Phone Aversion

For years, I used a prepaid cell phone ... adding minutes when needed.  In truth, I used it for text messaging more than for talking.  With Net10, it was 10 cents per minute, and 5 cents per text message.  While I didn't have a smart phone with web access, I had a phone -- and it averaged about $15 per month.  Not bad, compared to the $100+ cell phone bills some of my colleagues were paying.

I finally broke down and got a smart phone about a year ago.  I did so when T-Mobile came out with their "Monthly 4G Plan."  It is still a pre-paid sort of plan ... and it costs twice as much as my old cell phone, because I'm paying $30 per month.  But with that plan, I get unlimited text messaging, unlimited web access, and 100 minutes of talk time.  Since I talk on the phone so little, it made sense for me -- and is still economical.

I'm wondering what percentage of the customers on that particular plan are middle-aged men.  I know that some of the men that I work with at the office are similar to me (although they have a "full plan" for their cell phones) in that they use their smart phones for texting and web browsing far more than talking.  I also know that the telephone in our building -- which is in a "common  area" -- gets answered by women the vast majority of the time.  (We don't have a secretary, so it's just a matter of who responds when the phone rings.)

I'm not sure why I have never liked talking on the phone.  And it can be a problem sometimes.  My mother isn't convinced that I love her, because I don't call very often.  What she fails to realize is that she is the only person I call with any regularity whatsoever.  I'll spend more time on the phone with my mom in a month than I will spend on all of my other phone calls for the year.  (And if she really loved me, she'd start sending text messages!)

I guess that's one thing that I do like about the technology we've become so adapted to -- it gives us new ways to communicate.  I suppose that if the land-line telephone was still all we had, then I'd use it more.  As it is, I can do most of my communications through other mediums -- text messaging, instant messaging, email -- and I can survive without actually talking on a telephone very often.

I still seldom use more than 20 minutes or so of my phone's talk time each month.  So don't expect to find me sporting a Bluetooth headset any time soon.