AIBU to think mobile phones are NOT a necessity?

[Hypergear]

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?

They are a necessity if you want to participate in normal modern life. So much online security involves sending a pin to your phone for example.

Even ordering things online or filling in a job application form, the mobile number is often a compulsory field.

TheMemoryLingers but a lot of transactions won't go through unless you use the confirmation text code they send you.

do those come via audio on landlines?

AutumnRose1 My bank has the option to confirm via a landline. I do use the texts myself for convenience - but it's possible to do it without.

I tell my staff that unless they're parked up by the side of the road and safe, they are absolutely NOT to call or message me because of traffic.

I've got eyes, I know they're not there, and they can explain when they arrive.

Times change. A mobile phone is no longer just a basic communication device. I wouldn't consider it a necessity personally and despair at people who are addicted to them but maybe I'm just an old fuddy-duddy.

With some aspects of life it can be very subjective as to what is essential and what is a luxury and this can change with social and economic progress. There was no doubt a time when having proper shoes was a luxury but send a child to school with footwear made of old newspapers and you'll have social services at your door.

The Internet and Smartphones are a genie that can't be put back in the bottle, nor should we want them to be. We need to accept that and do much more to educate children (and quite a few adults) how to use them appropriately, safely, optimally and sensibly.

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

I have online banking with 4 different banks and all of them require a mobile, even if you are using a laptop to actually access it, because they send a security code to your phone.

@Hypergear

I see mine as essential. YMMV 🤷🏻‍♀️

My university is bringing in 2 factor authentication, so any students or staff who want to log in to their email or course materials off campus will need to verify with a code sent to their phones. Most universities will do this at some point.

I hate that mobiles are becoming necessary but there's no doubt they are.

@AutumnRose1 my answers to your questions are the same as @TheMemoryLingers

I mean, yes, obviously I could do without using online banking as well, but I don't think it is unreasonable in this day and age to expect to be able to use it, as the whole world of money and banking has changed, and it's not going to go back to the way it was before.

Things change. A generation ago many people were paid in cash, and people were reluctant to allow payment directly to their bank, and now it is completely accepted that if you have a job, that's how you will get paid. I think online banking, and the use of mobile technology to enable that, is the same. It's the norm now, not a luxury.

My sons school communicate with us completely electronically.

I also have to pay for lunch, breakfast and after school club online, book parents night online, be sent accident forms by email and phone home in the event of urgent queries (like when they had a powercut and had to send everyone home)...

We can have either a smart phone to do all of that in one place or would need a landline and a PC/laptop so probably cost more...using the library would not be an option to keep up to date of you work full time and although I also have a work phone and laptop so could use those, not all jobs come with one.

On my phone I also:
Pay my vehicle tax
Renew all of our insurances
Order tesco delivery
Shop online
Receive emails
Take calls (obviously!)
Take photos & videos
Keep on top of what the rugby/swimming/football/cubs are all up to
and many other things....

No... I don't think they are a necessity but I do think that for those of us that are time poor, they are a better option to manage it all more efficiently and I think that the cost of one mobile bill a month is possibly cheaper than running a home laptop & landline.

isabellerossignol You can receive texts on a BT landline - you call an 0845 number to replay them.

"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."

But why would someone starting out now buy an, alarm clock, calculater, sat nav, timer (for cooking etc), laptop, step counter, portable gaming console and landline phone, when you could just get a mobile?

Thats without what someone who travels might get such as maps, pub guide (remember them), translate, currency converter.

Then there's encyclopedias, spell checkers.

I remember all of them from the 70's.

I use mine a lot, but mainly for convenience. I was late to getting a smartphone, so things like email, internet shopping and banking, chat forums I did on the house computer. I printed out directions from google maps if going somewhere new. Used landlines for calls.

So if i didn't have it, it would be an inconvenience, but I'd learn to manage. Much like if i couldn't drive my car, getting to work would be a hassle and take longer, but wouldn't be impossible. And when my washing machine broke, i used the local laundrette.

I would imagine the generation who have grown up with mobile phones being the norm would be utterly lost without them.

I have no landline and I’m 200 miles away from my family and DH is 1,000 miles away from his. It could be argued that if we didn’t have mobiles, we would have a landline. However, we’ve both had family emergencies and they have happened when we’re at work (and not always in the office so contactable on that landline). Waiting until we’d got home from work that day, before travelling to see a dying family member who have meant we didn’t make it in time.

I am also frequently a lone worker, sometimes in rural areas. We have a lone working device with GPS capabilities but if I’m somewhere with GPS signal for my device, I need to call someone to tell them where I am.

They might not be essential and yes we could go back to landlines and phone boxes but that’s a shit system in an emergency and for personal safety.

No landline🤷 Virgin

That's still a landline, the signal is via a cable, not radio transmission, ie a landline.

If nobody has a mobile phone, you don’t need it either (genius logic, I know!) But if everybody has one and you don’t...
That’s why you hear older generations saying when I was young nobody had a mobile phone yet we managed life and were happy without it. Yet the moment it became the norm to have one they bought one.

Exactly kalifa

Yet the moment it became the norm to have one they bought one.

My father's never owned one.

That’s why you hear older generations saying when I was young nobody had a mobile phone yet we managed life and were happy without it. Yet the moment it became the norm to have one they bought one.

I once got on a train with a friend and her friend who I didn't really know well. Friends friend made some cutting remark about people being on their phones and laptops and what did they do before that (read a paper I presume) then proceeded to whip out her kindle

If smartphones arent a necessity neither are:

Electricity
Gas central heating
Double glazing
Washing machines
Showers
Kettles
Hot water
Running inside cold water
Inside toilets
Cars
Bras
Soap
Dentistry
Anti biotics

All not available a few generations ago but now deemed essential. For this generation smartphone are as essential as all of the above.

Even people living in shanty towns have them!

@BarbaraofSeville there is NO landline with Virgin fibre.

Not everyone has the budget for a separate laptop etc.

There are less libraries about. We used to pick up application forms when we showed up for job interview.

People would show up to the job centre every two weeks and they would write to you.

There used to be more housing offices etc.

We could show up at the GP and sit and wait.

so last question

if you're running late to meet a friend, say your trains are cancelled for the next hour, how would you let them know?

if you're running late to meet a friend, say your trains are cancelled for the next hour, how would you let them know?

You can track any train through the National Rail Enquiries website - I do this if my non-mobile-using parents are coming to visit me - so you can see if they are running late or cancelled.