I don’t do cell phone.
If you call me on my cell phone, I probably won’t answer. Usually the thing is on its charger way over in my bedroom, although I do carry it when driving or walking alone.
Physicians’ offices insist on using it to remind me of appointments, no matter how often I say “LANDLINE” to them. I have hearing loss (yes, I wear powerful hearing aids) and a tremor. Can’t hear on the dang cell phone, and can’t punch those teeny buttons reliably.
(Hearing on the phone: kids mumble and speak too fast, right?)
A friend, who is too old to qualify as a Boomer, *only* uses her cell phone, not her landline. She even uses it to look up things on the internet, then complains about how it “never tells me what I want to know.” I’ve tried looking up things on my cell phone, and she’s right. My computer works better for questions, because I can see my last question and modify it as needed.
Googling “what happens if you don’t use your cell phone” found many posts about how anxious people felt without it, then how wonderful they felt after they hadn’t used their cell phone for a few weeks.
“When I checked my screen time a few days ago, I was shocked to see that I was using my phone for an astonishing average of 8–10 hours a day, this is more than a 40 hour workweek. No wonder I felt like shit!”
OR
“The first 24 felt anxious. I was having trouble adjusting without a phone because I got bored doing nothing but walking and drawing. The next 24 hours I started feeling really anxious about how bored I was that I started distracting myself with all sorts of activities.”
On the other hand, I do spend too much time reading Twitter and Facebook on my computer. Us humans will do anything to keep from, well, being human.
Judith Pratt lives in Ithaca, NY
