Entertainment For Lively Minds
Named and shamed: Who DOESN'T OWN A MOBILE PHONE?
Posted by chabsy on 31 March 2010 - 1:52am.
Well, me for one. I bought one for me missus ages ago and she gave me it when "they" upgraded it but I lost it on me first trip to London. iPod yes, will take it anywhere, but cannot get on with mobiles, think they are the Devil's work. Mind you, if someone gave me an iPhone.. actually, no I still hate the fact people can contact me when I don't want to be contacted. Switch it off you say? No. Hoy it in the canal.
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Me!
don't need one, work from home.
Does this count?
Got bought, against my wishes, a very cheap one with mercifully no features or accessories.
Spoken on it about twice.
Only use it to text my girlfriend when I'll be back from football/rugby matches.
'Barnet 1-1. Outside 'The Bell', Back 6.15.'
Of moderate use when one wants a cup of tea ready on arrival.
Consider the invention a downgrade from a baby's dummy.
Advancement on civilization......zilch.
Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran and Woody Guthrie didn't have one.
Madonna has.
Consider this:
I'm guessing that Madonna has access to the internet and an e-mail account; she has her groceries delivered to the door, including strawberries even when they're out of season; she has a satellite TV and a blue-ray disc player; she has a car that only needs servicing every 12,000 miles and doesn't break down regularly or need a crank shaft to get it going; neither she nor her kids are at any significant risk from rickets, polio or a host of other nasty diseases; she quite possibly even has a house with central heating and an indoor toilet.
It doesn't prove anything of course, except that the world's moved on since 1980. Whether or not any of us consider it progress and whether or not we choose to access all of it is entirely up to the individual.
Yep John lennon
never had any use for global communication technology.
Congratulations
I only know one person who doesn't have one. Society is increasingly constructed around the fact that everyone owns one; and, once you do have one, it's pretty difficult to go back.
Quite right
Never catch on.
I have one...
...but I travel mostly by motorcycle, so can't be contacted anyway. This is one of the many great things about being a motorcyclist.
.
Oh, hold on.....a great advancement for crime.
Perfect as a 'look out' tool.
Easily nicked, easily sold on.
Millions of docile people walking around talking into them and therefore a populous totally unaware of their surroundings.
And Madonna has one.
so, are you saying
if Lennon had one, his solo material wouldn't be half as shite, in fact it might be as good as Madonna's best stuff? It'd have to be a bloody good 'phone.
Never had one
Missed not having one about twice in my life. I have eavesdropped on hundreds of one-sided conversations on trains etc and not one sounded like any sort of emergency that needed to be attended to there and then, "She's on the roof? She's going to jump? I'm on my way."
The joke's on me!
How's this for timing? A few minutes ago I went to make a phone call and discovered the line was dead. It's properly plugged in. To make a complaint to get it fixed I have to ring up the phone company. That would be easily done IF I HAD A MOBILE PHONE! Stupid karma!
acoustic hoods
I look forward to the next development which will be acoustic hoods that spring out and cover the users' heads. I used to wrongly think that when these were on public telephones it was so that the user would not be disturbed!
Acoustic Hoods
Great name for a band.
Bought one for Emergencies
Four years ago,pay as you go.Put twenty quids worth of credit on it,still have sixteen quids worth left.
What were...
...the four quids' worth of emergencies?
Doesn't unused pay as you go credit 'expire'
after a period of time?
I think so
Most phone companies will "retire" your SIM card if it isn't used, and you'll need to buy a new one.
Do they employ
Bladerunners to do this?
And that explains the four quid.
Making pointless calls mostly to one of my Nieces to stop them cutting me off!Only acquired the damn thing so if an emergency pertaining to my Mum,who I care for,should occur whilst I am out on my once weekly shopping trip for provisions,my Wife who is also mostly housebound would be able to contact me.O.K.Anything else you'd care to know.
"Anything else you'd care to know."
What do you think of the new LP by Dumpy's Rusty Nuts?
Not as amusing as It would like to think it is..
.
Oh, i don't Know
I think its pretty funny.
Never Had One...
...can't use it at work but work nights when everyone is sleeping anyway, Drive to work so can't use it, have a home phone number so don't need one then. If I'm out I'm doing stuff or with people I'm conversing with face to face so would switch it off anyway so as not to be interupted.
Hate phones
Have one, purely so my wife can contact me when I'm commuting. Otherwise I'd not need it.
But even she knows I might not answer.
(Get this straight all you cold callers, my phone is for my convenience not yours. Just because I have one does not mean I have to answer the phone. If it is urgent that I respond leave a message and I will get back to you in my own good time. )
I find that people assume (my mother in law is hugely guilty of this) that you being contactable is for their benefit. And if you don't answer people get funny with you. If I want to talk to somebody I will, if I don't then I won't. How difficult is that to understand?
had a few
never really used them.don't now see the point so don't have one, having said that would love an iphone but have you seen price ?
You don't see the point of a mobile phone
but you'd like a (particular) mobile phone? *raises eyebrow*
An iPod Touch is, essentially, an 'iPhone Without The Phone' - isn't that perhaps what you want?
Mobile phones? Bah!
When I were a lad, we had to get up before we went to bed, send off a pidgeon with a scrawled message tied to its foot and then wait a week to see the smoke signals from over yonder for a reply. Kids today etc etc...
I've never had one
I've never had one. My wife does, but hardly ever uses it. It primarily comes into play when we're stuck in traffic jams and late for something. I'm glad my daughter's got one though so I can keep track of her when she's gadding about.
But as SimonL says the phone is a very intrusive thing. E-mail is a much better way of keeping in touch with people because people do it as and when it suits them.
You wonder how necessary most phone calls are. Hunter Davies claims - and I don't think he'd lie about it - that when he had an office job at the Sunday Times, from the early 60s to the mid-70s, his wife, the novelist Margaret Forster who worked from home, never once phoned him at work and nor did he phone her. During this period the couple reared three children and went through the usual catalogue of crises, humdrum day-to-day dramas etc. that family life entails. Anything that cropped up could wait. As most things can.
Are most human communications "necessary"
I'm envious of technological refusniks they must all sit around like Aristotle in his academy wrapped in debate on the nature of existence every word weighed and measured before being uttered freed from talking with their friends thousands of poems get written paintings created, they are in reality the only hope for the resolution of the world's problems. God bless every single one of you (
If I were
a 'technical refusenick' would I be on this website? I think not.
but have you sorted out how many
angels can sit on the head of a pin ?
Mmm..
I'll have to E-mail the Vatican for that one. I'll let you know.
Are most human communications "necessary"
Necessary was probably the wrong word. I just find e-mail more useful. Probably have about a dozen e-mail exchanges a day that would once have been phone calls but are dealt with more conveniently for everyone involved on e-mail. I also find e-mail correspondence a much better way of keeping in touch with friends/family, many of whom in my case live in a different part of the country, than the phone. And, as chabsy points out, people who post on chatty websites are hardly "technological refuseniks" or people who shun "human communication". Modern technology's a great thing, but I pick and choose which bits I use, as everybody does.
True enough
Just get hacked off with the common media mantra that people can't see the point of day to day small talk and chat on mobiles etc. When human relations are made up of these small conversations, you're right email and in my case text are great ways of swapping simple information that doesn't need verbal communication. I value this sort of communications for maintaining relations with my family etc the sort of brief conversations you might have in the street if we all still lived in the same village not earth shattering but part of what maintains our web of friendship.
Text
I do sometimes wonder about getting a mobile because there's no doubt there are times when they're useful; but it's the texting that I think I'd do most. It's basically e-mail via phone, so you're not bugging people, or being bugged by them, when you're busy doing something more important. Like watching telly. They can be responded to as and when ...
It's great for address etc
I know you can have write them on bits of paper etc but i don't have a diary anymore (more technology) and so a text message with the details of a pub or a mates new house is in my pocket saves printing out emails (of course I can see my emails on my phone but text easier to pull up).
Why
do people get so worked up and so indignant about this sort of thing? There really is no moral high ground to take by not having a mobile type talking telephone, it doesn't make you a better person, to prove my point I bet Hitler never one.
I have one, but that doesn't define who I am, there are times when I've cursed it, times when I've been extremely glad to have had it.
Ditto TV, car, ipod, CD player, trainers, baseball cap, etc.
This wasn't
a call to arms Neil; merely that it seems not having a mobile these days is akin to calling yourself Pol Pot and hanging round the local infant school with a dirty raincoat and bottle-bottomed glasses. To whit; went for an interview for a job 2 weeks ago and after the usual questions about education, experience etc the guy says "And what's your mobile number? When I said I didn't have one he gave me the sort of look reserved for Peter Sutcliffe. Another interviewer said, "Well, it's no wonder you can't get a job." I have nothing against mobies themselves; good luck to you. I just lose the bastards. It's the attitude of people towards me when I say I haven't got one. I'll get me coat and go back to the leper colony now. Oh yes, and I smoke and drink an' all.
Not a pop at you Chabsy
And it's not me who has seen it as a call to arms, but if you believed all you read on this forum:
No one has a sound system made after 1975 (until you start a thread about buying a new system), no-one listens to mp3's (hence this site having a downloads shop), no-one owns or likes ipods (until DH starts a randomizer thread), no-one wears trainers or baseball caps unless they're playing baseball or running (never seen anyone wearing them at gigs).
Nailing my colours to the mast.
- I *only* ever listen to mp3s (LAME 320kbps ripped from a known source). I ditched my vinyl 15 years ago and ditched CDs 5 years ago.
- I heart my iPod and have one permanently in the car
- The only footwear I wear (apart from wellies and walking boots) is several pairs of Chuck Taylor Hi-Tops - the *original* trainers.
- My main listening amp and speakers is very much pre-1975 though :-)
I remember life in the 1950s - it was terrible. Give me modern conveniences any day.
I'm with you .... in principle anyway
If someone looks down their nose at you for not having a mobile phone then the problem (as you probably already know) is very much theirs. My wife doesn't like to give her number to just anybody that asks for it so she normally says she hasn't got one as it's the end of the discussion but I hadn't realised people might look at her strangely.
I have one, it's never switched off but most of the time it's on silent so it just vibrates in my pocket and I can decide if I want to answer it or not. I work on the principle that if I didn't have one then I couldn't be contacted. I used to take a similar attitude to my home phone when I lived on my own as well. If I wanted to watch a film on television without being interrupted then I put the answer machine on and switched the ringer off so I was effectively "out" and in the days before mobile phones, that was an acceptable condition.
I do have a mobile phone .... but
I don't know the number.
It's never switched on.
It lives in the car, just in case.
It's meant to be used when we go shopping, so we can find each other again, but it is (nearly) always left in the car.
I did use it to send a text once but it took hours and it changed nearly every other word so I've not done that again.
The strange symbol that has now appeared means (so the GLW says) that I have a voice message, but as nobody else knows my number it can't be important and anyway I don't know how to listen to it.
After years of no use, the battery seems to be a little unpredictable.
Yesterday, I thought I would watch the Lady Gaga Beyonce video but Youtube says I have to be registered as it is 'naughty', so I filled in the pages of forms but then it said it needed my mobile number. As I don't know it, I gave up. Don't suppose I've missed much. But then I don't think I've missed anything by never carrying a mobile phone either.
Named and shamed: Who DOESN'T USE A COMPUTER?
err..
Just loaded my phone with
the new word podcast off to meet a mate for lunch who's train's running late so he'll ring me to coordinate meeting up, will probably use the map function to navigate around or maybe take a picture with the 5mp camera or read a few pages of the paper online while a wait or I may not .
Sleep cycle
My phone can tell me how I've slept.
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/sleep-cycle-alarm-clock/id320606217?mt=8
Sleep App
was looking at that app.... does it work ?
Sleep App
I've used it three times. It could be lying to me through metaphorical teeth and I wouldn't know; but I like it. For 59p I wouldn't mind if I didn't!
Text is the new talk
I love the fact that I can communicate necessary info while avoiding having to talk to people. Human interaction being one thing that really gets on my nerves.
I'm what's known as...
...an "early adopter". Or a "gadget addict". Or a "prancing, gullible twat". Depending on your outlook.
I had one of the first iPhones. It was really good. Then I got an iPhone 3G which is literally, LITERALLY the best thing I've ever bought, of any kind, at all, ever. It will take something unprecedentedly amazing to ever make me buy another type of phone.
Not only that, I've had 4 iPods, 2 MacBooks, countless PCs before that, 2 SatNavs, and more mobile phones than you can count. Well, assuming you have difficulty counting to 15 or so. I have loved each and every gadget, and some have even been useful. I genuinely can't imagine life without an iPhone, let alone without a mobile phone of any kind. I use my landline about once a week though - it's close to useless, in practice.
It's a bit weird how some people seem to enjoy making value judgements, in both directions, on the subject of mod cons. Whether it's cars, TV, sat nav, mobiles, computers, internet connections - regardless, there's always someone who's prepared to say "waste of bloody time" and wax all puritanical, as if it's a virtue to despise innovation. And at the same time, there are always people who act like someone's just killed and eaten their firstborn when told "I don't have a phone". Both are eminently twatty: owning something or not owning something is a lifestyle choice, and has no moral status at all.
As the owner of four laptops, I'm with you
And while I think the iPhone is an AMAZING gadget - there are various apps that make my existance both better and easier on an almost daily basis - I do think it's a pretty lousy phone.
It does seem odd
that the worst thing about the iPhone is its telephoning abilities
They couldn't be that bad!
As an owner of an ipod touch, I would say that the telephoning abilities of an iPhone would have to be spectacularly bad if they were the worst thing about it. I like the interface but the inability of one application to use the data from another (which in turn makes synchronising several applications with "home" a real pain) is what makes me want either an Android phone or I may even wait for a new Windows mobile device.
How do you mean?
Such as? Interesting point, but I've not come across that problem. Example?
As I Understand it
Well, as far as I can tell, if you have a spreadsheet and you want to be able to open it with two apps you will need two copies of the spreadsheet on your phone. Each of those copies will have to be put on the phone by opening up the individual app and sychronising. It's not a very good example because it's pretty unlikely that once you've settled on your favourite that you would have more than one but it certainly made it a pain when I was trying various applications because it was to jump from one app to another and keep my data organised. I believe that it's a feature of the OS and there's not a lot that can be done about it. When I was using a Windows mobile device as a PDA I pushed one sync button and everything I wanted to sync moved over in one simple operation.
What I would like is the ability to write a script that opens up all the apps that need synchronising and do the synchronisation.
and, I gather, the iPad will use the same OS
thus making it a bit crap really. I'd love an iPad running proper OSX and software.
Will it be popular?
Something that made me laugh yesterday when I read yet another review of the ipad was that the built in browser doesn't have tabbed browsing!!! Is this what they mean by innovation? An instant on OSX with a touch screen like an iPhone seems like a great idea, if that's the next stage I'm keeping my cash in my wallet until it appears.
I assume this
restriction of multitasking is to save battery life one of the down sides of the iphone and ipads impressive slimness . Although my mates got a cover with extra built in battery to get round this but is twice the thickness doh!
I think it's more complicated than that.
I think it's because Apple know that market leader product that can be connected to the Internet is ripe for virus attacks so have mede sure that everything is completely compartmentalised. If that's so then I fully understand that as they have a somewhat enviable reputation to uphold when it comes to security but it doesn't stop it from being a pain. They've taken away a lot of functionality as an easy way to assuage their paranoia.
I reckon that, once the 'early adopters' have been screwed
then there'll be an iPad Pro with more memory, OSX and a £3-400 premium.
I don't think you can regard it as being "screwed",
and you're almost certainly right with your prediction (except the OSX bit). But this is what happens with early adopters of anything techy, and no-one is being forced to buy these things as soon as they come out are they? And it's a good thing they do buy them - If they didn't there wouldn't be the funds for any further development of such products. I remember a group of people on telly a couple of years back criticizing Apple and the iPod by saying that they rip off customers by keeping on bringing out new models that are better, smaller, with more capacity and features, and yet cheaper, as though that were a bad thing!! It's not like the stuff you've bought stops working when new gear comes out is it? I spent £1800 on a 32" LCD TV at the end of 2004 - and that was one of the lower-priced ones. Am I bitter with JVC? Of course not!
Apple have always exploited early adopters
who they know will buy version 1.0 of anything they release irrespective of the price. Version 1.0 of any significant Apple product is inevitably flawed in some fairly fundamental way; Version 2.0 is the one that is aimed at the mass market.
I was an early adopter of the original 128k Macintosh in 1984 - it was a beautiful machine but was it was seriously flawed - the single floppy disk made it unusable for many tasks (remember 20 changes of disk just to do a single copy?). The 512kb 'Fat Mac' from 1985 - with the optional second floppy - was the one to get.
I have an attic room full of beautiful version 1 Apple products that were a bit shonky when compared to the version 2 from 6 months later - the digital camera that could only hold 4 images anyone?
I think there's a difference between exploiting the willingness of brand devotees to buy 'version 1 products' and continuously improving the existing products. Whenever one buys a new computer or related device there's always a newer, faster, cheaper version around the corner.
Of course, I'll probably ordering an iPad on the day of UK release only to have to replace it 12 months later when the OSX model is released :-)
iPhone
I disagree about its downfall being its efficiency as a phone. It's a better size than most for comfortable conversation, and the clarity is fine. My only complaint is that if you like using it at anything like its full capacity - which is surely the point - then the battery won't even last a day. Ok, so I'll turn the wi-fi off, not watch video content and stay away from Google Maps and it'll last a lot longer. But why would I want to have a gadget like that and then not play with it?
A minor niggle. Once you get used to carrying a charger with you at all times, this worry becomes less significant and it goes back to being the most satisfying gadget that I've ever owned.
Ah well
I get lousy reception (no signal at home, although I can take the SIM out, put it in another phone and it's OK), some calls don't make it through, some texts take hours to arrive, and of course the battery life is a fraction as good as any other phone on the market. Even one of the "genius" staff at the Apple store told me, "oh yeah, the reception sucks".
But otherwise, I agree with the "satisfying gadget" bit.
Points well made
I've always felt myself to be a Luddite when it comes to mobile phones. I worked in IT for 2 large telcos in the past, one of them a service provider and one a retailer/reseller.
Then as now my interest in mobiles as gadgets or objects remains zero. I don't give a hoot about colour screens, megapixels, touch screen or anything about them. Partly coloured by the fact that the corporate entities behind them were nasty snake oil types and I generally loathed working there. So any marketing campaign launched externally was magnified ten-fold internally with posters and 'mission statements' plastered everywhere. Free Broadband, eh? Oh do fuck off. A Free laptop? No. You pay for it and then some in additional charges over time.
Anywaym I've tended to sneer at this gadget love partly due to the above but must now revise that opinion. As much as mobile phones leave me stone cold I will not be without one. Neither will I let my wife out of my sight without one. It's instantaneous contact anywhere at any time. Now that it's possible I insist on it
Also, what I'm doing now. Using broadband. I cannot imagine how I'd feel if it was denied to me. I use it to work, I use it to play, I use it to inform. Every day.
My iPod. I still cannot get over the fact that all of the music I truly love and enjoy can be with me anywhere at all times.
I don't love gadgets but I need what they provide. Is 'need' too strong a word? Perhaps. I would cope if they were taken away, of course I would. But it's unlikely that they will.
Ditch the "mobile"
I wonder how long it will be before the "mobile" bit of "mobile phone" slips out of usage. Now that most people have them, and use them more regularly than the "landline", the qualifying adjective is becoming pointless. In the same way nobody talks about a "wireless" radio, or a "pocket" calculator anymore, or even a "home" computer, presumably at some point the "mobile" bit will be ditched.
Every one of my friends in the US
now just uses the term 'cell' rather than cellphone and the term 'mobile' seems to be becoming prevalent over here.
How to stop Human Contact.
Become a Carer.Once you become unable to attend social gatherings i.e. the Pub,Gigs ect. or go out to work,you will find that all those good friends you have will stop calling you on your phone,will stop calling to see you,in effect will stop taking even the slightest notice of your existence.Try it sometime,It's a great test of friendship and it pays so well too! £55.00 per week!
Strange isn't it...
...how folk will happily look after your kids, but older people? Hope you get some respite in from time to time.
Thanks Richie.
It's good to know that not everyone is a egocentric,judgemental,self-regarding tosspot on here.Most of the Massive are really good company but I suppose in any group of Humans you get the odd wanker.Really not in the mood to put up with clever dickies today.
No worries,
Keep the faith, fella.
We're a diverse bunch, right enough.
One or two even have a sense of humour.
I don't have a house phone.
I find it far more convenient, and a lot easier to have a mobile, personally.
Land lines
I find myself getting quite cross when people ring the land line and nothing else. I hear the message days later, and can't help thinking that they can't have wanted to reach me that badly if they didn't try the mobile. How times change.
I have a very,very old Nokia
phone which my friends refer to as my "special needs phone".
I live in trepidation of my eldest daughter blanking me one day if I use it in the school grounds.
Don't Own A Mobile
And don't want one either.
If I'm not at home or work then you can't get hold of me.
I will not allow myself to walk round town or walk around supermarkets having a conversation which is probably not overly important.
(OK, I can see the value in an emergency situation)
One thing that really gets my goat is ignorant f***ers on mobile phones being served at tills, and just pointing at what they want and never making eye contact with the server (yes, it make me a very grumpy old/young/middle age (40?) man).
Years ago, if someone was walking around talking to themselves, we called them a nutter. Now they're likley to be having a conversation via Bluetooth (or whatever its called)
No Kidding
"One thing that really gets my goat is ignorant f***ers on mobile phones being served at tills, and just pointing at what they want and never making eye contact with the server (yes, it make me a very grumpy old/young/middle age (40?) man)."
That can bug me too, although most of them to be fair do acknowledge and show their gratitude with a nod of the head, or a whispered thank-you. But, it's the one's who act as though you're interfering with their conversation that annoy me more; I often try to make a point of waiting for that type of customer to stop texting/talking before I serve them but it's never easy, especially when there's a queue.
I did have the pleasure of serving a customer who rang their friend whilst we were in the middle of the transaction- can't remember what the emergency was though.
Another goat got
What does tend to annoy me is the fact that anyone using a mobile whilst walking along on a pavement tends to walk very slowly and gesture effusively with their arms.
So, admittedly only for a brief time, you find yourself walking behind them far slower than you would normally. As you move out to pass the selfish pedestrian your politely spoken 'excuse me please' goes unheard so YOU appear the impatient boor barging past and receive glares from the dawdling gobby twat that would melt granite.
My brother doesn't have one
He confused a group of young muggers in South London when he informed them of this. This gave him plenty of time to look at them during the experience. So he went to the Police. The muggers were caught and sent to prison.
Without the Mobile would we have "The Wire"
I rest my case.
I have a mobile phone
in the sense that it`s a phone and I carry it around. Ive had for 6 years, no 3g, no camera, no bells , no whistles. Ive left it on buses and taxis, dropped it in water and the dog has buried it in the back garden. Can`t seem to get rid of the bloody thing.