I had a meeting the other day and somehow we got onto the topic of cellphones. The fellow had just finished telling me about his Blackberry woes (the details of which escape me at the moment) and that’s when I told him that I didn’t own a cellphone. He looked at me strangely.
“But what if there was an emergency?” he asked.
“Like what? What’s going to happen around here?” I said, looking around the busy coffeeshop.
Truth is, I already have a phone plan. It’s the cheapest phone plan there is. It only costs 50 cents a call. There are no monthly fees or long-term contracts. There is no fine print I need to worry about, no need to worry about changing technologies. I don’t have to worry about losing my phone or accidently dropping it or throwing it in the laundry. It’s totally commitment free, either I use it, or I don’t, but I’m never charged for not using it. Would you like to sign up for my phone plan?
It’s called a pay phone and it’s a wonderful invention. Some of you may have even heard of it! ;)
I rarely need to phone home, but when I do there is always a pay phone nearby. I was surprised that local calls are 50 cents, up from a quarter. When did that happen?
We used to have a cellphone. We got one when I was pregnant with Emma. I was afraid of my water breaking at the grocery store. (Yes, really.) Or in the parking lot at the mall. But you know what, that never actually happened. I went into labour in my own home, and as for my water breaking, it happened under medical supervision at the hospital.
After Emma was born we used the cellphone for completely mundane and rather unnecessary purposes. I’d call Mark if I was bored while walking home from somewhere. Or I’d call him while he was at the grocery store to remind him to pick up bread. Or he’d call me while I was shopping to see when I was coming home. Stupid stuff, really, none of which was worth the paltry pay-as-you-go plan we had going at the time. The “time” we bought for the phone expired over and over again. Having the phone was a pain in the butt. Besides, do I always need to be so reachable all the time?
There is only one instance in which I could possibly envision owning a phone, and that’s when I’m driving over longer distances in rural Ontario i.e. en route to my mother’s place. But, given the growing prevalence of technologies such as On-Star, I wonder if our next car will have the emergency contact feature built right into it. Hmm.
Back to the fellow’s comment, what if there was an emergency? If this is the only reason I should have a phone, well, I’m not buying it. There isn’t likely to be an emergency. I don’t want to live in fear of SOMETHING HAPPENING. Marketers would certainly like you to believe it … why else would there be kiddie-sized cellphones on the market?
