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This thread is prompted by the discussion on cell phone use in the "Logging in to SS account...." thread. I felt that a full-on discussion of cell phone use by old people would be off-topic there, hence my creation of a new thread.
And my curiosity here is about older people, say 65 or 70 and above. Yes, I know many folks in their 40's and 50's participate in this Retirement Forum, and I just assume that they have and use cell phones at those ages. (They are certainly welcome to post here about older people they know.)
I am 72 and if my cell phone were taken away I would feel like I lost my right arm. I thought of creating a poll to go along with my thread, but we posters here already use computers in order to participate and (for the most part) do not represent the older contingent (say, over 80) anyway. I am probably the least tech-savvy person on the planet (at least I used to think so until reading that other thread!), but cell phone use in general and texting in particular are child's play in their simplicity, even for someone as mentally retarded as I am.
Yes, I know, I know, we all got along just fine without cell phones for many decades after the development of land line phones over a century ago. But in this day and age it seems to me bizarre that people would voluntarily go without them - sort of like indoor plumbing is a given, at least in this country.
So I am very curious to hear your stories, not only about yourselves but about people whom you know who are older than you - your parents, aunts and uncles, and others.
My mother, who had two master's degrees, was pathologically techno-phobic. About three decades ago my sister gave her a VCR (remember those?) and instructed her in its use. But she never used it, no way. She had had the same car for many years but never learned to re-set the clock, and would ask me to do so when I visited, often months after the time change from or to daylight savings time. Couldn't she read the car's manual, with two master's degrees? It's a mystery to me, which I may never understand despite efforts such as asking about it in this thread. So, no ATM card, no computer, no cell phone for my mother - may she rest in peace.
My adult kids are on them all the time. Being a child of the '60's I cannot relate to the need to be tethered to a piece of electronics 24/7. I do however have a cell phone and keep it in the car for emergencies. It came in handy a couple of times in NJ in late night winter snowstorms.
My adult kids are on them all the time. Being a child of the '60's I cannot relate to the need to be tethered to a piece of electronics 24/7. I do however have a cell phone and keep it in the car for emergencies. It came in handy a couple of times in NJ in late night winter snowstorms.
You raise a good point that I did not address in my original post. I am not on my phone all the time either. I use it when I need to contact someone or other people use it when they need to contact me. The young who have their noses in the phone 24/7 I don't really understand either; I think its sad, actually. But I would still feel like I lost my right arm if I couldn't have my cell phone anymore.
For the age group you mentioned, a better question would be if they could get along without their landline. I'd guess a majority could not. Actually, we still have ours because many accounts are associated with it and it's the only number our kids can remember besides their cell phone number (they also remember some of their friends parents landline numbers).
To answer your original question, my deceased FIL could go without. They had a cell phone, but only used it for travel and would only turn it on at a set time each day. My parents never had them. About the time they came out, they had pretty much stopped traveling and had no need to be in constant contact. In fact, my mom would cut long distance calls short because she remembered when they cost big $$ per minute. Old habits were hard to break even when long distance calls cost the same as a local call in the latter part of her life.
My father is 81 and has a cell phone (flip phone) that he uses for outgoing calls only. My mother wanted it for emergencies (passed away last year). Neither one of them ever learned how to access the voice mail, and the phone is usually turned off.
My father-in-law, who is 80, has a smart phone and uses it for anything and everything. He is always excited about the latest technology and would not be happy without his smart phone.
I have a flip phone for the car and vacations. When I move, I likely will give up the land line, currently part of a bundle. I see no need for a smart phone- I don't want to carry a computer in my pocket. I spend enough time with the laptop as it is. I would feel lost without my laptop, for information/entertainment (if one can call news reading entertainment!). Most friends communicated by email or Facebook messages. The only people I know who still use their landlines are both almost 90 years old, and when they are gone, I won't see much use for it.
I have a cell phone and while it has many functions, I certainly don't use them all. I haven't activated VM because I try to encourage callers to use my land line or text me.
I've had a cell phone for about 25 years. Not the same one, of course; I've upgraded as the technology grew. I initially got one because I was frequently driving home alone late at night after a show.
I'm sure I could live without it except in case of an emergency when it would be my only means of contact for help. Now, it's mostly to "find" my family when we get separated in the store or to let them know that "I'm on my way - be there in 10" and like that.
I'm 80. And the only person I know my age is a high school friend, I don't know if she has a cell phone.
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We don't have a landline phone and could not live without our smart phones without some sort of Exorcism
