One year and counting without a cellphone.
 

I retired on the last day of May last year and at that point turned in my work issued cellphone.

I haven’t had a personal cellphone in probably over 15 years as I was able to use the work one for infrequent calls.

My job was a Facility Manager for a city of around 40,000 people. I was responsible for the Buildings and operating systems of Police, Fire, City Hall, Maintenance building and a Nature Center. Which meant I could get a phone call at all hours of the day and night, some of them crucial, but most minor stuff that could have been handled by an email that I could take care of at a better time.

So as you could imagine, a ringing phone was not something I looked forward to.

I don’t have any kids or spouse that need to get a hold of me right away.

I do have a landline so people can call me and I can call when I need to.

I haven’t really missed having the ability to call at anytime and like not spending the money.

Anyone else here that doesn’t have a cellphone?

Wow, impressive, and congrats on many levels!

No, I have a cell phone and I can't imagine life without it now. I can put it down and not use it at times (not addicted, don't freak out if I'm not connected), but I do like it.

I have a cell phone I make calls on once or twice a month and receive calls on once every few months. It's my wife's old iPhone 7. She had to get a new one a couple of years ago because the iPhone 7 was too old to communicate with her car. I had a flip phone before that. We have a land line but don't know for how much longer. We're rural and AT&T wants to get rid of the land lines, probably because of maintenance. The thing is if the power goes off, the land line stays on and is our only way of making calls out, since we have to use wifi for the cell phones.

I too use a hand me down i7+. I could get by fine with one of those 100 dollar/year phones. But since I have unlimited everything due to my wife's needs and plan, I'll call long distance to a friend and talk for a half hour.

I got my wife a Tracfone flip phone. It is pay as you go and we pay about $24 for 3 months of service & 120 minutes plus texts - it sits in her purse and she uses it about 5 times a month but she has it if she is out and needs to reach me. She has thousands of minutes saved because she makes so few calls.

For $8 a month it may be worth having even if you never use it. A cell phone can come in handy if your landline goes down (especially if you need 9-1-1).

Before we downsized and sold our old home, I insisted that we keep a land line. We had it stripped down to as cheap as possible, and didn't normally use it, but when a storm hit, it was nice to have as a backup to cell phones. We haven't had a land line for almost 10 years now (will hit 10 years the end of Aug). Fortunately, dead cell service is pretty rare these days, but I'm sure it'll happen at some point.

Iv never had one and neither has any members of my family. Plus I run a small engine repair business out of my house. Dont know what im missing I guess.

Impressive!
I don’t think I could get by without a cell phone. I use it as an image magnifier, a note taker, a camera, and a memory aid. Sometimes I use it to communicate.

I may go this route as my EFI install isn’t dialed in and if my testing runs out in the middle of nowhere go wrong, I would be able to get AAA to me.

For me, it would be useful to call someone in an emergency while out driving.

About 15 years ago, I had a personal and (2) work cell phones. That was insane. I dropped the personal cell and one of the work phones - it was a Blackberry that I truly loved. A great business phone: email, text and calls. I never turned it off: it was a company phone, and I was essentially owned. The expectation was you answer the phone within an hour of the call. I worked for a global company. For the longest time, I would look at my phone in the wee hours of the morning.

Things changed and as the business climate changes. If there were layoffs or headcount reductions, I would lose my phone and everything in it. So, I got a personal phone, a basic android and moved everything off the work phone. I don't have a land line. I retired last November - I don't miss the calls all hours of the day/night. I have a fixed plan that is $55/month. I use it for more than just phone, text and email. These things are very powerful almost as good as my laptop. I like hands free calling when I'm driving. I also like face timing my family and I can see my granddaughters.

I'm impressed you don't have a cell phone.

Belated congrats on your retirement, Rutager! Those people were damn lucky to have someone like you keeping an eye out on those facilities!

And also for getting a year under your belt without the need for a cell phone. Very impressive and relatable by many, including myself.

I use email mostly to communicate as it seems to be more efficient.

I do have a flip/cell phone for certain occasions but there are days that go by without any use, so it's by no means something I depend on daily.

Comes in handy for emergencies though - such as when I drive someone unfamiliar to pick up a motorcycle and need to verify directions as I get closer.

Mom is in assisted living here too so that's the number "they" have to reach me, if necessary.

I only pay around $20 per month and the phone is small enough to slip into a pocket so I'm OK with having it. This is through Tracfone.

Congrats again! :)

I find this amazing in this day and age to be without a smartphone!

Not for being able to make a phone call necessarily, but for navigation and general information. I just spent a week in LA, can't imagine navigating the city without a phone, or getting help with places I may want to eat at or attractions I may want to see on the fly.

It happened I did need to make a few calls while out of town. I was in the middle of setting up my Medicare supplemental insurance, thought I had it all squared away but an issue came up. It would not have waited for a couple weeks till I got home. Not sure where I would have made those calls conveniently without a iPhone.

I love checking out but I love the convenience and ability to get help and support quickly on the fly a LOT more.

I do have a TomTom for directions and I seldom travel out of town. Don’t get me wrong, I can see the utility in a cell phone, but just don’t want to spend the money on something that I don’t really need.

Thanks Baz,

If it gets much colder in MN next winter, Moose and I are moving in with you!

I get it and respect it....! Now retired, I LOVE not having to be a slave to a cell phone. I will say this, I'm on a Visible 25 bucks a month plan, so the cost is really low for the convenience you get. YMMV

Best

Strve. Our problem is we live in an area that doesn't get a cell signal, so a land line is important. We depend on wifi to use our cell phones from home, & if the power goes out, we're without a signal. I can fire up the generator and have power, but I like to just use that intermittently to power up the freezer, fridge, etc. in case fuel might become a problem

The other plus of a landline, is that you can place them in areas that you might get injured, like in the garage or wood shop and it will always be there even if you left your cell phone somewhere else.

Hats off, I'm jealous. I was one of the last hold outs in the ' 90s when cell phones were a new thing "I'll never have a phone in my truck" ha, look at me now. As a contractor you're out of business pretty quick without a cell

I have 2 cell phones. The one I use as a phone is an iPhone XR. The other one is an old 5s that I use as a utility tool, not connected to the cell system. I use it around the shop mostly.
I take sequential photos when I'm taking something apart to help me remember how it goes back together.

When I couldn't get in a position to see the model number on my mower engine. I stuck the 5s down between the engine and the frame a took pictures of it (it took a lot of tries to get a useful photo). At the NAPA store I just showed him the phone picture and told him I needed filters.

A couple of days ago I was mixing fungicide for the orchard. Left my glasses upstairs and couldn't read the mixing directions, but the phone was on the workbench. I took a photo of the mixing ratio, expand it, and I could read it.

It has WiFi and I can use it as a radio.

I can tell it to take voice notes to remind me of something.

I use it as an alarm clock and a timer when I'm out in the field or in the shop.

I think even if I didn't have cell service I would keep a cell phone around. They are just too handy to live without.

When we first retired and moved here we had very poor cell reception in our house so we got a land line. Several years ago they put up a new tower (mono-pine…that they argued about for a long time…nobody wanted it near their home) and then reception was fine. Now the land line (my wife insists we keep it as a backup) is 90% robo calls even though we’re on the “no call” list.

When they first started becoming popular, I resisted getting a phone.... Now many years later, I can't imagine not having one. It has replaced needing a watch, a camera, a video camera, a calculator, a home computer, flashlights, magnifying glass, a level, a sound meter, newspapers, paper maps, GPS in car boat and airplane, encyclopedias, dictionaries, want-ads, trips to the bank, snail mail, land line etc.

My 30 something kids text us all the time, I keep in touch with groups of old friends on Signal and WhatsApp. I use google maps almost daily. I order and track parts on-line at least weekly. Of course it also is used at a phone.

Not having one now would be difficult for me.

I don't think we could do all that my wife and I do without ours but there's something to be said about a simplified life. Congratulations on your freedom from omni-connection! Sounds like you are enjoying life better than most without one.

You aren’t missing anything! Being always reachable isn’t a good thing in my book.

Couldn't be without it. In fact, it's in a case that also holds credit-cards, DL, ins cards and cash, so always in a pocket or within reach. I ride motorcycles and as such, it's always zipped in a jacket pocket when riding. I'm always amazed that people actually mount their cell phones on the handlebar of the bike to use the GPS. In the event of an accident, the last place you want your phone is attached to your bike 100 yards away, especially if you're injured.

When wife or kids are traveling, they can share their live map so we can check their progress while en route, and the list goes on.

For online banking, shopping, GPS, weather, stock market, news, etc., it's indispensable. Haven't had a land line in probably 20 years.

I’m waiting for someone to chime in that they gave up computers and the internet…

Maybe this is what Tabs did… who knows? :confused:

How many are reading this on their cell phone right now?

👋🏽

Me

That's a whole different kettle of fish. Our cells have Internet at the house, as a matter of fact, our Internet at the house (used for Netflix/streaming and my working from home) is via T-mobile Home Internet. If it wasn't for that, our only other option would be satellite (we'd be on starlink). We are in the middle of nowhere, but are lucky that we are close enough to an Interstate that we have service.

I have a real love/hate relationship with my smart phone. Most of the time I absolutely abhor the damn thing, but I do recognize its utility. My recent darn near 4,600 mile jaunt in a 52 year old 911 track car was made immeasurably more relaxing with the knowledge that it was in my glove box, ready to call for help should worse come to worse. Yes, I made similar journeys long before there were cell phones, but I did wind up knocking on more than one farmhouse door, or sitting next to a broken down machine (usually a motorcycle) with my thumb out. That might have been more "adventurous", but I was a lot younger then as well. These days I can do with a bit less of that kind of "adventure".

Around the house, it pretty much serves as an erstwhile "wall phone". It stays in one room, I don't haul it around with me. If I'm in the garage tinkering, or at my loading bench, it's upstairs in the kitchen. I'll check it when I go upstairs for lunch or something. When I'm driving it's in the glovebox, riding it's tucked away inside my jacket.

I do not use it to navigate. Nor do I use it to pay for anything (I have no financial information nor access on it). I rarely use it to take pictures, I have a nice digital camera for that. I rarely access the internet on it, finding it more difficult to avoid all of the pop up ads on it than on my desktop computer. I don't use it to download menus at restaurants, preferring paper, and almost never scan any sort of QR code with it. I prefer to avoid all of the invasive little gremlins that now seem to come with scanning them.

In other words, I really don't take advantage of all of its capabilities. Oh well. If it were not for its texting functionality, I would be happy with an old nine pin flip phone.

I almost always have my cell in my back pocket (except when I'm sitting down) partially for that reason. If I go out in the yard (almost 6 acres), I take my cell. I'd hate to have some issue, an accident with a chainsaw or something else, that made it hard for me to get back to the house and not have my cell. On the plus side, I've occasionally seen interesting stuff that I was able to photograph and share with the family afterwards.

Exactly. I never had a pager, and I held out on the cell phone thing for years. I also hold on to my cells for years (4-7 depending).

We are showing our age here guys.

I'm the other way around. I'm one year and counting WITH a cellphone.

I've had a dumb phone but wasn't really in the habit of carrying it around with me. Here in New Zealand it's getting harder to have a land line, so I gave up and got a smartphone. Haha, much to everyone's annoyance I still don't carry it around.

Yep, I keep my old 6S charged on the work bench. Battery life is less than an hour but I'm not putting 70 bucks in it. (last I checked. Probably 100 now)

I spent over 30 years in the security industry on call 24/7/365.

At times I had multiple phones due to my own, my employer and a critical customer.

Before that multiple pagers.

When I retired I decided no communications for me anymore. No customers, no employee and no longer on the road.

I cut my ties in 2009 and only in 2020 had to sign up with a plan for the wifes new cell. There on my nightstand is the poor lonely phone all by itself only to be charged occasionally.

Plenty of time to keep busy and growing up with no cell phone I survived it than why not now.

We do keep a landline with a OOMA system due to 2 homes and OOMA carried in between and automatically switched to wifes cell while on the road.

The days of a ringing phone for someone else's panic in way behind me.

Savor the silence.

Sawyer

Amen, couldn’t have said it better!

I like land lines so much better, on so many levels.
They are real.

He is reachable. He has a land line.

What he is missing is awesome YouTube vids, Instagram and Tik Tok art that he can piss hours away on.

Here is a world class example: (skip back half)

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