A few years ago it was an issue at work & they said I had to buy one. I pointed out there there was nothing at all in my contract saying I had to buy a mobile, or indeed anything else, to do my job effectively.
In the end they provided one and it never once proved neccessary. My line manager would text me out of hours with stuff that could have been emailed to my work email and dealt with when I got into work. Sometimes she'd text late at night or at weekends or when I was on leave. I never replied and dealt with it at work so in the end I left it in my locker, switched off and only switched it on at work. Not that it was ever needed during work hours either. When I retired it was a joy to hand it back.
So far, so boring BUT increasingly friends are pressuring me to get one. Not having one is not a problem for them as far as I can tell. I have asked specifically if my not having a mobile has caused a problem and they say no but then come up with hypothetical reasons which haven't ever happened or are unlikely eg what if you were knocked down on the street? What if you were abducted? I can't see that having a mobile would make a difference.
If I go and stay with friends I tell them what train I'll be on and anyway, I know where they live and don't require being met at the station or anything. The world did function before they were invented. So far I have never phoned or texted once on a mobile, not even on my work phone. It was really pointless having it.
Friends that do have one are often just contacted by people asking them to do things for them. If people need a favour they can ring my landline. It's the same number I've had for forty-odd years and people ring me on that.
So, none of you have a dog in this fight and have no agenda about this... Am I being unreasonable?
