Cell-phone holdouts

Cell-phone holdouts
It's not likely they can hear you now, because whether it's for
economic or personal reasons, 24 percent of Americans don't want to be
shackled to a wireless phone
By Cynthia Hubert - Bee Staff Writer

Last Updated 6:10 am PDT Friday, August 3, 2007
Story appeared in SCENE section, Page J1

http://www.sacbee.com/107/story/303943.html

Kim Scioloro has never pondered her ring-tone choices.

She has never snapped a photo with a camera phone nor reached into her
purse to take a call while standing in a checkout line.

Call Scioloro exotic. Call her backward. But don't call her wired.
Scioloro, a freelance writer from Sacramento, is part of a vanishing
breed of Americans who are saying "no" to cell phones. According to
CTIA, which represents the wireless communications industry, about 24
percent of Americans are without cell phones, and that number is
shrinking year by year.

"I tried a cell phone once, and it was one of the most annoying hours
of my life," says Scioloro, 47. She has trouble manipulating the
"infuriatingly tiny" buttons on most wireless phones. She has no
desire, she says, to discuss pri- vate or business matters in public
on a cell phone, or to hear others do so.

"Plus," Scioloro says, "I really like the fact that there are times
when I'm simply unreachable."

According to CTIA, which tracks wireless use internationally, 233
million people in the United States have cell-phone service, or more
than 76 percent of the population. Ten percent of American households
have abandoned their land lines altogether, a sevenfold increase since
2001.

Today, both in this country and internationally, more cell phones are
in service than fixed phones.

Many wireless fans, especially younger ones who grew up with cell
phones, can't imagine living without them. For them, portable phones
are symbols of freedom, security and convenience.

So who are the holdouts?

They're not all curmudgeons, and they're not all technology-
challenged senior citizens, although elderly people do make up the
most reluctant age group, CTIA's John Walls admits.

According to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press,
more than 45 percent of those who rely strictly on land lines are ages
65 and older, compared to 16 percent of the population overall.

But cell-phone holdouts also include students, business professionals,
college professors and young moms.

They are people like Joe McGinley, a certified public accountant in
Elk Grove. And Kevin Jones, an English professor from Fair Oaks. And
James Dante, a Sacramentan who teaches adult education. And software
engineer Scott Lindhurst and his wife, Lynne Larock, who live in
Granite Bay and are the parents of two young children.

Why have they, and others like them, resisted taking the plunge,
despite pressure in some cases from friends and relatives? For some,
the reasons are economic. Others admit to an aversion to modern
technology. Most simply say they don't need the "electronic leash"
that has ensnared so many others.

"I don't want to be that available," says Ana Aurora Lee, a writer and
poet who lives in downtown Sacramento. "My God, when are we supposed
to be able to enjoy uninterrupted contemplation anymore? Or true
involvement in the moments happening around us, rather than what is
happening on the phone?"

Jones, who teaches English at Union Institute and University in
Sacramento, asks himself the same thing.

"Do I really want to be like those people I see in the supermarket,
weaving down the aisle as they mumble into their phones?" he asks. "Do
I really need to call my wife to tell her there's a deal on organic
radishes?"

He thinks not.

"My wife has a cell phone for use when we are away," says McGinley,
the accountant. "I have never felt the need for a shorter leash. When
I'm in my car, no one can get ahold of me and I like it that way."

Dante, the adult educator, engages in daily battles with students who
"regard a ban on cell phone use as a stint in Guantanamo Bay prison,"
he says. "I try to enlighten them on the advantages of living without
a cell phone. But I'm sure that for them, listening to me is like
visiting a museum."

Dorothy Hawkinson of Sacramento is 55, and she's no Luddite. She has
high-speed Internet, a digital camera and digital cable, and more than
a decade ago even had a "car phone" the size of a brick. But as the
years go by, she has become more and more cynical about cell phones.

"I'm sick of hearing the loud responses to 'Where you at?' " and other
inane dialogue, she says.

"I hate to have films interrupted by lighted cell-phone screens, or
hear a blaring ring tone at a concert. I'm nervous around drivers who
are holding cell phones.

"Something about cell phones has contributed to a society that is
ruder, more demanding, more angry and more self-important than ever."

At 21, Marissa Taylor of Roseville is an unlikely holdout. She's
experimented with wireless phones but has decided that, for now at
least, they're more trouble than they're worth.

"I had a cell phone, but I got sick of paying insane amounts of money
for talking," she says. "I've saved so much money simply by getting
rid of something I don't need."

Her friends occasionally give her a hard time for being out of touch,
Taylor says, but she's unfazed. "I started making people call me at
home. I get by.

"The only time it's bad is when I'm driving and I'm lost. It makes you
get more creative."

Taylor relies a lot on pay phones but has noticed fewer and fewer of
them in the landscape.

Her observations are astute. According to the Federal Communications
Commission, about a million pay phones were operating in the United
States last year, compared to more than 2 million just a decade ago.

The primary reason for their demise, according to the National
Payphone Clearinghouse, is the proliferation of cell phones.

In the future, Walls says, American life may be completely devoid of
land lines.

The wireless industry is doing its part, working to put mobile phones
into the hands of everyone capable of having a conversation. Companies
are creating phones with special features geared toward preschoolers,
senior citizens and all of those in between.

The Jitterbug, with its large, backlit buttons and ear cushion, is
being marketed to older people. The Firefly, which has just five
buttons and allows for parents to manage calls, is being pitched to
kids as young as 5.

"As more and more people who grew up with cell phones enter their 30s
and 40s," Walls says, "land lines could disappear."

And so could the cell-phone holdouts.

"My day is coming," admits Dante, the adult educator. "Lately, people
have been slipping Sprint ads into my day planner. But I'm in no
hurry. I think I'll sign up for cable TV first."

"Ablang" <ron916@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1186191864.519893.257170@d30g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
> By Cynthia Hubert - Bee Staff Writer
>
> Last Updated 6:10 am PDT Friday, August 3, 2007
> Story appeared in SCENE section, Page J1
>
> "Plus," Scioloro says, "I really like the fact that there are times
> when I'm simply unreachable."

This is really easy enough. You just turn it off.

> "I don't want to be that available," says Ana Aurora Lee, a writer and
> poet who lives in downtown Sacramento. "My God, when are we supposed
> to be able to enjoy uninterrupted contemplation anymore? Or true
> involvement in the moments happening around us, rather than what is
> happening on the phone?"

The electronic leash is a mental thing. I know people who have cell phones
and believe that the way you end a call is with the power button. For them,
they only want the phone to make calls, never to receive them.

> Dorothy Hawkinson of Sacramento is 55, and she's no Luddite. She has
> high-speed Internet, a digital camera and digital cable, and more than
> a decade ago even had a "car phone" the size of a brick. But as the
> years go by, she has become more and more cynical about cell phones.

I've known a number of people who would have a "car phone" but not a "cell
phone". They believed the two were not the same. A phone you put in your
pocket or purse is a "cell phone" and one that must stay in the car is a
"car phone". Don't bother trying to tell them that they are just different
versions of the same thing.

> "I'm sick of hearing the loud responses to 'Where you at?' " and other
> inane dialogue, she says.

I agree but how does your not having a cell phone help the situation?
Drunks are bad but how does it help them if you refuse a glass of wine with
dinner? Unless you are an alcoholic yourself and can't stop drinking. Then
it's a good thing to refuse the wine. Same's true with cell phones.

> "I hate to have films interrupted by lighted cell-phone screens, or
> hear a blaring ring tone at a concert. I'm nervous around drivers who
> are holding cell phones.

I agree. Same question.

> "Something about cell phones has contributed to a society that is
> ruder, more demanding, more angry and more self-important than ever."

Probably true. Same question.

> At 21, Marissa Taylor of Roseville is an unlikely holdout. She's
> experimented with wireless phones but has decided that, for now at
> least, they're more trouble than they're worth.
>
> "I had a cell phone, but I got sick of paying insane amounts of money
> for talking," she says. "I've saved so much money simply by getting
> rid of something I don't need."

This is a valid objection. I don't have cable TV. I don't care enough about
what's on TV to consider it worth the very high cost.

> Taylor relies a lot on pay phones but has noticed fewer and fewer of
> them in the landscape.

Like almost impossible to find.

> Her observations are astute. According to the Federal Communications
> Commission, about a million pay phones were operating in the United
> States last year, compared to more than 2 million just a decade ago.
>
> The primary reason for their demise, according to the National
> Payphone Clearinghouse, is the proliferation of cell phones.

To say nothing of COCOT unreliability.

etc

--
Donald R. Newcomb
DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net

On 2007-08-05, Donald Newcomb <DRNewcomb@NOT.attglobal.net> wrote:

> The electronic leash is a mental thing. I know people who have cell phones
> and believe that the way you end a call is with the power button.

That IS how you end a call on many phones.

"Steve Sobol" <sjsobol@JustThe.net> wrote in message
news:slrnfbc0t6.i7v.sjsobol@amethyst.justthe.net...
> On 2007-08-05, Donald Newcomb <DRNewcomb@NOT.attglobal.net> wrote:
>
> > The electronic leash is a mental thing. I know people who have cell
phones
> > and believe that the way you end a call is with the power button.
>
> That IS how you end a call on many phones.

Yeah, like my Motorola phones. Or rather, you turn the phone off with the
on-hook button.


--
Donald R. Newcomb
DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net

On Aug 3, 8:44 pm, Ablang <ron...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Cell-phone holdouts
> It's not likely they can hear you now, because whether it's for
> economic or personal reasons, 24 percent of Americans don't want to be
> shackled to a wireless phone
> By Cynthia Hubert - Bee Staff Writer
>
> Last Updated 6:10 am PDT Friday, August 3, 2007
> Story appeared in SCENE section, Page J1
>
> http://www.sacbee.com/107/story/303943.html
>
> Kim Scioloro has never pondered her ring-tone choices.
>
> She has never snapped a photo with a camera phone nor reached into her
> purse to take a call while standing in a checkout line.
>
> Call Scioloro exotic. Call her backward. But don't call her wired.
> Scioloro, a freelance writer from Sacramento, is part of a vanishing
> breed of Americans who are saying "no" to cell phones. According to
> CTIA, which represents the wireless communications industry, about 24
> percent of Americans are without cell phones, and that number is
> shrinking year by year.
>
> "I tried a cell phone once, and it was one of the most annoying hours
> of my life," says Scioloro, 47. She has trouble manipulating the
> "infuriatingly tiny" buttons on most wireless phones. She has no
> desire, she says, to discuss pri- vate or business matters in public
> on a cell phone, or to hear others do so.
>
> "Plus," Scioloro says, "I really like the fact that there are times
> when I'm simply unreachable."
>
> According to CTIA, which tracks wireless use internationally, 233
> million people in the United States have cell-phone service, or more
> than 76 percent of the population. Ten percent of American households
> have abandoned their land lines altogether, a sevenfold increase since
> 2001.
>
> Today, both in this country and internationally, more cell phones are
> in service than fixed phones.
>
> Many wireless fans, especially younger ones who grew up with cell
> phones, can't imagine living without them. For them, portable phones
> are symbols of freedom, security and convenience.
>
> So who are the holdouts?
>
> They're not all curmudgeons, and they're not all technology-
> challenged senior citizens, although elderly people do make up the
> most reluctant age group, CTIA's John Walls admits.
>
> According to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press,
> more than 45 percent of those who rely strictly on land lines are ages
> 65 and older, compared to 16 percent of the population overall.
>
> But cell-phone holdouts also include students, business professionals,
> college professors and young moms.
>
> They are people like Joe McGinley, a certified public accountant in
> Elk Grove. And Kevin Jones, an English professor from Fair Oaks. And
> James Dante, a Sacramentan who teaches adult education. And software
> engineer Scott Lindhurst and his wife, Lynne Larock, who live in
> Granite Bay and are the parents of two young children.
>
> Why have they, and others like them, resisted taking the plunge,
> despite pressure in some cases from friends and relatives? For some,
> the reasons are economic. Others admit to an aversion to modern
> technology. Most simply say they don't need the "electronic leash"
> that has ensnared so many others.
>
> "I don't want to be that available," says Ana Aurora Lee, a writer and
> poet who lives in downtown Sacramento. "My God, when are we supposed
> to be able to enjoy uninterrupted contemplation anymore? Or true
> involvement in the moments happening around us, rather than what is
> happening on the phone?"
>
> Jones, who teaches English at Union Institute and University in
> Sacramento, asks himself the same thing.
>
> "Do I really want to be like those people I see in the supermarket,
> weaving down the aisle as they mumble into their phones?" he asks. "Do
> I really need to call my wife to tell her there's a deal on organic
> radishes?"
>
> He thinks not.
>
> "My wife has a cell phone for use when we are away," says McGinley,
> the accountant. "I have never felt the need for a shorter leash. When
> I'm in my car, no one can get ahold of me and I like it that way."
>
> Dante, the adult educator, engages in daily battles with students who
> "regard a ban on cell phone use as a stint in Guantanamo Bay prison,"
> he says. "I try to enlighten them on the advantages of living without
> a cell phone. But I'm sure that for them, listening to me is like
> visiting a museum."
>
> Dorothy Hawkinson of Sacramento is 55, and she's no Luddite. She has
> high-speed Internet, a digital camera and digital cable, and more than
> a decade ago even had a "car phone" the size of a brick. But as the
> years go by, she has become more and more cynical about cell phones.
>
> "I'm sick of hearing the loud responses to 'Where you at?' " and other
> inane dialogue, she says.
>
> "I hate to have films interrupted by lighted cell-phone screens, or
> hear a blaring ring tone at a concert. I'm nervous around drivers who
> are holding cell phones.
>
> "Something about cell phones has contributed to a society that is
> ruder, more demanding, more angry and more self-important than ever."
>
> At 21, Marissa Taylor of Roseville is an unlikely holdout. She's
> experimented with wireless phones but has decided that, for now at
> least, they're more trouble than they're worth.
>
> "I had a cell phone, but I got sick of paying insane amounts of money
> for talking," she says. "I've saved so much money simply by getting
> rid of something I don't need."
>
> Her friends occasionally give her a hard time for being out of touch,
> Taylor says, but she's unfazed. "I started making people call me at
> home. I get by.
>
> "The only time it's bad is when I'm driving and I'm lost. It makes you
> get more creative."
>
> Taylor relies a lot on pay phones but has noticed fewer and fewer of
> them in the landscape.
>
> Her observations are astute. According to the Federal Communications
> Commission, about a million pay phones were operating in the United
> States last year, compared to more than 2 million just a decade ago.
>
> The primary reason for their demise, according to the National
> Payphone Clearinghouse, is the proliferation of cell phones.
>
> In the future, Walls says, American life may be completely devoid of
> land lines.
>
> The wireless industry is doing its part, working to put mobile phones
> into the hands of everyone capable of having a conversation. Companies
> are creating phones with special features geared toward preschoolers,
> senior citizens and all of those in between.
>
> The Jitterbug, with its large, backlit buttons and ear cushion, is
> being marketed to older people. The Firefly, which has just five
> buttons and allows for parents to manage calls, is being pitched to
> kids as young as 5.
>
> "As more and more people who grew up with cell phones enter their 30s
> and 40s," Walls says, "land lines could disappear."
>
> And so could the cell-phone holdouts.
>
> "My day is coming," admits Dante, the adult educator. "Lately, people
> have been slipping Sprint ads into my day planner. But I'm in no
> hurry. I think I'll sign up for cable TV first."

Good article but it doesn't mention the main reason why many don't
have a cell phone...cost.

Why pay more when you don't need it?

TMT