vulpes

Originally Posted by lil brown bat
The only reason I have one at all is that I got rid of my land line. It comes in handy once in a while, but I make or receive a call on it only a few times a week. I've never liked talking on the phone and I get my fill of that at work doing tech support.

lil brown bat

Yeah, I've wandered off into a bit of philosophizing. In an affluent society like ours, "need" is rarely the measuring stick, and also rarely understood: even the simplest-living of us have things that we don't strictly "need". We have a lot of options. Perhaps a better question than "do you need it?" (which, I think, misleads people into equating "really really really want" with "need"), would be, "does having it/using it really enhance your life?" For a lot of people -- and this is admittedly an outsider's judgment -- it seems like a cellphone doesn't enhance their lives; they chatter and chatter and chatter, and it's got next to nothing to do with real human communication. They're so used to be able to communicate from anywhere at any time that their planning skills have atrophied. They're so used to being able to call someone up while they're riding the subway that their ability to read a newspaper or a book or just sit quietly is pretty much gone. I understand people saying they want to be able to get in touch with their kids in an emergency, but we didn't have cellphones when I was a teenager, and people coped. For one thing, your parents were supposed to know where you were. So, is it really worth the resulting monkey-mind attention deficit behavior to be able to get hold of your kid RIGHT AWAY in the case of a hypothetical emergency? Your call...

evblazer

Parents in my workgroup really love to have their kids have cell phones they couldn't imagine being a parent without it. They feel it helps keep tabs on the kids and the kids can feel free to call with updates so no more excuses on when they changed their location from where they originally were going to be.

As far as myself my wife and I both have cell phones and they are all we have. We had a land line for a while but never used it so dropped it when we moved from CT to TX. She needs hers in the field and while on call and like most anyone in a job related to an IT field these days I'm always on call 24/7/365 so I need to keep my phone with me at all times.

Cell phones are very useful tools if used appropriately unfortunately like many modern conveniences they can be abused into becoming dangerous to yourself and anyone around you.

CliftonGK1

You mean, you actually advocate personal responsibility and quality parenting skills? Better be careful... Suggestions like that might get you on a government watchlist these days.

My parents always knew exactly where I was:

Parent(s) "You kids are making too much noise in here. Go outside and play."

bigbenaugust 

I confess, I have two. The "personal" one that splits a family plan with my wife's cell phone, and the "work" one that was issued to me when I took my current job (I work in IT, so the servers need to complain to me somehow while I'm out.).

I use the work one most of the time, because they pay for it and pay for me to carry it. Even then, other than answering pages, I use it only when necessary.

ItsJustMe

I dropped my mobile a few years back because I only used it a few minutes a month. I picked up a Virgin Mobile phone, pay-as-you-go, and I can keep it active for $5/month. Since my usage averages about 4 minutes a month, and I'm paying $5/month and get 18 cents a minute, I've got a lot of minutes banked up by now.

I picked it up the day after being over an hour late getting home one day and getting my wife quite worried (2 flats on the way home, bad rim strip)

banerjek

I have tmobile. Once you've spent $100, your minutes last a whole year. I use my phone quite a bit (practically all of it long distance and/or roaming) but I don't yak incessantly for about $100/yr which is barely $8/mo. Based on your usage, you could knock your costs down to about $2/mo

seeker333

Two articles on the crash referred to by OP. First one makes no mention of texting while driving.

Obviously any audio device or cellphone is highly distracting. I have recently twice almost hit a walker with an IPOD. She's walking along and suddenly starts crossing road without even looking up. I guess I've scared her shyteless twice now, but it was really her own fault. And she's a cop (drives like she walks too).

Articles below.
===================================================
Five Cheerleaders Killed in Crash
AP By BEN DOBBIN Associated Press Writer

FAIRPORT, N.Y. (AP) - June 27, 2007 - - They were giddy after a weekend of high school graduation parties, still reminiscing about their triumph at a national cheerleading contest, and were lining up a farewell summer of pool parties and sleep-overs before heading off to college.
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Five teens, on their way to a vacation home Tuesday night, were in a sport utility vehicle that had just passed a van on a two-lane highway when it swerved back into oncoming traffic and hit a tractor-trailer. All were killed in the fiery crash, which four friends traveling in another car witnessed.

"We cheerleaded together and we were all best friends," said Keisha Koneski, 18. "In our car, we could see the truck coming, and we all started screaming."

The tragedy in western New York's Finger Lakes region happened just five days after the teens graduated from Fairport High School, triggering an outpouring of emotion in this Erie Canal village of 6,000 near Rochester.

"It could be any five that were lost; we would grieve the same," said Debra Tandoi, a town official who works in the village's schools. "Our hearts just explode."

Killed were Bailey Goodman and Meredith McClure, both 17, and 18-year-olds Sara Monnat, Hannah Congdon and Katherine "Katie" Shirley. All five were cheerleaders on Fairport High's varsity team, but Shirley left the squad in her freshman year.

In March, the cheerleading team took first place in its category at the American Open National Cheer and Dance Championship in Orlando, Fla. McClure placed second in solo cheering in the 16-to-18-year-old bracket. The team also placed in several regional and state competitions this year.

Ontario County Sheriff Phil Povero said the driver of the SUV may have overcorrected after going too far to the right.

The SUV and the truck careered into a roadside fence next to a bed-and-breakfast outside the village of East Bloomfield and caught fire, shooting flames at least 20 feet into the air. The SUV ended up crushed and charred in a shallow ditch partially underneath the truck.

An overhanging maple tree was scorched, and blackened debris littered the road Wednesday morning. The crash knocked down a utility line and cut phone service in the western half of Ontario County. The truck driver, Dave Laverty, 50, was not injured.

"It's a community nightmare," school Principal Dave Paddock said. "Our hearts are broken. We love our kids and are crying."

Scores of students, teachers and parents, many of them hugging and weeping, gathered on a grassy hillside overlooking the school on Wednesday morning. A giant "'07" had been painted on the hill by senior pranksters two weeks ago.

The nine women were planning a sleep-over at a cottage along Keuka Lake owned by Bailey Goodman's parents, said Koneski, who befriended her when she moved to Fairport from a nearby suburb four years ago.

"She made me her best friend in eighth grade when I moved to Fairport High," Koneski said. "She helped me make friends and she was always there for me, no matter what. All of us have just been best friends since then.

"We took pictures of each other; we used to just hang out in other people's houses," she said. "Especially when it's warm, we always have pool parties and stuff and have all our friends over."

Goodman, who was driving the SUV, had been trying for a few minutes to pass a van that was going only about 40 mph, Koneski said. "When Bailey started passing, it looked like the van was speeding up because she was next to the van for a really long time," she said.

The cause of the crash remained under investigation, but Povero said no witnesses had given any indication the van sped up "to avoid being passed."

"We'll certainly take this into consideration and follow this up," he said. The van driver was interviewed, and no one was ticketed, police said.

Autopsies were being conducted, including routine tests for the presence of drugs or alcohol, Povero said.

====================================================

Cops Eye Role of Text Messages in Crash
Cheerleaders Killed in Fiery Head-On Collision
By BEN DOBBIN,
AP
Posted: 2007-07-15 08:11:48
Filed Under: Nation
(July 14) - Text messages were sent and received on a 17-year-old driver's cell phone moments before the sport utility vehicle slammed head-on into a truck, killing her and four other recent high school graduates, police said.

Photo Gallery: Crash Kills Five Teens
killed girls 6/27 Democrat and Chronicle, AP

Five teens, four of whom were on the cheerleading squad, were killed in a car accident last month in New York state. Moments before the crash, a text message was sent from the driver's phone.
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Bailey Goodman was driving her friends to her parents' vacation home when her SUV, which had just passed a car, swerved back into oncoming traffic, hit a tractor-trailer and burst into flames. Five days earlier, the five teenagers had graduated together from high school in Fairport, a Rochester suburb.

Goodman's inexperience at the wheel; evidence she was driving above the speed limit at night on a winding, two-lane highway; and a succession of calls and text messages on her phone were cited Friday by Sheriff Phil Povero as possible factors in the June 28 crash in western New York.

"The records indicate her phone was in use," Povero said. "We will never be able to clearly state that she was the one doing the text messaging. ... We all certainly know that cell phones are a distraction and could be a contributing factor in this accident."

Several minutes before the first 911 call about the crash, Goodman talked briefly with a fellow graduate trailing her in another vehicle. Two minutes before the crash was reported, her phone was used to send a text greeting to a friend, Povero said.

He sent a reply less than a minute before the first 911 call, the sheriff added.

Routine tests ruled out alcohol as a factor in the 10 p.m. crash, and police don't suspect drug use was involved. Goodman had only a junior driver's license, making it illegal for her to be driving after 9 p.m. without supervision or to be carrying so many young passengers.

The victims, all 17 or 18, had been cheerleaders at Fairport High. In March, the team took first place in its category at a national competition in Orlando, Fla.

1ply

Hmm, a $100 initial outlay (per year) or $5/month....

I'd still take the $5/month plan since that's $60/year. Must be nice, I have to spend $25 every three months to keep mine going. At last check when I had to buy more minutes, I still had over $13 of the $25 left...

Fuzzydave

There's an article in today's Washington Post in which the author mentions that on a drive on I95, he saw a guy reading a novel, a woman putting on pantyhose, and another guy playing the trumpet, all while driving.
Yech.

bigbenaugust 

A few years back (must have been pre-2003), I saw a guy playing a trumpet in the front seat of a Tahoe on the Central Expressway. Unbelievable.

banerjek

The way it works, you can just spend the $25 for a block of minutes that will last 3 months. After 1 year, you will have spent $100 which makes minutes from additional $25 purchases good for a year. The minutes roll over indefinitely if you don't use them so long as you don't let the account expire.

I don't know how good tmobile coverage is compared to virgin. It's not quite as good as some carriers. The other thing that I liked about tmobile is they let me unlock my phone so I can buy cheap SIM cards and use it with local networks when abroad.

ChipSeal

Yeah I had a guy in a Tahoe blow his horn at me too!

I do not have a cell phone. I do not have a land line phone.

Folks at work ask me what would I do in an emergency. I say; "Can I borrow your phone?" They always say "Sure."
"That's what I would do in an emergency."

ItsJustMe

Virgin works as well as anything at my house (just barely, just like most other carriers). TMobile doesn't work at all here, though I can get TMobile service if I drive about 3 miles towards a tower.

Virgin works pretty well just about everywhere around where I live except for the house, where, like all other services I've tried, gets about 1/2 bar of flaky service.

I wouldn't go mobile only (or VoIP only, etc) even if I had 4 bars, because in my experience, mobile towers crash pretty quickly in emergencies and power failures. I like having a working phone when the power is out for a day or two, or some other emergency happens. Land-line phone service is a life-critical service and is run that way. VoIP and mobile service is run as a luxury and gets fixed after land-lines.

I have a really large number of minutes saved up right now on my Virgin Mobile phone, because I'm buying $5/month worth and I have used about 18 minutes in the last 6 months.

They were going to give me a Blackberry at work. Thankfully I was able to bail on that because Nextel doesn't work for crud out here. I have a phone for emergencies, I don't need that big of a tether.