ps Just so you know, I'm not banging on just you munchie. The whole notion of being everywhere and connected at all times, while feeling free to move about with no cost or price to pay, the illusion of choice, that's what I'm on about.
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ps Just so you know, I'm not banging on just you munchie. The whole notion of being everywhere and connected at all times, while feeling free to move about with no cost or price to pay, the illusion of choice, that's what I'm on about.
:) we posted at the same time.Quote:
Originally Posted by oldmunchkin
Yes, I "get it". It puts you in limbo la-la-land, constantly. Having a cell phone gives you the idea that you can be in two places at once. It gives others the impression they're not alone, when they really are. Then it becomes the norm, the expectation, and I'm saying it's riddled with myth and falsehoods.
But it is a choice, not an illusion. There is a power button, and the phone can be shut off at any time if I want it off.
Then there is the little detail of my reaction to my pills at times. There are times I get so dizzy I actually fall down. Now, if I am out walking, or in the tub, or whatever, and fall where no one is around, then the phone is invaluable. What? You would rather I fell and laid there with a broken leg or something, for hours waiting for someone to realize I hadn't been seen/heard from for all that time? My phone is never more than a foot away from me at any time for this reason. At least that way I could get some help if I needed it!
I've told you that for years. Yet you say it's kept ON "in case you are needed".Quote:
Originally Posted by oldmunchkin
If you have those kinds of medical problems, a cell phone won't help as much as you'd like to think. Anyone can slip on the ice or fall in the bathtub and be unconscious.Quote:
Then there is the little detail of my reaction to my pills at times. There are times I get so dizzy I actually fall down. Now, if I am out walking, or in the tub, or whatever, and fall where no one is around, then the phone is invaluable. What? You would rather I fell and laid there with a broken leg or something, for hours waiting for someone to realize I hadn't been seen/heard from for all that time? My phone is never more than a foot away from me at any time for this reason. At least that way I could get some help if I needed it!
What's amazing is that folks in east bum fuck managed all sorts of weather, illnesses, and emergencies....long before the invention of the cell phone. But now they can call 911 when their burger from the drive-up window is made wrong.
Up until recently, The Thing needed to be able to get hold of me from where ever he was at. Now I'm done with him! :D BUT, I still have an elderly Mother who has medical issues that might make it necessary to get hold of me immediately!Quote:
Originally Posted by GGT
Maybe you don't believe me, but I feel a hell of a lot more secure having it with me! Maybe that is an illusion, hell I dunno, but it makes me have peace of mind!Quote:
If you have those kinds of medical problems, a cell phone won't help as much as you'd like to think. Anyone can slip on the ice or fall in the bathtub and be unconscious.
What's amazing is that folks in east bum fuck managed all sorts of weather, illnesses, and emergencies....long before the invention of the cell phone. But now they can call 911 when their burger from the drive-up window is made wrong.
Yes, we survived for a long time without cell phones. BUT, think about all the stories about people getting trapped or injured or lost and are able to be rescued because they had a cell phone and were able to call for help!
Personally, I think people who call 911 for bullshit reasons should be charged with false reporting or emergency line abuse or some such thing. 911, and other emergency numbers, are there for just that...emergencies! Tying up the line because you got a chicken sandwich instead of a hamburger could mean life or death to someone else!
So, let me recap; you want a basic phone so you get a Samsung Omnia. And you think it's free because you don't understand the subsidizing of phones.
Really well thought out choices.
I DO understand the comfort the phone gives you. We've talked about this before. I'd rather you have some real peace tho, and not a false sense of protection (either by thinking you can save your mom, or someone can save you--with their phone).
Letting people know you are alone and should be checked on, physically, goes a longer way than having a tool you may not be able to use.
Phones shouldn't be substitutes for counting on neighbors. That's the gist. Hope that makes sense.
edit after reading Hazir's post: relying on real people in proximity is free. Well, there may be some price to pay in pride, but foolishness is also free.
Oh, but I think that in an urban society a cell phone is almost essential. The alternative is a highly regulated life with fixed agendas, that's something I certainly wouldn't want to go back to. Also, an experience of my youngest sister showed how useful having a phone at hand anywhere can be. She never carried her GSM either, which she came to regret when her horse threw her off in a forest and she broke her under jaw.
What I am going on about is the ill-informed choices people make. Buying phones they don't really want and not even knowing what its real price is, as opposed to the price on the price-tag.
Still trying to figure out where you are thinking the phone was free? The Friend paid for it! It actually cost a bit extra since I wasn't due for an upgrade just yet. As to the model, I asked them to send me whatever basically simple phone that was on sale right now, since I knew it was going to cost extra.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hazir
I don't see where it's a false sense of peace of mind at all. I don't think it will "save" anyone literally, but I do know I can get hold of help for myself if I need it! I also know, if something happens to Mom, The Kid will need to get hold of me as soon as he possibly can. I do NOT want to miss out on spending a last little bit of time with her, or telling her I love her one more time, simply because no one can find me to let me know what is going on!Quote:
Originally Posted by GGT
See, that's the point tho...I don't need to be "checked on" as such. I just need to know, if I need help, I have a phone within reach. I don't substitute my phone for neighbors or friends or family. It just adds to the ability to keep in contact with those people.
Maybe neither of you really quite get it. I DO rely on real people. At this moment, I have to rely on them a hell of a lot more than I really want to, but that's my life right now. If it wasn't for real people, real friends, I wouldn't have things as good as I do. Unless I am sick, I make it a point to come into contact with someone every day. It might be the librarians or the clerk at the grocery store, or the bartender, or just going to a friend's house for a couple hours, but I make sure I have personal interaction with someone every day. See, it's always been easy for me to kind of be a hermit, so I force myself to see people every day, just so I don't sit here, all alone, and brood and cry and drink and smoke and ignore the rest of the world!
Then you don't need a fancy phone that you can't figure out, now do you?
And you don't need to complain about the "costs" since it was a gift from your "Friend" or who ever pays for the service.
Hell no I don't need this fancy of a phone. That's what I am bitching about. All I wanted was a phone to make and receive calls, send and receive text and pic messages, take pics and video, have an alarm function, and a calendar function. I got something that looks like it should be on the space station. :eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by GGT
I haven't complained about the costs. I KNOW who is paying for the phone and the service. If it wasn't for The Friend, I would just be SOL, in a lot of ways, not just with the phone.
So you're complaining about your free stuff that's filled with too much data, instead of complaining to your Friend about his poor choices?
Jesus! Just ask him to pay the 30 bucks per month for a simple no-contract phone instead of some fancy package that neither of you can fucking figure out!
Why is this so hard to understand?
Actually you are starting to make less and less sense; so you actually had him pay extra (I would be surprised if he paid a lump sum that actually covers the price of the phone) for a smart phone that you don't know how to handle? FYI a Samsung Omnia doesn't count as a basic phone under any circumstances.Quote:
Originally Posted by oldmunchkin
If that's the case what the two of you did moved from the category 'untoughtfull' to the category 'stupid' just now.
There are quite a few reasons we didn't go with the no-contract phones. I don't really feel like listing them right now, but they are valid reasons.Quote:
Originally Posted by GGT
Once more...with feeling!! I asked Verizon to send me whatever basic phone they were running a special on. What they sent was the Omnia. Have no fear, I will get it figured out, sooner-or-later! It will just take me a while, and a lot of frustration! As I said before, I have called Samsung and asked them to send me an actual instruction manual, instead of just the computer disc. For some reason, I seem to understand things better if I read them in a book. Besides which, this way I can run the disc and have the book in my hand and refer to both while figuring it all out.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hazir