Could you live without your phone and the internet?

Speaking of cars, a lot of newer ones have become "Internet terminals" themselves, using either a plugged-in phone's connection or having embedded cellular radios of their own.

My car is just shy of 7 years old now, but even there by connecting my phone with a data plan Android Auto offers navigation, podcasts, music, and voice-access to Google through the car's displays and sound system. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Newer cars offer even more integration.

Some options, like video and browsing, don't work if the car is in motion (out of Park).
 
fuzzybuddy said:
Yup, in every waiting room there's a bunch of people hunched over their phones. And what about @ 3:57 AM, if you wanted to know the date Napolean died? (May 5,1821) Yeah, we could go back to living in caves, but are you going to give up AC, central heating, etc. In the same way, we could go back to horses instead of cars, but would you? Could you live without your phone and the internet? Are they now necessities for daily life? Like cars?
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I could live without phone and the internet, yes. I have hardback books, puzzles, games for entertainment. Anything I wanted to know, I would get from the library down the road. Just not at 3:57 AM.

I gave up AC and 'central' heating in 2018. AC isn't really necessary here. It does get hot (100F) during the day but nights cool down to 60's so it is liveable. I have two forms of heat -- electric zone heating and propane. I would miss the car but I could survive without it.
 
dusty said:
I can and do live wihout a cell phone, but I have a non corded landline which is fine. The net is something I would miss for sure as I use it for banking and sending and recieving information.

I remember not having he net and things were easier but also a bit more difficult. I could do ok without the net.
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I had a land line not long ago but not a phone person so with my flip phone it was enough.

I even had an answering machine that said to please a message after the beep and yes my alarm clocks are wind up .
 
fuzzybuddy said:
I found myself laid out on the kitchen floor, unable to hardly move. If I wasn't able to get my phone out of my pocket, I wouldn't be here.
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I've mentioned this before: I tripped over a computer cable, while wearing flimsy p j tops and T V headphones, and as I fell I said more loudly than I realised, "God help me!". Upstairs female tenant heard me, tried to get to me, ( I didn't hear her (headphones on). Door locked, so, me not knowing, she phoned landlord. By the time he arrived I was on my toilet feeling fine. He came in & proceeded to STAND AT BATHROOM DOOR ASKING ME SEVERAL TIMES IF I WAS OKAY before he finally left. shees! Recently, his partner and he have divided up their rental properties & he is no longer my landlord.:D
 
fuzzybuddy said:
I found myself laid out on the kitchen floor, unable to hardly move. If I wasn't able to get my phone out of my pocket, I wouldn't be here.
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Good for you and SF that you had your phone within reach!

SO brought me home after a 89 incision vein procedure with local and Valium. I insisted on sitting in my office throne. The garage was behind me and a full wall size book shelf. He did not hear me scream when I slipped out of the chair, busted numerous glued incisions and could not get up with one leg splinted from foot to hip. Somehow I wiggled to the cat tree and worked myself up doing backwards push ups. He took pictures of my back and reglued everything. Superglue! I have standing orders to have my cell on me.
 
I think cell phones have become a necessity.

I was out walking one afternoon and witnessed a pedestrian get struck by an auto. The driver stopped, got out, looked at the victim, got back in the car, backed up, drove around the victim and then sped away.

I was shocked and trembling a bit but was able to use my cell phone to photograph the car when the driver was backing up. (Zooming in one can read the license plate). I of course also called 911 for an ambulance. I gave a witness statement to one of the police officers who responded and shared the photo with him.

The driver was later apprehended. I was told there was damage to the front of his car and that he told police he had struck a deer.

The pedestrian had a concussion and injuries to his knee. I don’t know what ultimately happened to the driver.

I am happy I always carry my phone.
 
MaddHollander said:
I think cell phones have become a necessity.

I was out walking one afternoon and witnessed a pedestrian get struck by an auto. The driver stopped, got out, looked at the victim, got back in the car, backed up, drove around the victim and then sped away.

I was shocked and trembling a bit but was able to use my cell phone to photograph the car when the driver was backing up. (Zooming in one can read the license plate). I of course also called 911 for an ambulance. I gave a witness statement to one of the police officers who responded and shared the photo with him.

The driver was later apprehended. I was told there was damage to the front of his car and that he told police he had struck a deer.

The pedestrian had a concussion and injuries to his knee. I don’t know what ultimately happened to the driver.

I am happy I always carry my phone.
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that's because there's no public phone boxes any more.. at least not in the UK... so people can't readily run to a phone and get help , which means we all have to carry a monile phone with us
 
So true Hollydolly.
I’m not one for chatting on the phone so apart from emergencies & taking it when out driving, Sods Law says the one time I leave it home will be the one time my car breaks down it’s mostly turned off.
I know we lived for decades without the internet but it was so much easier then with thriving towns full of shops, banks etc. Now, here in the north of England at least, the towns are like ghost towns. All the shops boarded up or turned into vape shops, Turkish barbers, estate agents, charity shops, all such other really useful things 🙄 wine bars yet the pubs are disappearing. So now you need the internet buy or do almost anything except grocery shopping.
Don’t get me started on how the banks have all shut down & the hotels are full of illegals, well fed & toasty warm, while our pensioners struggle to keep warm & fed as I know political posts aren’t allowed.
 
CallMeKate said:
Without my phone, absolutely... and I don't use it, so no question. It's turned off. If I get curious about that Bonaparte dude at 3:57 a.m., my tablet is always close-by. But without the Internet... that's a whole 'nother ball of wax... that would be extremely difficult.
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Completely agree, though for some silly reason, I don't shut my phone off even just before I set it down somewhere in the house, immediately forgetting where. Battery dies or is nearly dead when I finally think to check the damned thing.

I view the phone as an electronic leash.

But yeah, I gotsta have the internet. I'm curious about a lot of things and I'm constantly hitting DDG up on a question. Rarely do I play any sort of game on my computer (I have a tablet, but never use it except on the elliptical).
 
Pendle said:
So true Hollydolly.
I’m not one for chatting on the phone so apart from emergencies & taking it when out driving, Sods Law says the one time I leave it home will be the one time my car breaks down it’s mostly turned off.
I know we lived for decades without the internet but it was so much easier then with thriving towns full of shops, banks etc. Now, here in the north of England at least, the towns are like ghost towns. All the shops boarded up or turned into vape shops, Turkish barbers, estate agents, charity shops, all such other really useful things 🙄 wine bars yet the pubs are disappearing. So now you need the internet buy or do almost anything except grocery shopping.
Don’t get me started on how the banks have all shut down & the hotels are full of illegals, well fed & toasty warm, while our pensioners struggle to keep warm & fed as I know political posts aren’t allowed.
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so true in many parts o the uk with regard to boarded up shops etc..its a damn disgrace

Fortunately not here where i live on the edge of an ancient town with a very thriving community...still a small market town altho' almost double in population since I moved here...

I'm very thankful it's still like this given the many places particularly in the North who have been left without any funding...


Still tho'...like everywhere else our banks have almost all closed...we just have one bank now...
 
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hollydolly said:
that's because there's no public phone boxes any more.. at least not in the UK... so people can't readily run to a phone and get help , which means we all have to carry a monile phone with us
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When cell phones first came out, my wife got one because she traveled to work over a remote area where there were no pay phones. This was in the early 1990s, and she got a plan for $35.00 a month, which allowed her only 30 minutes of talk time, but that was enough to call for help in case of an emergency.

My trip to work was through heavily traveled areas, and pay phones were everywhere, so I just got a pager. That way, if something happened she could just page me, then I could stop at a pay phone and call her. As you say, that wouldn't work anymore - I haven't seen a pay phone in years.
 
PeppermintPatty said:
I am living without a house plug in phone and doing just fine. Living without my iPhone is altogether a different thing. I do so much research on my phone and take many pictures on it as well as interact with others that I truly would be lost without it.
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That's one of the best things about our phones/the internet, the way it connects us all. If I didn't have access to the internet, I would feel disconnected from the hive.
 
I seldom make phone calls, but if i do need to it is much easier just having my iPhone there to make them with. unknown callers can go straight to voicemail, so I do not get spam calls usually, which I did when we had a landline phone.
Mainly, I use my phone more like a tablet or mini-computer. Since it has all of my health apps on it as well as connecting with my Apple Watch , I use it for storing all of that information.
It is also my only camera, and works so much better than when I had an actual camera. Back when I had a camera, I only took it with me when I expected to be taking pictures, so I did not always have a camera along when I saw something I wanted a photo of. With the phone, it is always in my purse, so if I want a camera, it is right there. The pictures I take go almost instantly into my iPad; so there is not effort in transferring picture from one device to another.

As far as not having internet, I would not know what to do without it if it were suddenly gone. When i worked, and had a busy life, internet was just something nice , and a way to have email contact with my family who were not close by.
When my daughter was stationed overseas, it was impossible to talk with her until I got a computer and could send email. Then I cold write to her from my time zone, and she could answer back as she had time, and from her time zone, which was a day and night difference from my time zone.
 

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