How much longer can I go without a mobile phone?

[My_Teenage_Self]

I'm not against them on principle, they're a wonderful invention.

I'm on call for work a *lot* of the time, so I'm always carrying my work mobile, and have done so for many years. Consequently I've never bothered having a personal phone. However, no Apps of any kind can be installed on our work mobiles, and I'm the guy that can't pay for parking, order pizza, look at menus in restaurants, pay for things on my phone, transfer cash payments etc. etc.

I got to wondering, how long before it's impossible to function without a mobile phone/apps?

I had to leave a restaurant on a work trip a while ago as their menu was on their app, and they didn't have any other way to show me the menu, and parking anywhere is becoming more of a lottery.

Weird times.

 

[squirrelchaser]

I'm similar . I don't work or drive so it's less of an issue . I'm of the opinion that it's not really for our convenience but theirs .

 

[tintin40]

I don't have one. Have no one to phone. If I need to phone I use works. Any other communication is by e-mail. Or they can write to me using a stamp. The wife uses face some thing via my iPad to contact.

 

[d8mok]

I use phone for literally everything now apart from answering calls.

 

[Suprachrgd82]

Get one, use lots of apps, but limit the apps you have to sign up for with personal data. Sign up for the necessities such as banking, parking and work. The apps and tools (traffic, measuring, calculators, conversions, healthcare, work, text, taking notes, scheduling, reminders, looking up pricing, etc) that you don’t have to sign up for are fantastic to have available on a moment’s notice.

 

[dbwheels]

It's funny that our phones have become so "necessary" for modern life, but some of us rarely use them as phones. If my phone rings, my brain automatically thinks, "Oh, piss OFF!"

 

[greencat]

I believe in China much of life is conducted via the mobile phone ie practically all transactions whether with retailers, service providers or the authorities. We are probably less than ten years away from the same in the UK. Essentially, we are waiting for the elderly who are incapable of adapting to die out. Note, I didn't say old - my dad is in his 80s and has no problem using current tech. Some will continue to resist, but certain aspects of life will get harder and harder for them.

 

[legrandefromage]

You can't write much on a stamp

I watch people 'pay' using their phones, it's a bit too reliant on tech for my liking

 

[novocaine]

12 months.

I'm against a lot of innovation for the sake of it, but the phone has transitioned from that now (ok, some are still driving along that route, but for most part it's settled down to actually useful features rather than gimmicks). Only recently have I started using my phone to pay for stuff. I can't use my bank without a phone now, 2 stage authentication to make it harder for people to steal my pittance. seems like a useful thing for me. I have the best camera in the world, because the best camera is the one you have with you. I'm able to quickly draw up a route and know how far it is or plan a route back that's the shortest possible when I bonk. I can send my location to my wife to come and get me and I don't need to hunt out a now extinct phone booth (I have only ever been picked up from a ride twice, both times due to getting multiple flats thanks to farmers leaving hedge cutting on the road). these don't seem like gimmicks to me, they seem like really useful things.

They have and will continue to make life easier for people as the world progresses, then the next big invention will come along and change the world again. it's a cycle and has been since man invented the wheel. eventually everybody will use it, be it by choice (the likes of us who follow eventually) or by fact that we aren't here anymore.
We are past "early adopter" phase with mobile phones now, all the crap has been weeded out, the Mayors run over and the horses scared across there fields, no is the time to join the tribe again.

I always have a backup though. because only a fool would trust 1 device and rely souly on tech to get them home.

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

My wife used to say when I went for a ride "Would you like to take my phone?" I would usually answer "F**k no". Then I was told I was having one by my wife. Had one for two years, they are a boil on humanity's a**ehole, I literally hate them. I begrudgingly accept it has it's uses. My wife and son say banking on a phone/online is easy. No. Pay with a phone. No. Everyone in a pub or restaurant LOOK UP ffs life is occuring and you are missing it.