I don't have a cell phone

I guess I am just about the only person my age I know who doesn't have a cell phone. And I don't want one.

When exchanging contact info with friends and people I have just met, they reflexively ask what the number to my cell is...and I tell them there is none. Often that statement is met with near-disbelief, and other times it gets me a look they probably reserve for second-class citizens. But sometimes they ask, "Why don't you have one?'

I tell them one reason is, that I have noticed when I am with a friend who has a cell, many if not most of the calls they get are from someone they don't want to talk to. "But Rob," the reply usually goes, "you can just not answer if you don't want to talk." But to me, seeing someone calling when I don't feel like talking is just as much aggravation as actually having to talk. And besides that, they just keep calling back if the person doesn't answer.

Another reason I don't have a cell is that I just don't need one. I have a phone at my house and when I am not there, callers can leave me a message. I don't buy the notion that everyone has to be accessible and/or able to call anytime. Which usually is met with, "But Rob, what if your car breaks down, or what if you need to call somebody while you're away from home?"

From age 17 to 34, I owned several old VW Beetles, and while I loved driving them, they were old and breaking down/getting stranded was just part of relying on them as my main mode of transportation. That part of being a Bug man I did not like, but you know what? I was never stranded for long, because I always caught a ride for help, or walked to a store or public phone and called someone, or more than a few times, just walked to the nearest house and asked to use their phone. I met some very nice people that way.

And how many people have you known that got a cell "for emergencies" and wound up using it all the damn time, for everything BUT emergencies, then bitched about the bill?

The most personal reason I don't have a cell phone is one not easily described, but one to which every cell user I know can relate to one degree or another. There is a sense of freedom and quiet that comes with being out and about, that time is MINE. And I'll not be robbed of it by somebody calling, wanting to know did I watch My Name is Earl last night.