Has anybody else not got, and not want a mobile phone?

....oh and I used it while babysitting my granddaughter ( her parents don’t have landline).... I called an ambulance , she had pneumonia.....I also used it to call ambulance for a young man who came off his motorbike and had a head injury ....and my husband called me one day when I was walking as he had fallen in the house and dragged himself to
Landline ... .... he had broken his jaw and nose and was in hospital for two days. This ‘I’m above everybody else’ attitude just riles me.

I viewed a mobile phone as an invasion of my privacy. My DH gave me one for Christmas! I nearly choaked. To appease him I did get a book on how to use it, all the time thinking this was not for me. Now it is March. I can use it for the basics and am wondering how I lived without I! Please note....I was equally as stubborn about getting a microwave oven back in the day.

Saggi - My initial reaction to your referring to me as being 'selfish' and thinking 'myself above every else' was retaliation...however I'm not going to rise to your jibes or lower myself to your level

polyester57 I totally agree with your post and think, like you, that we should try to keep up with new technologies and know and understand how the world works.

I count myself very fortunate that I was in work when the computer, internet and mobile phone revolutions took place so I had to keep up to speed to hold down my job effectively.

Now I am retired I have a two year old Blackberry Smartphone bought outright and it costs me £8 per month which includes enough free calls, texts and data to easily cover my needs. I use it constantly and I love it. I use Whats App to communicate with my family; Facebook for information about activities in my village and to access the second hand market place; the bus ap to check timetables and get live information on the service; texts for meeting up with people and to advise on late running journeys and when I got a flat tyre recently out in the countryside I phoned the RAC using my smartphone. If I need a taxi I use the app and on a long journey I listen to podcasts on BBC sounds. The flashlight feature helps me out on dark nights and the Public Toilet app means no hunting around in new towns for the facilities. Google maps on the phone is far more up to date than my Sat Nav and you can now look up your journeys and download them before starting off in case you hit a low signal area. Also getting fitter with the exercise tracker.

they're useful - just a drag seeing everyone looking down at them all the time!

I have a basic very old one that I never use. I hate them.

Gosh, B, hats off to you for the spartan life you lead. The very thought of being without a washing machine leaves me cold. All the gadgets/mod cons I have are simply that..... for my convenience. Guess I'm opting for a 'soft' retirement. I do have a mobile. Cost £10 and does me perfectly. Again...very convenient. Each to her own, eh? No halos or criticism just - pleasant survival?"

boheminan You have chosen a way of life that is very different from the majority of the population, that is no reason for criticising it - or indeed praising or admiring it. It is your personal choice.

However, if you choose to live a life like that you must accept the downsides. Among the downsides are that you must accept that your life style choices will in many ways cut you off from the rest of the world.

The 65 million cannot reasonably be asked to change their whole way of efficiently running their lives because one person who wants to buck the trend. Much effort is put into helping those who cannot use modern phones by reason of disability or incapability, But I see no reason why the whole system should change for someone who merely wants to do things differently.

I have a basic one, but it’s only for emergencies and I’m not sure I’ve ever used it.

My iPad serves all the purposes of an iPhone at home. I don’t need the Internet when I’m out and about.

I only bought a smart phone when my mobility was increasingly worsening because of arthritis so that I could locate a taxi and call one if stranded. I live alone so must fend for myself. I have travelled on my own for decades but now regretfully realise I cannot do so any more without a means of summoning help when away from home. I really never use the phone for anything else as it is too small and fiddly. I have dumped my desktop computer and do almost every thing on a tablet including correspondence and shopping and finding out about almost anything in the world in comfort.