason and you end up with everyone knowing your number. Also, if someone asks for your number how can you say you don't want to give it to him?
- bkurtz13 13y agoYou could try whitelisting only numbers that are in your contact list.
- nbrogi 13y agoYep tried that, too :-) I've long had this prob. with getting interrupted by calls. Again, people would get mad that I ignored them, or that I wasn't available. Somehow, since you don't have a cell phone they don't get offended or complain (I'm talking about clients in particular).
- avenger123 13y ago"Again, people would get mad that I ignored them, or that I wasn't available." I find this interesting.. I don't have an expectation that someone is always going to answer their phone... that's what voicemail is for. I also don't give the expectation that I will answer my phone on every ring the first time.
- nbrogi 13y agoMy clients were much worse I guess... Do you need a web app? :-)
- 6d0debc071 13y agoIt's not personal if you don't have a cell, whereas if you do it makes it look like a decision not to talk to them in particular. That's one of the reasons my voicemail makes excuse for not picking up. "Hi, I'm probably in a meeting or driving at the moment. If you call back between X and Y, then I should be available, or, if you prefer, you can send a text or email. Else, leave a message after the beep. Thanks! ^_^"
- nbrogi 13y agoYep, totally agree :-)
- dankoss 13y agoCouldn't you solve this problem by simply turning off your cellphone? Or using Do Not Disturb or Airplane mode?
- hnriot 13y agoOf course, the whole post is pointless and borderline luddite. I don't get calls every ten minutes, and don't play Ruzzle at dinner. Getting rid of his cell phone sounds like a substitute for not having any common sense or self control.
- nbrogi 13y agoYeah, that's just my personal experience. Being a web developer, I used to get a lot of calls from clients, so much that it got to be hard to work for me.
- 5555624 13y agoThat's the problem -- you use it for work. Get a phone and only give the number to close friends, if that. For clients, you coud use a Google Voice number which is not forwarded directly and just sends you e-mail alerts.
- brador 13y agoWhen an emergency does happen you're gonna wish you had one. Car accident, wife going into labor, you'll need it. Other option is to keep two phones, one personal, one private.
- keithpeter 13y ago"So, I told everybody that I didn’t have a cell phone anymore, and to send me an email instead." Being able to send an email from a phone is common now, so I imagine this might be a possible 'free ride'.
- grecy 13y agoI'm a 31 y/o Software Engineer, and I have not had a cell phone since ~2004. It's improved my work/life balance immensely, as my work can't call/email me whenever they like. The only time it's annoying is (as the article says) when you're trying to meet up with friends and are not immediately and conveniently contactable. Being that most people spend ~$60/mo on a plan, I've saved right on $6000 - which certainly helped finance my 2 year drive from Alaska to Argentina, and other periods of not working full time to do as I please. It's crazy when I'm out with friends and they all turn into zombies looking through their smartphones, for up to 10 minutes at a time. I don't ever want to have a cell phone again.
- nbrogi 13y agoAll right... So I'm not 100% crazy! :-) I forget to mention the money! My plan was about 50€, too... After a year, I regularly talk to my wife and other people via email or Messages. Both are a lot less invasive than your cell phone ringing.
- ohwp 13y agoI own a cell phone but never use it for the same reasons as you. Never missed it, never will. This month a video went viral about the subject: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OINa46HeWg8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OINa46HeWg8 (I Forgot My Phone). So true.
- runjake 13y agoFamily and close friends get my cell number. Everyone else gets my Google Voice number. If I don't want to be bothered by unimportant calls, I launch the Google Voice app and enable do not disturb. If I permanently want certain numbers, or unknown numbers to go straight to voicemail permanently, I set it up. I don't hear a ring. I get a push notification if they leave a voicemail. If Google Voice isn't your cup of tea and you have an iPhone, use iOS's Do Not Disturb feature. You can enable it either manually via a switch, or on a time period basis. You can set exceptions for no one, or for your favorites, or for specific contact groups. The funny thing is, I willfully refrain from using my smartphone in public or when in groups of whenever possible. I'm commonly the only parent at a park that is playing with their kids and doesn't have their face buried in their smartphones doing god knows what. This is causing me to question whether a smartphone plan is worth it as I use so little data when out and about. So I'm pondering going with some cheapo prepaid options. Edit: Check out the below reply from ericdykstra for a similar solution for Android.
- nbrogi 13y agoOMG! I remember looking into Google Voice and it was so awesome, but at the time it wasn't available in Italy. Is it available everywhere now?
- Amadou 13y agoIf it is not, I am sure there is a paid VOIP provider that has call screening like gvoice and will forward to your phone as needed. Try searching for "voip call screening" I just did and got a bunch of hits.
- nbrogi 13y agoYep, actually at the beginning I thought I'd do that. They call it "virtual office" here, there are reps pretending to be your secretary, who pick up and then send you an email with the transcript. Then, email worked so surprisingly well that I just dropped the idea.
- ericdykstra 13y ago
- IanDrake 13y agoLife without a hammer... I used to have a hammer and beat myself on the head with it. Now I don't have a hammer and everything is better. Amazing.
- nbrogi 13y agoLOL
- Lagged2Death 13y agoWhen all you have is a cell phone, every problem looks like a phone call.
- tekalon 13y agoOne thing I've been looking into doing is using Talkatone or other such app on my tablets and Google voice on my computer to handle voice calls. This way I only need to have one of my devices around rather than how I usually keep my phone and tablet nearby. As mentioned by others, the cost savings would be great. I already don't receive a lot of calls (most of my family contacts through IM or texts). The only thing I would hate is to lose the number I have through my carrier. It's easy to remember, and I'm already used to it. Wait, I can port it over. Nevermind.
- drivers99 13y agoHe didn't say if he also didn't have a land line, but it was implied by referring people to email and/or skype (although skype has an option to let you pay to have a phone number, doesn't it). One problem I can think of is sites that rely on sending a code to a phone as a second form of authentication, like banks.
- Newky 13y agoSomething which is becoming more and more common in messaging type systems is a level above this. Now on most common instant messaging platforms, a person can tell whether you actually read the message. For instance in google hangouts, their icon shows where they last read in the conversation. This puts an added level of responsibility as you can no longer use any excuses that you didn't see it etc
- tene 13y agoMy standing policy for phones is that I expect people to manage their own availability, and respect that I do the same. If I don't want to answer a call, I don't answer it the first time they call; if it's really an emergency, they'll leave a message or keep calling back. I only give out my Google Voice number, so I get transcriptions of voicemail, and I can silence groups of people, or only permit certain groups of people to call me at a given time. If I want to talk to someone, I call them, and trust that they won't answer if they don't want to talk. It's absurd for me to be expected to work out whether it's a good time for a call or not, as I don't know their schedule, just like it would be absurd for me to expect anyone else to know my schedule and try to make decisions for me on whether I want to be called or not. I've had several friends who have quite a bit of anxiety about making and receiving phone calls, religiously answering every call and stressing about whether or not it's acceptable to call others. I might be a bit idealistic, but this seems like the simplest solution to me, with the people who have the most information making local decisions for themselves.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- jacquesm 13y agoI don't think this is as easy as it was in the age before cell phones became common. The infrastructure that dealt with people on the move trying to communicate (phone booths, equipped with directories) has diminished substantially. People are not going to borrow you their phone to make calls when you need to and when you break a leg in the basement at night you'll wish you had one no matter where the nearest functioning phone booth is located. No phone, or wired phone is a world that has largely gone by. I've stayed away from smartphones so far because of 2 things: - battery life - security I like to be able to use my phone when I really need it (as a phone) and feature phones still beat smartphones handily in this department. Second big issue, security is maybe a bit paranoid but I can't imagine that carrying what amounts to a full fledged linux machine in my pocket without even so much as a basic insight in what is going on under the hood or a sysadmin to go with it is responsible use of the data on the phone. It helps that I know my way around and that in the car I have a tom-tom for navigation. Going without a cell phone is foregoing convenience without any upside. You could get all of the upside by simply buying a phone and keeping it charged and in your pocket, and in many countries even a 'dead' phone will allow you to call the emergency number. (I assume you can get one without a sim card from a friend for free).
- setitimer 13y agoThe thing that kills me is people who reply to emails with a phone call. I actually quit putting my cell number in my email signature because of this. If I wanted to talk to you I would call you; if I emailed you for something then I expect a reply via email.
- 0X1A 13y agoFor the past 3 years I haven't had a cell phone, that is up until about 6 months ago when a friend gave me a Samsung Mesmerize. I don't have a line and only use Google Voice to receive texts, and I make calls through Talkatone.
- vinceguidry 13y agoI got rid of my cell phone 3 years ago and just use Google Voice. It was awesome. People would bitch about how I wasn't available, but whatever. They can leave a voice mail and I'll get back to them on my schedule, not theirs. Nobody calls me. It's great. They can, but they don't. I have everyone trained. Emails or texts. I had a prepaid for awhile that I'd use only to make outgoing calls from. Now I have an iPhone that I mostly use for listening to music, no data plan. People can call me now, but they don't. GVoice is enough of a pain in the ass to them that they avoid it. I tell people I wish Apple would let me integrate it but secretly I wish they never do.
- giantSlayer 13y agoAm I that lame? I still have a cellphone.