How much do you really need your mobile telephone?

The £2000 'phone bill thread, and the one about the largest bill had me thinking; just how essential are mobile 'phones to everyone? I mean, really essential, not what people think they need!

Personally, I could probably live without mine, and it costs me £10 a month or less. I'll only use it if I need to contact someone, never just for chats/frivolous reasons. And even then, there are many times when it's just convenient to 'phone someone, rather than absolutely essential. A lot of my communication with people is done by email, Skype or landline. Which don't cost me on top of my broadbaynd bill. Sod paying for stuff I don't need.

On my travels, the majority of calls I overhear seem to be 'oh, hi darling, just leaving the station now, be there in 5 minutes' type thing, or teenagers gossiping about who's going out with/disrespecting who, etc. Generally useless conversations tbh, made just for the sake of using a mobile. The few 'business' calls I overhear seem to often involve some flustered sod trying to make the call as sort as possible. Made me wonder how much of people's free time they use up with work related stuff, on time they probably aren't getting paid for.

Then of course there's the annoying thing of being sat in a pub/restaurant/walking round a museum gallery and someone's 'phone is going off. Can't stand people nattering away, when the person/people they are physically with are sitting there ignored. Very rude really. Tell whoever it is to ring you back, it's invariably not an emergency.

ETC.

So, be honest; how much do you really need your mobile? Like, really really need it? I suspect the truth is that most of us don't, really. We just like to think we do…

It's good to talk…

(Is aware of the irony of the ultimate unnecessaryness of this post)

Of course, very few of us if any actually need one. Same as our bikes or pretty much anything else.

I don't need mine, but I'm sure my boss would disagree!

A lot of people seem to be under the impression that we all think we desperately need our phones and can't do without them. To be honest, I just find it useful, as I suspect do the majority of people

Generally useless conversations tbh, made just for the sake of using a mobile

I don't think you quite understand. People are talking to each other to stay in touch, to reach out and to feel close to others. This is not a bad thing.

It may not serve any immediate utility, but that doesn't mean it's worthless.

Do you not think it's massively ironic making negative comments about useless conversations *ON STW* ?

The funniest thing is seeing someone with a flat battery suddenly in complete despair. What do they DO?
There are people in the office here who check their phones every few seconds (usually the ones with iPhones etc), *constantly* on Facebook/Twitter, it's almost like a nervous tic with some.

I am one of the three folk left in the UK without one. It actually becomes hard to live without one because the mobile phone has changed the way folk organise their social lives and meeting folk. You are now expected to have one.

I don't have one other than [2] mandatory work phones
I switch them off when I'm not working

so yeah – I happily live without them

EDIT – I do actually own an iPhone that my daughter bought me last year but I haven't used it for months

I barely need mine as a phone, although it is the only phone I use. Its more used for GPS, mapping, web. Its cheap enough not to be an issue. Just a handy tool.

"Need"? Not all that much. It's pretty useful though.

Business wise, it makes organisation and dealing with last minute changes much easier. It also means I can sit in a coffee bar in the centre of town and get soem work done in a far more convivial location than the office. It's also bloody handy for the other things it can do.

It's also a useful tool for biking – both myself and the missus tend to ride solo, as we get very different things from riding, and it's a handy (although potentially fallible) way to keep in touch and make sure there haven't been any prangs/deal with them once they've happened.

The company pays my bill (£25 ish per month), so it's a bit of a no brainer for me!

Completely agree about the

Generally useless conversations tbh, made just for the sake of using a mobile

Right gets on my t!ts being forced to listen to some people yakking on for hours about nothing. Say what you need to say. Hang up. Done.

As I'm a wee bit older than most of the people on here, I remember a time without cell phones. So could possibly go without one.
Mine is very old and hardly used, so pay and go suits fine.
Although I think some friends can't get used to the fact that I work from home and am easily contacted via a landline.

JonEdwards – Member
Right gets on my t!ts being forced to listen to some people yakking on for hours about nothing. Say what you need to say. Hang up. Done.

You must be a right laugh when out with your mates… 😉

probably, nobody ever phones me other than the wife to tell me what to remember to not forget in Asda or my mate telling me to phone him back on a landline only because he forgot my house number

edit: I do have friend by the way 😥

I probably could do without a phone, but since getting an iPhone I would find it harder dealing with no ipod/sat nav/gps/email etc all in one device.

I don't really need underpants, but I choose to use them.
Or:
Cutlery,
Crockery,
Furniture,
etc,….

Having a phone is useful, not essential, and allows me to be or get in touch with my friends whenever I need to, plus all the usual smartphone gubbins, mapping, location, e-mails, web browsing, calender stuff, music, train times, mp3 downloads, and so on.

I don't think it's Luddite not to have one, but I do think those without are missing a bit of technological progress. Bit like a computer; you could live quite happily without one, but it does add a certain something to life.

You must be a right laugh when out with your mates…

Out. Mates. What on earth are you on about???

i have a works phone and a personal phone. In the evening or at the weekends the works phone is switched off and my personal one is optional.

I have one that I don't need / rarely use, and am not interested in at all.

My daughter has one that she appears to need, but I think that she may well learn to live without it.

1. Don't worry Boba Fatt the only person that ever phones me is my mum. 😉

2. I don't need a mobile but I'd be pretty hard to contact without one, plus I don't really like talking on the phone so text messages are superb in my book!

3. I think 1. stems from 2. 🙄

Enables agencies to contact me whenever they have a possible job for me. Need that.

Helped to get an ambulance to my wife when she needed it. Needed that, pray to God never to need that again.

Music / videos / camera – don't need them but great to have since they are in the phone anyway.

I "need" mine to stave off the despair and loneliness of my futile, empty and solitary existence. Whenever the wave of despair threatens to over-whelm me I whip out my phone and text 20 people who don't care about me. The thrilling beeping sound as someone, somewhere acknowledges my existence for a second is usually enough to pull me back from the verge of tears.

Other than that, no, I could live without it fine.

I could do perfectly well without it 99% of the time.

But…………..

It's sometimes nice to hear the missus' voice if we're doing seperate things, we'll end up calling each other just to say "hi, what're you upto, when'll you be home, I'm running late, etc

I'm on £10 a month, 100 minutes and unlimited text, need more minutes though, not being a teenager I'm bored of texts (although would rather text than leave voicemail).

I "need" mine to stave off the despair and loneliness of my futile, empty and solitary existence. Whenever the wave of despair threatens to over-whelm me I whip out my phone and text 20 people who don't care about me. The thrilling beeping sound as someone, somewhere acknowledges my existence for a second is usually enough to pull me back from the verge of tears.

That is why I text game shows. It's worth the £1.50 in fees just to hear that reassuring tone go off. Its just enough to keep the tendrils of loneliness from wafting under the door.

Never fuggin' won nowt tho.

I use my mobile for info call, paying bills, surfing the net, AGPS, track my rides, keep in touch my family, price matching when shopping tight git app-me, using push email, Skype to keep in touch with pals in Australia, India and France.

USB/Bluetooth storage device, Remote control for tv, calculator, diary, 8mp calendar, clock, alarm, music/video player, WiFi and radio.

Useful snappit camera when someone drove into my car door, looked at me and sped off when I was parked-the repair would have been new door/paint/labour-the phone paid for itself.

And you know when you're late for a ride meet-text or a call the bloke and say where the **** are ye?

Job emails pushed to your mobile etc.

So mobiles are great except I don't want to hear gangsta music when a person walks around with music blazing from their mobile!

I was expected to have one when starting a job in 1998 but no-one made me and I didn't get one until 2001 when it became obvious it really made life difficult – I work at client sites and colleagues/clients need to contact me.

I used to have a PAYG one which I rarely used but then got a company one and just use that as I rarely make calls – a few texts/short calls usually. It looks to me now that PAYG top-ups expire after a month that wasn't the case with my deal a few years ago so you pretty much have to spend £10 a month I think?

Lol at bigdummy, I do sometimes think that that is exactly the case with some people. Could I live without mine? Possibly, but, while I hardly use the phone app (;0)), with ageing parents it's more and more important to be contactable, and it was crucial a year ago June while I was out at a cycling event with Sustrans and my brother was involved in an almost fatal motorbike accident. Generally, though, it's having OS mapping available at my fingertips, voice-guided satnav, (Co-Pilot), a pretty decent camera, web browsing, a good music player, ebook reader, weather app, Internet radio, plus Wiki, conversion app…
Being able to keep in touch with various friends and relatives via Facebook, which I could never be arsed with when I had to fire up my laptop, has been a really useful aspect of my phone that I wouldn't have predicted. Essential? Hmm, probably not. Could I live without it? Probably, if I had to. Would I want to? Absolutely not, it's become such a supremely useful day-to-tool.

I quite like not being contactable

Right yer bastards…

I "need" mine to stave off the despair and loneliness of my futile, empty and solitary existence. Whenever the wave of despair threatens to over-whelm me I whip out my phone and text 20 people who don't care about me. The thrilling beeping sound as someone, somewhere acknowledges my existence for a second is usually enough to pull me back from the verge of tears.

Ah, some honesty.

But…

It also means I can sit in a coffee bar in the centre of town and get soem work done in a far more convivial location than the office.

Please don't. I want a bit of peace and to be able to relax over my cuppa. I don't want some twit next to me yakking on for hours about nothing. I'm not interested in what you do for a living, unless I know you, and even then probably not. Keep yer work stuff for the office, and give the rest of us a break please. That's why we're in the cafe. I don't want to come and drink my cuppa in your office, do I? No.

I am very tempted to steal people's 'phones when they're not looking, seeing as how they leave them out on the table to ring loudly and puss everyone else off. I'm embarrassed if mine goes off if I'm in company, and will go outside to take the call. People who talk loudly for ages in pubs, cafes etc should be shot.

Cutlery,
Crockery,
Furniture,

I don't feel the need to take these things everywhere with me.

They're a useful tool, as is a hammer. Don't run your lives around them.

Do you not think it's massively ironic making negative comments about useless conversations *ON STW* ?

I have already mentioned this irony…

I dont need one at all, the one feature i would miss however is the calendar. That of course can be replaced wit ha diary though.

And teh comment about not neediing bikes….your joking right haha and all that 😯 I couldnt live without my bikes. I would actually get really depressed and also rather fat.

I couldnt live without my bikes. I would actually get really depressed and also rather fat.

Here is Wisdom. Please take note.

Could not work without it now and the last 25 years, BUT its a tool for business and thats it to the point that I am still using a Nokia 6310i (on the 4th one) still the best phone out there for battery life, signal and durability working in a hostile enviroment,I dont need all that other crap that is on phone these days, I just need to TX/RX calls and TxT.

sat on a campsite in somerset drinking strong cider with no phone signal!

At least they have wifi so I can keep in touch with the STW'ers 😆

Life is more than great 😆

Lying in bed, cuddling sleeping wife, just checking in on STW/email/facebook/news before the Port shuts down my brain for the night.

Wouldn't be doing so without my phone. I leave you to judge the utility of that. 😀

Shagging lame excuse for a thread if you ask me.

I love my phone. I love being able to send quick texts to friends to keep in touch. I love that when I'm out with the dog, if anyone tried to attack me, despite that she would bite them, I could ring the police (even tho they probably wouldn't come), I love that I can get on the internet, take photos (badly), I love that if my Auntie who is very old now gets sick I can be contacted immediately, it's my alarm clock, it's got Nokia maps in it, I can play games at the launderette when I am SO BORED of waiting for my washing, if I fall off my bike and really hurt myself (again) I can ring for an ambulance, it plays music and is a radio, I use the calculator and, yes, I agree with BigDummy, when that little beep goes off, for a moment, I actually feel important 🙂

Yes but how much do you actually need it?

I think I need it quite a lot actually. I feel safer with it, although I accept that may just be an illusion. I haven't got a landline by the way, so it's like asking someone with a landline if they need their phone. I must go to bed now, I don't know what I am doing up so late, I will be really tired in the morning!

I've never owned a mobile phone.

Had one since they just left "portable"

To me they are just "work" & bad news.

Got one, find it handy. But It's nearly 7 years old and when the battery goes flat it's apparently more of a problem to everyone else than me… I find it handy for organising biking events and letting people know I'll be late to places (I'm useless at being timely) but on the odd occasion I lose/leave it somewhere it has nearly zero effect on my life.

I think I need it

Sic.

How do you internet without a landline? Mobile broadbaynd? Or do you just mean you don't have a 'phone handset on your home line?

Live in NZ now and for some reason it doesn't seem as nessesary as when I lived in the uk, maybe coz I'm older and have fewer friends (or rather most of my friends are stll in the UK so don't tend to need to call them from a Mobile. Culture is a bit different here too so not as much ring people to suss out which pub they're in….