I couldn't agree with you more. I've never had a cell phone and have never found a single situation where I would need one. They are annoying and expensive. One guy I work with just bought one that has a mini-keyboard, 2 screens, a camera, plays videos, recieves e-mails, and so on. I found this ironic because we're both computer technicians, so unless your driving and want to wreck, or at the beach and want to be bothered, when would you really need all that when your around computers all day? Not to mention he payed some $240 for it, plus the plan. Not to mention everytime he receives an e-mail or is sent a video he has to pay extra to view it.

I admit, I feel pressured to get a cell phone occasionally, simply because everyone else has one and there's constant ad pressure. I think I might actually see more cell phone ads than vehicle ads. But then I think, well if I got one, when would I use it? How much money would I be wasting every month? How much of my freedom and solitude would be taken away? And the urge quickly vanishes.

More power to you! I'm a member of generation Y, and I hate the stupid things. I get the same responses too when they find out I don't have one. Makes me want to scream.

I think the previous poster should start charging interest. I think people who take a call in the middle of a face to face conversation should pay a fine to me. I think the vast majority of people talking on a call phone at this precise moment really have nothing to day. I think funny ringtones are fine if you are a load. Just turn them off in public because nobody wants to hear it. Especially in the office or other tight places. I think people on cell phones talk like people with headphones on. They talk but don't really listen. They only want to hear themselves talk. It is called self importance.

If you need me this weekend I will be out. Leave a message. Life is calling me.

I, too, hate cell phones and find them disruptive. I like looking at things when I ride the bus, or take a walk, or drive. I like paying full attention to the people around me, and having uninterrupted conversations. And you're so right about the plan aspect of it! I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and I think there's something weird about people not being able to just say "I'll meet you at X place at Y time," and then just doing that. I sound incredibly old, but back then, we knew who our real friends were; they were people who kept their word and showed up even though hours and even days had elapsed since the appointment was set. Poor kids these days, they must feel so unimportant and insecure. Ehhh...get off my lawn! But I digress. Okay, I admit I recently got one, but it's left at home 90% of the time, and it's got the cheapest plan: 10$/month/ 25 cents a minute. In other words, there's no incentive to use it. My husband and I got it only for travel. The thing that pushed us (finally) over the edge was trying to get to Manhattan from JFK, and having to run to the payphone to ask where the hell our town car was, then while on hold, our car kept getting snagged. Anyway, I would say it's also for emergencies, but, really? I lived four decades going on road trips, on overseas journeys, and walking down the not always safe streets of major American cities...with no cell phone! How ever did I survive? Common sense.

To my mind, cell phones are the quintessential example of our over-technologized society. I'm 34 years old, highly educated, and I have no intention of ever investing in a device that creates brain tumors and (as a previous poster said so eloquently) keeps me on a constant communication leash.

I enjoy technology as much if not more than the average person; however, devices such as cell phones, PDAs, blackberries, etc., establish an unhealthy human dependence on electronics.

Detractors like us will always be criticized, questioned, and even ridiculed for our hatred of cell phones. It’s a simple principle: many people refuse to follow trends and to succumb to peer-pressure simply for the sake of being absorbed into the collective crowd.

Jeez, I thought I was the only one on the planet that didn't own one. I live in Japan where probably 99 percent of people my age have one. All my friends think I'm strange for not having one. Some people think I'm joking, like I have one but I don't want to give my number out or something, Hillarious! One guy was always kind of suspicious,that I had one on the sly. When I had something come up and needed to make a call, he looked at me and my bag just to see if I'd pull it out, but I said, hey can I use your phone for a second, after that he believed it. When people ask why I always say "I don't like to be interupted when I'm daydreaming.!"

Argueably there are some valid concerns my parents have brought up, I'm sure we've all heard them.
What if there is an emergency, someone in the hospital etc?
and of course if your applying for jobs atleast here you need to put your cell phone on the resume. Otherwise
it would look weird and if they called you at home and you didn't answer they might not leave a message.
Oh the last, it reduces the abilty to network branch out with people. If you are meeting someone in a busy
place and they are late or you get lost from each other, then it's hard to find them. I'm always searching for
pay phone when this happens and I hate touching my face to those germ invested montrositys.

Sure there are reasons not to have them in my life outweigh the concerns I mentioned above.