

Reasons to Kill Your Telephone - vkdelta
http://www.sebastianmarshall.com/7-reasons-to-get-rid-of-your-telephone

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Psyonic
A bit over-dramatic coming from Sebastian. Some decent points, but too
hyperbolic to take seriously. Also, some of them only apply to his unique
situation (4/5).

Many of the other points can be dealt with through other means. Tell idiot
cousin not to call you. Block his number if necessary. Demand more from
people. It is possible to put your foot down and demand a set time even if you
have a phone, and that will demonstrate balls just as well. In fact, I'd say
it does a better job of demonstrating that. Extremism is often the easy way
out compared to setting real boundaries and sticking to them.

~~~
jimfl
Not having a phone is extremism? That's rich! It is, however, a common
attitude. The fact that I don't have a phone is generally met with
incredulity.

Sometimes I like to trick co-workers by connecting to my VoIP phone with a SIP
client on my laptop and calling from my desk extension. "You're still at
work!?"

I mostly notice not having a phone when I meet people after work for
cocktails, because I arrive on time, and sit alone in the venue, getting a
head start.

~~~
Mz
If you are in the US, living without a car is also "extremist":
<http://www.novemberwest.com/blog/?p=288>

~~~
greenyoda
Depends on which part of the US. In New York City, there are lots of people
who don't own cars, and it's not considered strange at all. They take subways
or buses to work, and rent a car on the occasional weekends when they want to
get out of the city. Even if you can afford it, it's hard to justify owning a
car and paying for the parking space if you're only going to use the car a few
days a year. (Some NYC residents don't even have driver's licenses.)

~~~
Mz
Outside of a handful of large cities (like NYC, SF and maybe a few others),
not owning a car is generally viewed as something only poor people do. It's
not viewed as a personal choice in most parts of the US. And most parts of the
US have pretty bad public transit. (In a former life, I wanted to be an urban
planner or some such. American urban planners, who talk a lot about transit
oriented design and pedestrian friendly design, often have long commutes and
I've seen them ridicule carless-by-choice folks in their midst.)

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prodigal_erik
> Sorry dude, I don’t have a phone. Are we on for 7 or not?

And yet people make plans with him? I would expect "Never mind, we'll try some
other night when I don't have anything else going on" and then a call to
almost anyone less _intentionally difficult_ to deal with.

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hrktb
Very good points.

Now, telling your friend in Beijing that he doesn't have to wait on a bench
for the rest of his life because you're stuck in an elevator feels like a good
enough reason to have a phone.

~~~
stretchwithme
Then there was the guy stuck in a NYC elevator for 72 hours without his
cellphone.

------
wladimir
I fully agree to his points. Phones are an annoying distraction most of the
time. Though they can be useful for emergencies, that's quickly overused. I
much prefer other methods of communication.

------
bergie
I had my phone stolen in the early stages of a three week conference tour in
Europe. Since I was anyway on the road, I decided to wait until getting back
to Finland before getting a new handset.

That was a very relaxed couple of weeks. And surprisingly, people were willing
to agree on time and place to meet, and kept to those because I didn't have a
phone. Much less hassle and _calendar tennis_ this way.

Unfortunately the realities of running a business forced me to get a phone
after the trip.

------
stretchwithme
There's nothing like trying to skype to 911 when you can't find wifi.

~~~
Psyonic
Modern convenience is for suckers. I think I'm going to take this all the way
and get rid of email as well. The Amish had it right after all. If you can't
work with that, you're a flake!

~~~
stretchwithme
thank you for your final post

~~~
Psyonic
I only said I was giving up email. I love how I'm being attacked for my
sarcasm while Sebastian gets to say you'll end up dead in a ditch if you have
a phone with nary a peep. C'est la vie.

------
Mz
I'm not much of a phone person these days (which is funny because pre-
internet, my phone was practically surgically attached to my ear). I got rid
of the land line because it was costing big bucks to almost never use it. I
researched the cheapest phone option I could find. I got a prepay cell phone
that I keep for calling my mom (who is not on the internet) and for dealing
with other calls I occasionally need to make. At first, I carried it with me.
These days, it mostly sits on the counter at home and is so ignored that I
periodically pick it up only to find the battery is so low that I need to
charge it before I can use it. And, really, I frequently just plan to make
calls from the free phones available in the phone room at work.

Of course, I also don't have much of a social life at the moment so I don't
deal with most of the scenarios referenced here (like meeting people at a
predetermined time).

