AIBU to think mobile phones are NOT a necessity?

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Inspired by the thread regarding schools confiscating then.
So many people think they NEED a mobile phone now, and view it as a necessity and not a luxury (which I think it is). Yes they're great in many ways and can make life a lot easier but I just can't get my head around people who genuinely think they could not go about day to day life without. My DM for example, thinks there is no way in this day and age it's possible to live without one, this actually makes me lol as she never used one at all until around 18 months ago!

AIBU?

it’s like most other things surely, very little in life is actually “essential “ but life and society moves on so that some things become more desirable and/or necessary.

I think the way society is set up now here a mobile phone is pretty essential, you’d certainly be at a disadvantage in many areas if you didn’t have one. But could you physically exist without it, well of course as we did either before they were invented at all or when only twats had them.

Mine is essential for me. I have it linked up to my blood glucose monitor and it then send the readings to my phone so I can always see what my levels are doing without having to prick my finger.

Other things I use it for, which you could argue aren't necessary, are banking, emails, taking calls (I work in the community so only way to contact me), online food shopping, paying bills, googling everything in life that I don't know the answer to, using google maps whenever we go somewhere unfamiliar..I could go on

I go for days without using mine and sometimes it runs out of charge without my realising it, so I do view it as more of a convenience than a necessity. I have a landline, though.

DH and I both grew up before the mobile phone era so we have no difficulty arranging our lives without them - e.g. 'I'll meet you at 5:30' rather than 'I'll phone you when I get there."

However, the scarcity of phone boxes do make mobile phones more or less essential for emergency situations.

2 factor authentication.

Were it not for this, I'd happily go without a smartphone.

I need mine.

I do my banking on it. I order my shopping on it. Use it as a sat nav. Use it to record lectures at uni.

My parents are both disabled and need to get in touch with me in an emergency so my phone is on 24/7.

I need mine. It’s my camera, my sat nav, banking and also just my main method of communication with the outside world. I don’t have a landline, I don’t think many people under the age of maybe 60 do anymore.

Phone boxes are almost non existent as well plus most people don’t memorise numbers anymore so how would you contact someone in an emergency without a mobile?

They are extremely useful and it's limiting not to have one. However, it's rarely, if ever necessary to have the most expensive versions.

I saw a thread yesterday where someone wanted to save more money yet they both had £50 pm phone contracts and it was justified in that they 'needed them for work' but this simply isn't true.

I pay £10 a month for unlimited calls and texts and several Gb of data and have a Motorola phone that I got on a black Friday deal for £75 after cashback but it usually about £130, so even if I change it after 2 years, my phone costs less than £15 pm and in reality it will be even less as I'll probably keep it longer than that and sell it when I do change it.

I don't use mine that much as a phone. But

• it's my diary
• I create my invoices and log my business expenses via an app
• I'm self employed and clients contact me with work requests via text or email
• I use what's app groups to communicate with colleagues and family
• I do online shopping on my journey to and from work
• I use it to pay on public transport and in shops
• I read books via kindle

And much more. I could live without it but my life would not be so simple. And my bag would be much heavier!

2 factor authentication. Were it not for this, I'd happily go without a smartphone.

Yes, online shopping is going to be more difficult if you don't have a mobile phone with the new Secure Authentication requirements of PSD2.

I hardly ever use my phone for calls, it's mainly for online banking and WhatsApp with friends abroad. Of course, I could go back to going into the bank or sending letters but I have no wish to spend my weekends queuing in the bank and post office.

Mine is a convenience for when out and about, but that is it really.

But that is because I like to use a laptop for internet stuff (it is better than a phone for me visually, ergonomically etc... so why not),

landline for phoning (again it is better than a mobile for me - ergonomically etc...)

and a TV to watch video... (again....)

oh, and an alarm clock to wake me up.. and...and...

rather than a single gadget that does not quite do everything as well - for me - as other things do.

As I said I do think the make life much easier, but I don't think that equates to being essential.
Ie I don't have an alarm clock, but if I didn't have a mobile I would. Likewise with the Internet, my laptop hasn't been switched on for months because I use my phone for Internet, same as I use Google maps instead of an actual satnav. So I do think they serve great purpose but I still do think I'd be able to cope just fine without one and don't see it as essential

Most people who say they don't have a landline do, because they wouldn't have Internet at home without it, so that doesn't make a mobile necessary because you could buy a basic plug in phone for next to nothing.

Mobile broadband isn't cost effective for streaming etc.

It's very convenient to be able to do the food shopping and still be available when school ring because of x/y/z. But I could stay at home and get the shopping delivered.

However. I cannot pick up a parcel from a certain company without my email and photo ID. As I don't bother with a printer at home I as an individual would have to buy a printer if I wanted to order online from them or pay for delivery each time as in stores they do not stock the things I buy. Again. There are ways around a phone but some of them would be very expensive/ wasteful.
My phone means I avoid a lot of waste. But I could live without it. I don't take it on holiday etc

I don't see them as a necessity but as a useful extra. But at age 61 I don't have a massively active life or lots of things/kids/ work to organise. If the UK had decent phone boxes still we probably wouldn't 'need ' them.

So I do think they serve great purpose but I still do think I'd be able to cope just fine without one and don't see it as essential

It really is as simple as some people do see mobile phones as essential and that isn’t a negative IMO.

It is an essential if you don't have a landline obviously.

"I actually found it really, extremely stressful and anxiety-inducing when people were able to contact me all the time, any time of the day."

that's using a mobile phone completely wrongly!

Most people who say they don't have a landline do, because they wouldn't have Internet at home without it, so that doesn't make a mobile necessary because you could buy a basic plug in phone for next to nothing.

No landline🤷 Virgin

OP "So I do think they serve great purpose but I still do think I'd be able to cope just fine without one and don't see it as essential"

do you do any online banking?

if you were late for work, would your boss be okay with you not calling - of course on the Tube you can't.

Basic phones due to the lack of phone boxes can be handy, but the latest phone not so much.

But when I was a teen, there were loads of working phone boxes. They don't exist now so mobiles are pretty vital.

Yes there were!, and they cointained a lovestruck female and another half a dozen outside awaiting;!

While grumpy old gits like me needed to use the bloody phone box!

When I was younger there wasn't Internet banking, which brought fraud, so it's useful to have that at hand.

Online shopping, which includes price checking and c&c, tracking parcels etc.
Mobile phone tickets, bus apps.

As said there were more phone boxes and you could phone them back, so the call only cost 20p.

People also got away with more anti social behaviour. CCTV has helped, but so have people being able to record and take pictures.

Schools expected less, we did PE in vest and knickers, no one really bothered about permission slips and if you had an injury lying in the Nurse's room with a wet paper towel on your head, sorted you out.
So there was no need to contact Mum.
There wasn't the services, people still went into care homes, who now will be cared for at home, or they'd have died.

We didn't have global news, you only had the perspective of the paper that you bought. Which limited us.

You were surrounded by people who you could ask questions of, other Mum's etc. But now we have Google and forums. If you didn't fit in with those people you'd be isolated, now we have online communities.

I'd argue that we do need mobiles more than a lot of kitchen gadgets we now have.

You cannot claim Settled Status without one. It is hard to claim benefits without access to the internet and a phone is expected for job seeking. As pps have said - no phone boxes now. Also no secretaries or switchboard operators to take messages. More amore offices hot desking. More and more companies not providing access to a telephone for employees. More and more flexible shifts or zero hours contracts when work is offered by text and has to be replied to immediately - or you lose it. I couldn't work without mine.

In the same way you could have posted 'washing machines are not a necessity' my phone is not a necessity.

do you do any online banking?

You don't need a mobile to use online banking - you can use a laptop or tablet.

if you were late for work, would your boss be okay with you not calling - of course on the Tube you can't

My boss wouldn't expect a call - just an apology/explanation on arrival.