A coworker recently joked, “1999 is calling–it wants its cell phone back.” Except it’s no joke. I actually have the same kind of cell phone–pay-per-minute–that I had in 1999. For $20 every three months, I purchase 120 minutes and 90 days of service on my cell phone. Break that down and you’ve got $6.67 and 40 minutes of cell phone yapping per month. Besides the price, here’s why I’ve still got my ’90s cell phone:
1. When it rings, it’s usually the wrong number. I have so few minutes on my phone, that I only use it for emergencies (remember your parents’ first car phones?). I give the number out to the school, babysitter and handyman.
2. Work is work and home is home. I do a lot of my work at home, which means that it’s easy to blur the lines. But I’m not a full time employee, so I try not to work like one. I regularly check my email on my computer, but I don’t want to be also working from my phone when I’m with my kids.
3. A smart phone is significantly more interesting than my children. Ever hear a 6-yr.-old describe every detail of a story she read in school? Now, I mean every detail. By the time my kids are done telling a story, I forgot what they were talking about. If I had a smartphone in those moments, there’s no way I could keep my eyes off of it.
4. And speaking of kids… The only entertainment on my phone is Tetrus, and none of my kids are any good at it. They’ll play Tetrus for a few minutes once in a while, and then move on to read a book.
One day, I’m sure I’ll break down and buy the latest gadget, either by necessity or by choice. And I already know it will have its advantages. I won’t have to carry around a camera to take photos. And when I’m lost, I won’t have to call my husband for directions (no GPS either). I’ll have Pandora in my pocket, access to my blog, and I’ll be able to Facebook my every waking thought. For now, though, I’m still enjoying the one asset a smartphone impedes: time.
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