I have three: one for work, one personal and a PAYG spare from when my account hit a problem.

Flash, I am impressed by you holding out, especially in HK (you are definitely a barbarian). What is your reason for doing so?

Too mean?

Not from Aberdeen, Scotland by any chance?

Timur, you made me laugh out loud with that one... (Braveheart would kill me if he sees this).

My reasons are multiple, but the main thing is that I detest being disturbed when I am working or even travelling around. I have no instant messengers or anything like it (e-mail alerts) enabled either.

I think it is related to what I do: I teach and write - in both cases, I am easy to find if necessary and I like to be able to give my attention 100% to my work.

I fully respect the fact that a lot of people need their phones in order to work, and my wife takes all calls from students and parents, so I am spared that side.

@Flashman: you are lucky that you do not need to carry a phone. I have noever had a job when I needed to be constantly available but when I was traveling half the time having a mobile was the only sensible way for people to be able to contact me. The trouble was that because they didn't know where I was, or more importantly which time zone, I was at risk of night time calls. Carrying a second phone, for my family to contact me, was the solution to that. It is more expensive but I like being able to completely (& literally) switch off from work.

I gave up having a landline phone years ago. skype for international is the best thing since sliced bread, that said I keep my mobile on manner mode most of the time anyway, I dislike getting called, must be old age;)

hold-out here. Mainly lack of necessity and inertia.

@Flashman - Depriving yourself of the convienence of a cell phone because you don't want to be disturbed is silly. They have an "OFF" mode....Personally, I **detest** land lines and got rid of mine. It's only function was telemarketers. So, in fact, by switching to a cell phone I am *less* disturbed by unwanted phone calls.

The assumption that owning a cell phone instantly requires that you start texting, accepting voice mail, etc is just plain old false. You can turn off voice mail. You don't have to activate texting. It doesn't need to be a smart phone with internet access. It can just be a plain old dumb phone....but one that works in the middle of nowhere when your car breaks down. I highly suggest you reconsider.

Nope. Don't have one, hopefully never will.

Flashman, I totally understand your desire to commit yourself 100% to your work at hand. I think that as the world embraces more and more technology alot of times people forget to pay attention to the wonderful things that are happening in the moment. For that reason when I go out I'll sometimes just leave my mobile at home because I don't want to be distracted by things other than what is going on right then and there. All the same though, I do find it very convenient because I hate voicemail. So this way, people can pretty much always reach me or just text me so I avoid receiving the majority of voice messages.

SEPeterson....WHY? I assume you have a land line telephone, and I see you use the internet...so the problem with a cell phone is what? It offers more convenience than a land line (mobility if you *choose* to carry it), the ability to turn it off, the ability to keep a phone number when you move, and in fact my cell phone is cheaper than my land line was. So are you just one of these people that won't do it because it popular, and if everyone is doing it it has to be bad? I just don't get the attitude of "nope, don't, never will". It kind of strikes of a smug arrogance - at least that is how I have viewed it in people face to face who deny technology that *can* be in fact beneficial.

I am impressed, we already have a number of soul mates here (and one wanna be). Given that all of us are well-connected, it is interesting that we choose to go without a mobile.

@krellin: my reasons are many. I only gave the obvious one above. I also do not like the way that people change their behaviour according to the mobile (shifting arrangements for meetings, talking to people who are not at the table/in the room...). Really, many.

As for being stuck in the middle of nowhere. I live in the middle of somewhere: my city is the most crowded place in the world and I can walk from one side to the other in next to no time. Being able to 'get lost' is almost a psychological necessity.

Besides, the wife is unable to find me when I go out... ; )

Oh, and regarding land lines... I make very few calls and take almost none now. The phone is constantly forwarded to my wife's mobile. We have a fax but only plug it in when sending. The main bulk of our communication goes through the computers - of which we have seven in the house of varying types and usage.

I was serious when I said above that I do not like being disturbed. I currently have Flash (no pun) removed from my computers as I am unable to consistently stop adverts from jumping and rolling across the screen in any other way. Filters slow down my machines and only work for a short time anyway.

I know, I know, I can't watch You Tube. Well, that was an easy decision. My son sometimes shows me something - a debate, a swimming race, a Dave Gilmour boot leg...

But I have a very active life and work with two extremes: face to face (obviously with classes), or sequestered in my room writing and preparing. The ability to concentrate undisturbed is something I place a very high value on. So is real time live social activity.

I also try to meet people from here when I can: I really like to be able to put a face to the name and have met some great characters.

Oh the myriad ways in which I despise cell phones.

never had one myself

So when I drive I keep my phone between my legs right below my ballsack so if it vibrates I can feel it over and above the normal car vibrations.

Since I keep it there so often I wouldn't be surprised if I get testicular cancer later in life.

lol

At last, Sicarius and I are brothers!

Well, well, well, and I thought you were irredeemable...

Why, thank you Thucy for that erotic interlude. I believe I can think of less hi-tech ways to keep up with life.

I like mobiles (cell phones), but I can't stand landline phones, especially in a share house.
Before mobiles took over, someone would always have to answer the phone, and then if it wasn't for you, frequently have to make small talk with the caller before fetching the person who the call was for, or worse, take a message.
My girlfriend lived in a house where her flatmate got pissed of with us because we didn't answer the house phone. We knew that none of our friends would contact us that way, and that if the caller really want to leave a message they could send a text.
My question is to those who hate mobiles - is it really mobiles you hate or phones in general? And if you don't want to be disturbed by calls on your mobile - put it on silent. Simple. And then get back to the other person in your own time.

@spyman: I agree with you regarding not answering telephones: I get this problem at home because I will not pick up my wife's mobile when she is busy. She is slowly getting trained on this aspect. Otherwise...

It is all my own time spyman: I am self-employed and have been for a long time. I think you would need to try living for a while without any phones whatsoever to get the full effect of being disconnected. Silent mode is not a complete solution, nor even having one switched off.

People communicate with me in a very definite and deliberate way: we make arrangements and keep them as far as is possible. Advance notice of a change is easy through my wife but everyone knows now that within about four hours of any given appointment, I cannot be cancelled.

I get no complaints and I find that life is really quite orderly. I travel to my appointments able to read or think without being disturbed. And I am not left dancing around trying to meet someone who is both fluid in terms of times and locations - a very common result of phone-based arrangements.

I would agree that I have liked using telephones less and less as time has gone by, but it is not simply a dislike. I think that it is more a matter of valuing communication and not wanting to engage unless I am really interested. Age and security must have a lot to do with this. I am on the slope down now and have no real concern for whether I am in or out of any particular loop.

Maybe it is because I grew up in the Stone Age: my family were one of the last to get a land line in our street. It took an accident to make my parents decide to have a phone. I am now asked frequently what I would do in an emergency? Well, I would do what I would probably have done twenty, thirty or even forty years ago.

oh hey sicarius!!!!


i didn't see you there i didnt know you still came to the site

i work at walmart now lol

don't worry: i hate them as much as ever... i just happen to work for them. yes yes i'm a slave. a voluntary slave nonetheless.

Thucy, you could become Sicarius's inside man at Walmart...

Indeed, you could start a 'lifting-to-order' service.

Just get like 100 people from the poorest part of town to do a grocery run there.

Of course, flashman. Everyone has some common ground, its just not readily apparent in such a horrible unreal setting as this.
God I really hate the internet...

I thought you really hated God...

Sorry, the ; ) was missing there.

I think, for the people with landlines and no cell phones, that telemarketers annoy them slightly more than their girlfriends do.

I mean, "telemarketers annoy them slightly *less* than their girlfriends do."

I don't use my mobile phone that often yet can't imagine leaving home without it.

Invention really is the mother of necessity.

You don't need national ID cards when you have cell phones.
It shows exactly who you are, where you are, where you're going, who you talk to, what you talk about etc.

@sicarius:
a) why would you want an ID card?
b) doesn't work with a PAYG cell

I WOULDNT want an ID, that's the point

I find it almost as strange for you to own a fax machine as to not own a cell phone.

"The ability to concentrate undisturbed is something I place a very high value on. So is real time live social activity."

How is being on a phone not "real time live social activity"? You must have friends or family that you keep in touch with who live outside of Hong Kong - how is emailing (or faxing) them any better than talking to them on the phone?

And I agree with Krellin - You can own a cellphone and not have it change your daily life. Your arguments come across as you saying "I'm a curmudgeonly old man who won't change his ways."

Well, I won't disagree with the old man bit, and curmudgeonly might fit as well, but the full impact of a mobile goes beyond just making calls.

As for making contact with my family outside of HK?

I never contact my family with a mobile - this is done exclusively by landline, as it was back in the year dot.

My family do not have a fax machine: ours is used only by my wife for contacting students (in HK) with application forms. Again, this is something she has been doing for many years. The traffic is very low.

I never contact friends outside of HK by telephone. Any communication is done by e-mail. The advantage is that messages are on record and I tend to be very specific/detailed when I do make contact.

For me, a voiced message is a bit like face-to-face Dip talk, "Did I say that?", "I thought you meant North Sea not Nor Sea..."

I think a lot of these cell phone haters seemed to be focusing on cell phone etiquette and behavior rather than the actual phone. Let's remember the cell phone is (if you want it to be) just the same as a land line without the cord and an off button, whats to hate? . You guys dont hate that i assume, you might even have a land-line with a cordless receiver, that in itself is a mobile phone albeit with a very limited range. What you guys have it people talking loudly on the phone in public, people madly sending sms 24/7 and all that. So dont smugly and snidely say you hate mobile phones, just agree that WE ALL hate annoying people who talk too loudly on mobile phones, people who stop talking to you to answer their phones and drivers who endanger the rest of us who make calls while driving.

have it = hate is
What you guys HATE IS people talking loudly...

I shall confirm that I dislike mobile phones, not only poor etiquette.

They modify behaviour in significant ways that are of importance to me. I have other issues as well, and I alluded to these above, but the major factors are behavioural.

As an example: I am never late. Well, that is a standard I try to live up to. I make arrangements and expect to keep them. If someone is unable to meet me, they can explain later. I will not though wait for someone who is working to flexible geography and timing by relying on a cell phone. This type of person is failing to make a clear cut decision about time and place to begin with. Probably not the type I would do business with.

I live in just about the busiest, noisiest and most crowded place on Earth. The whole place is madness personified. I find that by following a few simple rules with regard to making and keeping arrangements I have an anchor to hold on to and get a lot of respect in return. People rarely piss me off with no-shows and last-minute cancellations: they know that if they say yes, they have to mean it because I do.

That might sound arrogant but I have very cordial relations with the people I meet and they sometimes comment on the extra level of clarity that comes with working with me. I think we all gain from this. I am a rather dominant personality and accept that I am asking others to conform. However, the simple truth is that someone has to lay down a few rules from time to time, it might as well be me.

Be that as it may I still dont see why you hate the phone itself. yes some people are weak and let the fact they have a phone change their behavior but that doesnt mean that all people with mobile phones are as weak as that. I am rarely late to meet people , but IF i was late (for examplea few months ago someone committed suicide on the train tracks and slowed that trains down by about 15min, thats a big deal here in japan!) then im glad I have a mobile I can send a message/call to tell people I will be unavoidably late.

Let me seem arrogant again: I am never caught out by 15 minutes. In fact I am nearly always early and make sure any waiting is done by me at the meeting end - reading or something. I do a lot of private teaching and get met by drivers at certain places. The drivers know that I will be early and get there early themselves. It makes the whole process rather relaxed.

If I can start a lesson or meeting early, I will. That too seems to be so rare nowadays that I get no complaints.

I have to ask, if the mobile is so important to you now, how did you live when you were younger? I said right at the top that I accepted that some people have jobs for which a mobile really helps and that my situation was different. Furthermore, making a landline call in an emergency is extremely easy in HK - there are phones within easy reach; everything is within easy reach. Given a major problem like an accident, either I walk a few metres to a landline or I am unable to make a call anyway.

I cannot stress too highly the value I place on not being disturbed. This includes travelling. I do a lot of deep thinking while travelling and use this as part of my preparation. When I travel with others, their frequent phone calls and messages to adjust arrangements are a strong incentive for me to remain a holdout.

It was a common joke when mobiles first came to HK that owners would be talking on trains/buses and saying, 'I'm on the train now. It's just approaching Station A... It's leaving now, I'll be at Station B soon...' and so on. It is still true. Commentary speak.

Last year, after about 20 years of this, the BBC carried a wonderful report about mobile usage and said that the most common message of all - in a major survey - was, 'I'm eating a sandwich now'.

And, as cards are being played here, I'll add another one: I do not find it easy to hear what is said on a mobile by people who are in a public place. There are technical reasons for this, not just biological ones. My wife has learnt not to give me her mobile if someone calls when we are out.