Not having a smart phone...

I've got one of those contracts too whenim . Agree re the wonderful synchronicity of Apple. Can take a photo on my phone then it pops up on iPad and iMac too. Witchcraft! Amazing that we didn't have even mobiles for the first 50 years or so of our lives and now can't leave home without one.

I like my iPhone, too. It 'talks' to my iPad and has so many useful apps, including a free satnav. I've had it a couple of years now, so when the contract ended I moved to 'sim only', and it only costs me £9 per month for all the texts, calls and Internet I need.

I think I would go into total meltdown if I lost my iPhone. Pathetic.

Due to an on-going (lack of) correspondence with Orange, I've had no usable mobile for 2 months now, smart or otherwise!

I feel bereft when I am somewhere with no signal as my smart phone is fabulous. It even recognised a song my son hummed to me when none of us could remember it's name last night!!

I am helping organise a school reunion and realised that I have 2 old friends that I only have addresses for so I had to dig out paper and write a letter. I even wrote by hand and didn't type as usual. Regretted it as my handwriting has really deteriorated due to lack of use - all I really write nowadays is a shopping list, that only I can read, and my signature

I use my iPhone to send short videos to DD in Australia or receive some from both DDs ie, something GDs are doing that I would have otherwise missed seeing. DH and I ocassionally have a 4 way shared text with both DDs something that makes us all feel that DD2 isn't that far away.

We still have a landline but very rarely use it now. IPhone on the other hand gives me access to so many things wherever I am. Great piece of technology.

I too love my smart phone it's amazing ....

I love my smart phone!

I suppose as with all technology there are advantages and disadvantages. DH and I currently in hopefully companionable iPad silence. I call that an advantage because he isn't lecturing me on the morning news
However I have been told that basic phones are being used in tandem with smartphones by the young now because the battery life is so much longer. I do agree with Aka though. I love my iPhone and its gizmos. Even saved money in a restaurant with friends last year by finding a money off voucher and presenting code to waiter on my phone. Couldn't have done that on my old brick phone

Aka on my way to a meeting on Monday, there were 4 of us walking along at one point, phones held flat in front of us, following the little blue dot on Google maps. I wisened up, put my phone away, and followed the others. Sure enough, we were all going to the same meeting (it was on a university campus).

Yesterday, another day, another meeting, more blue dot walking. Excepting this time I actually spoke to the person in front of me - "Are you looking for ...?" In the tea break she said "I'm so pleased to have found you looking for this place".

It made me think that smartphones can be quite isolating.

'Adapt or Die' is so true. Texting is very handy especially for unscheduled changes to plans, school runs, etc.

I've just upgraded my smart phone and love all the new apps and the faster speed. It takes great photos, I can instantly email, text, Bluetooth, them. It tells me where I am and how to get where I need to go. I can barcode scan those annoying items that are unpriced and it will tell me where I can get it cheaper. It's a pocket diary, calculator, compass, newspaper, games module...I could go on and on.

What's not to like?

I only have a basic phone and have no plans to upgrade to the smart variety. I do think texting is great and a very useful thing to learn to do. I keep in touch with family this way, supplemented with landline calls from time to time, having first checked via text that the other person wants to chat. For the hearing impaired, such as myself, texting can be a godsend.

If you want to keep in contact with your kids you have to learn to text. Most of them have contracts which give so many free texts or phone minutes, so it make sense to use them rather than the landline. FB is good for seeing what they are up to, and can be fun to post your own pictures as well, most teenagers avoid Facebook now as it's mostly oldies with their cat pictures!

My son phoned me one morning having left the hospital after being mugged in Leeds. He said his friends had told him not to phone me sooner as 'your mum will be worried' . I can still remember hearing the church bells ringing in the background and thinking that my little boy was so far from home and I wasn't there for him . In fact most of his calls involved attacks or burglaries. When he was younger he always phoned me to chat as he was walking through Nottingham; trouble is we used to run out of things to talk about...

I am uneasy when any of DDs ring me while walking home. A friend heard her DDbeing.mugged on her way back to her flat in London from the tube station. My friend lives near me - 50+ miles from London. Luckily she was able to get through to one of her (boy) flatmates who went out looking for her and found her shocked but otherwise unhurt - of course her iPhone had gone.

True; we weren't. But then again our parents probably weren't giving up a lot of their spare time to childmind so we could go back to work. I have just had a phone call, though, to tell me that there had been a family get together tonight with a family member that had been staying for a few days [which is why I'd been trying to get in touch].

Tegan - I think you should give texting a try. Emails are not welcome when dd/ds are at work but texts are unobtrusive. It does seem the way to go nowadays. As you've mastered posting on Gransnet, you must be able to text!
Purple Daffodil - snap - I too get phone calls when dd/ds walking home from work! One of mine doesn't have a landline and the others don't use theirs. I do like texting and whats app- it's free to send photos on that . Also Skype/facetime is good for communication and seeing the grandchildren.

What I hate are the silent calls on the landline - we get them everyday.

Just a thought - how many of us were in regular contact with our parents by phone when we were young?

I just found my son and daughter on Facebook. I feel like a voyeur. Find it a bit strange.

Facebook has caused me grief in the past. I stay well clear. I know it's great for some so just a personal choice.

We have no choice about using a landline, we have a big hill behind us and it blocks mobile phone reception unless I go and walk in the road.

Really fed up now. Started playing about with Facebook and found an old schoolfriend who looks absolutely amazing in her photos . Unless I can find a way of airbrushing my photos I'm not going on that .

I have got a quite simple - non "smart" phone. Wouldn't be without it for texting (so much more straightforward, and quicker, for saying something to someone) and for finding DD in M and S when she has lost me.

Son is trying to persuade me to buy into a contract with a smart phone. I am putting up a fight. Can't see the point.

Have to add glad that sons partner takes trouble to communicate regularly albeit f book!

I get annoyed at hearing via Facebook and my sons partner what they are doing or where. My son is travelling for work, have told him prefer to hear from him, but accept f book is way people communicate now! We only have one or two friends who phone landline it is all text or f book and must admit I am just as bad! Some feel we don't have the time to chat on phone but is wrong really?!

I know what you mean Tegan. My DD and myself used to have lovely long chats on the phone. Now we communicate (usually) by text. I hate it and it can be misinterpreted. I don't do Facebook either. When we are on holiday I sometimes wonder if she knows that we've gone!