Don't have one, don't need one, don't really want one

Marvellous things. Wouldn't be without one.

My friend was always claiming not to need one until a moment in Preston. She was picking up her daughter at 3am from a house party. Lost the address. Terrible stress trying to locate the poor girl who in the end jumped in a taxi leaving Ma driving round Preston in tears

She's got one now.

I used to have one, we bought them to keep in touch with Lynne when on holiday, but I hated mine, and when it conked out I didn`t bother to replace it.

Both my OH and I have them but usually they sit on the work top with no power left. We use them occasionally if we go out together but find no need for them, we get along and live in the word without constant referencing. I do get annoyed when websites demand a mobile for no apparent reason, however recently it has become necessary to be texted a code to buy on line. Wish I could remember the damned number!

I am concerned at the number of people who seem to spend all their free time gazing at the small screen. I find much better things to do with my time,

I was one of the first to get one in our area. My husband worked on them at the time. It was the size of a brick...and I was scared to death it would ring! I would be so embarrassed...oh how the times have changed.

I seem to remember Paul Merton from HIGNFY, saying once he doesn’t have one. So you’re in good company.

Although I could use mine for everything....I don’t. It’s mainly WhatsApping the kids! I never make calls on the mobile network. It’s just for emergencies.

I have a mobile phone and am never without it but it is just a phone with a camera for the odd snap. I am pretty computer literate and do internet banking, shopping, manage all household accounts - gas, electricity, insurance, holiday bookings, etc. I follow and contribute to local sites of interest and share photos and memories on facebook which I enjoy but I do not want a computer in my pocket. I don't have enough hours in a day as it is.

I only bother to turn mine on when we're at our holiday lodge. I use it so rarely that it's a simple pay as you go.

Couldn’t manage without one! It’s everything I need in a compact format!

It was only during the first covid lockdown that I used online grocery shopping for the first time.

At first I could easily pay with the credit card I have always used for supermarket shopping but then my bank needed to verify my identity by sending a One Time Pin to my mobile phone. Although I did have a mobile phone the reception in this rural area is poor to non-existant. I got nowhere trying to challenge this.

It seems that during lockdown rural pensioners with money in the bank could starve to death without a mobile phone and good reception!

Gin
When companies ask for a mobile number put in the first 5 digits of a mobile network ie, 07910. Follow that with any 6 digits. They only want a number.
Nobody has my mobile except my doctor and bank. And family ?

I am concerned at the number of people who seem to spend all their free time gazing at the small screen. I find much better things to do with my time,

Why are you concerned? What exactly are your worries? Why the sneering comment about ‘better things to do’ just because people make different choices from you?

Sara54 the app is called Toilet Finder and is very useful if you are far from home. It also tells you how many yards you are away from the Loo.!

Wow NanKate, that is really useful information!

It's so useful. If I travel by train, it shows my senior rail card; if I need to prove I have had a negative LF test, it's there on my phone; I report the test on the phone; my entire vaccination record (not just Covid) is on the phone. And it's a good camera too.
I realise that not everyone wants their whole life on a small device, but it's so much more than just a phone.
I just have to remember when to re-charge it.

Gin
You could see my daughter sitting in a cafe scrolling through her phone. She builds websites for Deloitte, one of the largest companies in the world. Sometimes she’s on standby just incase something isn’t working as it should and she gets a call.
You mustn’t assume that everyone is looking at FB etc.

I don’t understand why you would have a mobile and not switch it on. What if someone wants to contact you because they’re having an emergency?

I have a mobile phone and it can be useful BUT I do all my financial dealings at home using my iPad. I don’t have my bank card on my mobile either and rarely use it for surfing the net. I have my rail card on my phone. Currently I pay £8.00 pcm for free texts and calls and some data.

As I’m retired I don’t want to be available to all and sundry so quite often go out locally ‘mobile free’.

You could buy an inexpensive mobile that isn’t a smart phone just for calls and texts.

I'd love to be mobile free, if I had the opportunity.
I feel really resentful that everything is done online now.

Many thanks for all the answers : seems to be a love/hate relationship with the little critters

I've a mobile but, just like me, it's not so smart. However it does do calls and texts (and even photographs, I believe) and I find it works very much to my convenience. Recently, when out with my GC, I was asked by them if I didn't have a phone. 'Where is it?'. 'In my pocket'. 'M & D are never off theirs' Needless to say, I didn't comment but found it a little bit sad.

Your name is CountessFosco, you’ve just returned to the UK with your husband - he doesn’t have white mice and some dastardly plans, does he?!

SueDonim

^I am concerned at the number of people who seem to spend all their free time gazing at the small screen. I find much better things to do with my time,^

Why are you concerned? What exactly are your worries? Why the sneering comment about ‘better things to do’ just because people make different choices from you?

I agree with this.

I don’t understand the sneering that so often surrounds people’s use of IT in general and screens in particular,

People who don’t like them can avoid them, but I think it’s unfair when people ‘opt out’ and then complain that life has overtaken them and they aren’t able to access things like banking or paying bills. Like it or not, screens are here to stay, and whilst they are not (yet) compulsory, life is going to get more and more difficult for those who refuse to use them. I’m not saying you are doing that, OP, as anyone who posts on here is a screen user one way or another, but there are those who do try to insist that because they prefer to do things in a particular way, nobody should be able to have the convenience of doing them online.

(Yes, I have a smartphone, and yes, I love it, in case you couldn’t tell )

I have one, not sure where it is !

Mine does everything - and yet I use it to text sometimes - that's all. If I'm home I use the laptop (prefer the bigger screen and email) and the house phone. If I'm out, I usually leave it behind. Such an expensive toy!

I love my smart phone. It goes everywhere with me and I use it for most of the things mentioned already

I even use it as a phone to make a call sometimes!

I would say that life will become more and more difficult without one. As people on this thread are saying, you can't even park a car sometimes without one. Others have pointed out the safety aspects. I did jury service recently and you couldn't order lunch without scanning a QR code on your phone!
It's up to you of course, but I would urge you to get one and get to grips with it while you are able, the longer you leave it, the harder it will get!