Forget Verizon vs. AT&T: Why I Won't Get a Smartphone

so easily answered, cause i don't need one. i have my cellphone for emergencies only. i think most people that own a smartphone just want to be trendy, but don't really need one either. they might look into all the fancy features their new phone offers when they get it, but really after a little while aren't using it. i have the samsung t155 from tracfone, which cost me $15, and a monthly plan, the senior value plan for $7. i have a very reliable network coverage, the 911 emergency locate assist, no long term commitment, paid no activation fees and am as happy as can be with my cheap prepaid tracfone. be honest with yourselves now....who does really need a smartphone??????

i am right behind you, just for slightly different reasons. i also believe i don't need a smartphone. i need a phone that enables me to make calls and send the odd text, and of course to be available when i am not at home. i don't have a large income, so i have to think twice where i spend my money. i switched from contract to tracfone prepaid, and save a lot of money since then. i do want a phone with me all the time, i know we all did get on without them before, but i think it is a very good thing to be mobile with our phones too. in many cases cellphones have saved lives, cause people were able to call for help. without cellphones, stuck in a remote area, we are lost without one.so i am a believer in carrying a phone at all times, just in case...and i am strict enough with myself not to use it too much often. so my monthly plan with tracfone prepaid costs me $19.99 and gives me 100 minutes. enough for me. tracfone is perfect and very affordable for small users like me, that don't need a smartphone but want to be available to others and be able to make the odd call. and another great thing about tracfone is, that they have a very reliable network coverage.no contract, no hassles, simply prepaid

I was just remarking this weekend to my boyfriend how nice it was now that everyone has a cell phone. I can text friends a recipe or a phone number or a picture of some cute outfit for their child. My friends can get back to me when they have a chance; they don't have to answer right now. That's really critical when you have a boyfriend and friends that work different hours than you do; maybe even different hours every week.

My parents are in their 80s. I can't stay home waiting for their call if they need me. Also, they don't have the internet so it's not unusual for them to call me to research something; or for them to ask me to look something up on my phone after dinner at their house.

Of course there's also all the boyfriend related needs. He rarely asks for directions or looks up what restaurants are open or where they are. It makes our life a lot more stress free if I can double check something on my phone while we're driving around in a unfamiliar part of town.

Here's something to consider. We live in an age where we have many simultaneous and competing demands, especially moms. In one sense, that's all the more reason so try to figure out what tools really HELP you manage better and at what cost.

I know that I use my iphone for many things. Sometimes I'm

*registering for a conference with my son's teacher
*checking a recipe online to see what ingredients I need at the grocery store.
*reading an article to stay up on current events or issues I care about (Time to read "the paper" or watch the news is completely out.)
*looking up the nearest 24 hour vet for my sick cat.
* sharing a prayer request with my church small group friends or offering real time encouragement to a friend in need.

What I'm trying to say is that folks aren't always "tweeting" their favorite breakfast cereal as some are fond of saying.

Is it still a device that presents other temptations? Absolutely! Do I sometimes get off track and go down bunny trails I should avoid? You betcha! I just try to bear this in mind before I think some snarky thought about anyone else being on their "crackberry"

I just wanted to add this perspective to the conversation.

This article really hit home for me. I've been mulling this problem quite a lot lately actually. You could best describe my relationship with my iPhone as a love/hate relationship. It's indispensable for so many things. It multitasks brilliantly and can be very efficient at what it does. Perhaps that's why it can be so seductive. Smart phones, like computers can be time bandits for sure.

Ironically, the main reason I took the plunge into the world of smart phones what to be able to take care of emails here and there through out the day SO THAT I could be MORE available to my kids once they got home. BUT, the temptation does creeps up on you. You think you're going to be able to control the beast and self righteously say that you're "not like THOSE Moms", but I think Kristin is wise to recognize her own weakness in this area. Too much "connectivity" and access is not a good thing. I find myself falling into the traps she mentions and am trying to figure out how to manage it better. Ditch the phone? Have more self control? ALL of her reasons for resisting the siren song of smart phones are all 100% valid. I miss my simple, old phone that just makes calls.

P.S. While I don't advocate walking and texting or checking your Facebook profile while your kids swings by himself, personally, I try to resist making judgements about other people simply because it makes me feel like a better parent. I've noticed that I can be too quick to smugly judge some other mom and I'm trying to check for the plank in my own eye more often.

I can definitely see how that would work really well for your stage of life, which is very different than mine.

I worry that I would be just the sort of mom who would check Facebook at a museum. I don't trust myself!

I don't really like talking on the phone either! lol

I am a serious iPhone addict but I'm usually on the go - I'm may be at home for enough time to sleep and shower before I'm gone again. Since I'm a student who also works on campus between classes, I don't stay in one place for more than an hour or two at a time. While I could always pull out my laptop, connect to the on-campus internet [if I just happen to be in a hot spot], and then check my email, I feel it's too much of a hassle when I can literally spend two seconds while walking using my phone. Plus, it allows me to listen to music, watch TV, or read while I ride the bus on one teeny-tiny device, which I think it's amazing since I don't have much downtime to do it otherwise.

However, once I get out in the "real world," I don't think I'll need the instant connection as much as I do now so I would rather switch to a less little-laptop-like phone than the one I have.

Good for you for sticking to something that works for you, especially in this phone-crazed world!

Sincerely,

Randa from About Life* ( http://aboutlifestar.blogspot.com/ )

Your view on cell phones couldn't be any closer to mine! I use a prepaid phone on Straight Talk's service and seriously pay $45 for UNLIMITED text, calls, and web. Zero hidden fees and zero dropped calls since the coverage is so great. And you are so right, I don't want to be that mom with her kids at dinner always on my phone. The last thing I want is to rely on my cell phone all the time and miss all the great moments in life! With a prepaid phone, I use it for my basic needs and get what I need for the perfect price

I had a similar phone for 5 years - I upgrade to a non-contract smart phone but I rarely make a phone call on it.

I want to talk to people in the flesh and present time. I can't walk, talk and cross the street safely. I don't want to try.

We model the future we want to live in.

Gena Haskett is a BlogHer Contributing Editor. My Blogs: Out On The Stoop ( http://outonthestoop.blogspot.com ) and Create Video Notebook ( http://createvideonotebook.blogspot.com )

Esther Feng

www.estherfeng.com ( http://www.estherfeng.com )

I have an iphone and love it. It helps me keep on top of emails, etc when I'm out.

But I try so very hard to be present when I am with real live people -- particularly my children. I caught myself looking at facebook at the children's museum the other day. Seriously, who is more important? My 500 closest friends, or my own kiddos??

Great post!

Part of me really wants a smart phone. I don't do a lot of texting, but I'd love something with a QWERTY for the little bit of texting I do. But you're right---I don't want to be glued to it. I'm home all day and have easy access to a computer---it's rare that I need access when I go out. And I can technically tweet and update FB from any phone with texting, so I can update without staring at everyone else's updates for hours. :) I'm with you, sister!

Rachel is a Christian, a mom, a wife, a blogger, and a lazy bum. Check her out at The Lazy Christian ( http://www.thelazychristian.com )!

I don't want a smart phone either. I think it would be a waste of money if I got one. I'm home most of the time and when I'm not at home, I'm usually with the husband. I think when we move back to the states in a few months, prepaid will be the way to go for me as well :)

I would prefer the text/data only phone. Of course, we don't have a landline here--just a house full of cell phones.

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I am the exact opposite, I would rather have a phone that did text and web only. Ive always hated phone calls and preferred to speak in person. I was in heaven back in the days of pagers because i would get the number and the time they called and I could call them back at my leisure. :)

Tori is the creatrix behind Cellar Door Beauty ( http://cellardoorbeauty.wordpress.com ) 

virgin mobile.

CONS: zero customer service, so you're completely on your own there. no coverage in the north carolina mountains, where i actually might need it when i'm there in my studio in summers and at christmastime.

PROS: $15 per quarter. period. WIN!

p.s. i keep it for emergency only, which means even at $15 a quarter i have built up a balance of over $300 on the thing. when i need to make a long distance call i must remember to use the cell phone!

e

I have a call-only phone too! It cost $20 and I joke that it's a Playskool phone because pretty much all it can do is make phone calls and text (though I rarely text, I find it annoying).

My cost averages about $9/mo and when I tell my friends who pay $60/mo, their jaws drop. I'm glad to be saving all that money for something I never needed anyway.

Kathy authors The Junk Drawer ( http://www.junkdrawerblog.com ) blog.

I am thinking about going back to the future myself and using the iPod Touch as the PDA and just have a simple text and talk phone.

You're a girl after my own heart! The world has gone completely phone mad. A phone is for making and receiving calls, agreed. Though I have to confess I broke our rule and texted for the first time when I replaced my phone which was just a little newer than yours. My new phone, which my son persuaded me to get, is almost a smart phone, though I'll never learn to use all the features. Anyway, the reason I'm saying all this my new phone is a Straight Talk prepaid phone. I was amazed to find out you could get phones like these with a prepaid plan. Just for the record, my plan is unlimited everything and costs only $45 a month. So again you're right. Forget about Verizon and AT&T and those high cost plans just so you can spend your life squinting at a tiny screen.

I have a Tracfone. It costs even less than TMobile. Last year, we paid less than $4 a month for my AND Tim's phones, plus my mom's. There's no regular monthly fee, either; I pay when I'm running low on minutes. It has a stronger and more reliable signal than most contract phones, and there are NO roaming charges. It's internet-capable, but I save that for my laptop. There are times when I dream, smiling, of having a smart phone, but I also know myself well enough to know that I'd become instantly addicted, and I don't want to become "that guy" who walks around talking out loud to an earbud, indistinguishable from the crazy guy who walks around talking out loud to an invisible best bud.

My phone doesn't work at my house, but neither does any other cell phone. It's one of the bad (?) things about living out in the middle of BF nowhere.

I do allow my students to use their phones in class, though - as reference points. If they try to make conversation in my class, they can do that out in the hall ON THEIR WAY HOME. (sad addicted little beasts. . .) But for reference? You go, kid!

If a student sends me a text using the cutesy code, I delete it without reading. I teach writing. I am not a ROTFLMAO peep. Although I do LMAO after I delete a junior high level message from a college student. But I digress.

I'm dirt poor and I own a Tracfone, and it outperforms many of your fancy highpriced miniature PC's.

"Don't be content with being average. Average is as close to the bottom as it is to the top."

Jane blogs as "Mamacita" at Scheiss Weekly, ( http://janegoodwin.net/ )hitting the fan like nobody can.

Even if I don't necessarily love the contract. It's worth it to me though. I don't work 9-5 hours and with my smartphone I can dart off to the store or even just take a break to watch a bit of television or read a few chapters in a book without feeling so disconnected. And guilty. I can just grab my phone, do a quick look in email and other things, and then continue to take my break.

And one of the things I love most about my smartphone is that between texting and email and various forms of instant messaging I don't actually have to talk on the darned thing. I hate talking on the phone ( http://www.blogher.com/friday-confessions-i-hate-t... ). If I had just talking minutes they'd last me forever.

Contributing Editor Karen Ballum also blogs at Sassymonkey ( http://sassymonkey.ca ) and Sassymonkey Reads ( http://sassymonkeyreads.ca ).

The the very devices that are supposed to connect people, disconnect them even more?
I wear a pre-paid cell for the same reasons as you do, and I use it just as sparingly.

It saddens me to see, for example, when I go drop my son at school, all those moms with their cell phones, completely oblivious to what is going on around them.

This is such a special moment. I like to tell my son that I love him and watch him happily make it to the door.

I like to think that my son will remember me smiling and waving when he grows up, not with a device stuck on my ears, talking to someone else.

I have one because well, I won the first one from Kaboodle and before that Denise had an iPhone. I use the smart part while we are out and about, while I sit waiting for kids, when I need directions. Oh and I use a book tracking app to keep track of what I have read (so I can say "I have only read 49 books this year so far! I am behind!" every so often) (Yes, really 49 books since 1/1. I read a lot.)

I get very few phone calls and likely would do fine with just a plain pay as you go phone. My minutes on the phone are likely less than 50 a month.

I like having it--but if I didn't have it, I could certainly do without.

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