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

I couldn't be without mine for emergencies like when the boiler was leaking, my brother was taken to intensive care, or I had a fall. I carry it everywhere around the house and garden just incase.
Also use it a lot as an encyclopedia and to do video calls with family.
Don't trust it for banking or financial things that's done on my laptop

I always said I'd never have a mobile not I did & wouldn't be without it, I have mine linked up to my Apple Watch so if I fall, (I have a type of muscular dystrophy) I can ring for help on the phone or if it detects no movement it rings my nominated person. Plus I have photos, music, information like recipes, it finds places I want to go, its just brilliant

until recently I had a mobile for "emergencies" then shopping on line finding I HAVE to have one for OPT or is it OTP
whatever.
even to renew payment for milk delivery, £1.80 odd a week, had it for YEARS, suddenly, card expired, new card, needed to put it in,,, NEEDED a phone, got a , think it may be "smart" but as I am not... just use it for this and emergencies... I forget to switch it on to communication with family! I think they have given up on me! LOL

My life is on my smart phone & it is always in my jeans or trouser pockets. My DS tells me off if I do not keep it with me. I do some things on either my laptop or iPad as my DS says the laptop has more security, he should know as he handles all that for me. I have my Bank App on my phone as that has been handy a couple of times. I would be lost without mine. My DS said he is glad I do have it as when I had a bad reaction to some meds it was the phone that got him here fast. At 77 that is a benefit but my friend has a very old basic phone & still relies on using her Landline in emergencies. When I passed out from the meds that would not have worked for me!

I have a smartphone, iPad and laptop and can't imagine life without them. Being able to dial 999 in an emergency while out of the house would justify the phone on its own.

I have an old fashioned flip phone. which I use only to make and receive phone calls. I know at some point I might need to get a smart phone, but as the day has not yet come I will keep my older technology. those with the smart phones seem to have forgotten human conversation.

Love My mobile phone...I using it yo do this .I will always carry one as would not forgive Myself if I didnt carry one and there was an emergency particularly for My Partner and Grandchild.

They're not actually phones, more like hand held computers that you can use as a phone. If you want to of course.

why don’t women’s trousers all have pockets?

Well, that proved disastrous for me. My phone was in the back pocket of jeans-style cords...in the washing machine .

Toilet Finder, thank you.
A very handy app to have.

DH and I both have our own smartphones-to match everyone else in the family.
Mind and DH rules (!) are:-
You must have your mob on your person (like Jakjaxy so sometimes in my bra-why don’t women’s trousers all have pockets? Grrr!
It must be switched on, not on mute
It must be charged up.
You never know when or where you’ll need urgent help!

I have a smart phone, but struggle to use it. Not for the usual reason in older people - that I cannot cope with the technology but because I am dyspraxic, which means I have no fine motor control and because the tips of all the fingers on my right hand are numb, following a carpal tunnel operation, so I have no idea how lightly or how hard I am tapping,swiping etc etc. If typing text or anything like that I have to do it slowly, to be sure I hit the right tiddly little letters. I struggle with all the icons

I also find the screen far too small, I have difficulty understanding text when I only see it one sentence at a time, completely out of context with the sentence before and after.

Finally I find it very difficult to hear what people are saying if I am rung when I am, say, in the street, a shop, restaurant etc because the ambient noise distracts me. I had a hearing test last week and my hearing is remarkably good, so that is not the problem.

I was talking to a friend yesterday, 20 years my junior who works in a technical job in a tchnologically based industry and she shares many of my problems with a mobile phone.

As I said, I've got one, I use it on occasion, I also use the sat nav on it, it stores my NHS COVID certificate, I use it as a camera. I would love to be able to use it more, but I wish it was the size of a tablet or my Kindle. It would make it so much more useable for me.

I have one but it doesn’t rule my life. I don’t use social media, but, as others have said, it puts a myriad useful tools at my disposal. I came lately to online banking, chivvied into it by my children, and now that all but one of our branches has closed, I don’t know how I would manage without it. This year, when DH was hospitalised several times, and visiting wasn’t allowed, it meant that not only were myself and the family able to talk to him every day, but to see him while we were talking which was a great comfort to all of us. Now that he is no longer here, we have some wonderful photos and videos on hand to remind us of him.

I can’t imagine not having one simply because it makes life easier when it comes to accessing a phone. We don’t have any public phone boxes within a 6 mile radius so getting help, for example, if you’re out and about would be tricky.
I’m just thankful such technology exists, it must make life easier for millions of people.

Do you mean specifically a smartphone, or are you saying you don’t even have a basic mobile ?
If you don’t have any sort of phone, you could start off with a very basic one which is purely for phone calls, text messages and taking pictures.
You would get used to it very quickly, then you could decide whether to upgrade to an iPhone with all its additional features.

I never thought I would succumb, but now I can’t imagine life without it!

I use mine constantly. Friends all contact by text or WhatsApp, and children do the same. I’d feel vulnerable whilst driving if I didn’t have it. Can’t imagine life without nowadays as so many services geared to having smart phone access.

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!

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!

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 have one, not sure where it is !

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 )

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?!

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.

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

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