I don't use a mobile phone. Am I unique?

"I don't have it beeping and weeping at all hours because people want to send me pictures of their dinners"

😂 so true NonGrannyMoll

Once upon a time people managed without a regular postal service. I have been rereading the Paston papers, the correspondance of a Norfolk merchant family in the 15th century. Letters and communications depended on sending a servant or waiting until someone was going where you wanted.

When Roland Hill introduced the penny post. Lots of people probably grumbled about it and someone who was not literate grumbled about the butcher sending the bill by post and them having to get someone else to read for them, instead of justing coming round and saying how much was owed.

Twenty years ago I can rmember the difficulty of having a client without a telephone. Ringing neighbours, leaving messages etc etc.

Every new technology starts as a luxury and ends as a necessity. Nevertheless it is up to each of us to decide how far we use it.

The OP clearly has a life where modern technology plays a very small part, that is fine. I on the other hand have a life where modern technology plays a reasonable part. Others use it even more

Most people know about the frustrations I have using a mobile phone because I have dyspraxia and ADHD, so, although I do not send text messages if I can avoid it, I use the SatNav, make phone calls, use maps, look things up on google and have a personal phone directory on it.

My computer, which I do feel comfortable using, is on all day. Already today I have had emails from 2 groups I belong to confirming my details n one case and telling me how to pay my subscription in the other. I have had notice of several PMs on GN, my DH has forwarded me an email from our estate agent, a favourite restaurant has sent me this weeks lunch menu.

As well as that all the lists etc I used to do on paper, I now do on spread sheets or word processing documents on my computer, no bits of paper and pens getting lost or crossed. Lots of bits of paper scribbled on, crossed out and rewritten until they are illegible. I have planned next weeks menus, prepared a shopping list, checked my calandar, cancelled a hair appointment. All online.

Each to our own, but there is no special virtue at being at the leading edge or trailing edge of technology. It is there to serve us and if some people do not need it then do not use it, but businesses now will use it and assume its customers use it because the vast majority do.

If anyone choose not to to own the technology that everyone else takes for granted that is fine, but do not grumble because the whole world has not been as unwilling to adopt it as you have and just accept that you are one of the few who do not use it and the world has moved on.

My phone costs around £7 a month. (Excluding home WiFi). Use it for everything. I'm very rarely without coverage, calls work through WiFi at home so always a decent signal. I have the sound off most of the time (unless I'm expecting an important call). it's very useful

My mother is 97 and uses a (basic) mobile phone. It keeps her in touch with people. It costs a princely £5 per month, which I pay for her.

I have never owned a mobile phone.

I often find that I can't complete a purchase online without a mobile number and my surgery repeatedly sends reminders for me to let them have my mobile number.

I can't shop with Sainsbury's anymore which is a bit of a chizz because I have loads of Nectar points I can't spend.

I prefer to eat and heat rather than have a phone contract on top of all my other bills.

I don't have or want a mobile phone...so there's a few of us around!

I have 2 mobile phones but wish I could manage modern life without them. They're an expensive nuisance.
I bought a Nokia in 2004 when we were between houses and lived "on the road". Only ever used it to make & receive calls and never bothered with texts. I've only used the Nokia for the past 20 years to call home if I'm going to be late.
I bought another mobile about 3 years ago because it was (don't know whether it's smart, average IQ or just plain stupid) the only way I could access my email account while away from a computer. Kept that one because so many (TOO many) things are impossible to do nowadays without giving a mobile number. I think that's outrageous but the rest of the world seems to think that's a fine way to do business.
I prefer my land line. The sou8nd is good and the line doesn't keep cutting out because the fools who call me aren't near a suitable mast (why do mobile phone users put up with such poor service & coverage?). I can phone anywhere in the world without paying extra for the privilege, and I don't have it beeping and weeping at all hours because people want to send me pictures of their dinners.

I have a basic pay as you go phone to make and receive calls and texts which is all that I need. Not interest in joining What's App groups etc. Otherwise I do everything else on my computer, shopping for food and clothes, booking holidays etc it works for me.

You are unique, whether you use a mobile phone or not.

You sound like my mum, she had a Nokia that she barely used. I would add she died in 2008. I did keep the phone it's tucked away somewhere or other.

Not totally unique but amongst a dying breed I suspect.

Mobile phones don't work in many rural areas. I don't have one.

However, I do take one off my husband's desk when I have to drive, emergencies happen - I always prefer to be prepared.

A lady in the downstairs flat to us has a simple phone and text mobile
So she has a mobile phone.

I am 81, and don`t even own a mobile phone. The simple reason is that I`m a bit thick, and can`t figure the darned things out! I dread the day when the landline is no longer available. It`s also annoying when trying to register with certain companies who assume that everyone has a mobile phone, and won`t accept any other number instead.

No Aely you are far from unique. A lady in the downstairs flat to us has a simple phone and text mobile. No internet, a freeview tv, no laptop, no connection to the internet and no landline. She seems to manage ok.

I am using my Samsung 2025 Ultra ( relatively new ) to read emails / make calls mostly / Whats App for messages / to read articles / do a search here and there occasionally ..

It is what one becomes accustomed to. It has its positives and its negatives.

:14Baggs

I think using a Nokia 1200 to call someone counts as using a mobile phone

Of course it does!

I too am nearly 77 and my mobile is invaluable. Public phones have ceased to exist and I have no desire to sit at home waiting for calls on my landline (or messages on the answerphone which I then have to return.)
There are 101 good reasons for having access to a phone when one is away from home.
On the other hand I have no desire to listen to music "on the go" on an MP3 where the sound quality is going to be infinitely inferior to a home hi-fi.
So each to their own.
If your phone lives in your handbag I hope you at least keep it charged for emergency us.
As for anybody fighting with their phones I fail to understand why and take exception to friends of a similar age to you (and by extension me) being described as "equally elderly"
PS there are big button phones and also non- smart phones ,but at 76y 11m I find I have no trouble with a reasonably sized and actually NOT expensive mobile!

I don't own a mobile phone. It's just too much all at once.

I like the convenience of a phone when I am out, I use it to pay for items, listen to podcasts, take photos of clothing in shops to compare prices later, it holds my lists, access medical records and order prescriptions, holds loyalty cards as well as being able to be in contact with others.

Why do your friends and daughter get exasperated with their phones?

I think using a Nokia 1200 to call someone counts as using a mobile phone.

That said, I know one gransnetter who does not even own a mobile phone. I suppose she might 'use' someone else's occasionally but I doubt it.