Life before cellphones (not a name I would use) but I get the drift
My first 'mobile' arrived somewhere between '94 & '96, cannot remember exactly when - it was actually a carphone fitted into a snazzy Peugeot 306 S16 which was the 'hot hatch' of the moment. This was just prior to a big promotion and I was quite excited by my new toy.
It was wonderful to be able to dispense with business issues 'on the hoof', clocking up 35-40000 miles per year it was a real time saver for me. This mileage was soon to climb to 60000 pa along with my promotion.
It was a great tool.
And then, I had a carphone and a mobile phone - both business phones. The start of significant overkill!
Along came text messaging, excellent stuff and then slowly but surely my life migrated onto my mobile phone.
Internet access appeared, Apps rocked up and eventually my business use became business and social use.
Over the years I watched as work collegues, friends and family members become addicted to their devices.
Fortunately, I am very disciplined with their use. I am also a very selfish communicator - probably born out of having to screen out heaps of unnecessary business calls and messages that got in the way of carrying out a complicated job role.
Selfish? I am contactable on my own terms - no one makes contact with me during evenings and weekends unless it is necessary, important or urgent. I hate being disturbed with 'prattle'.
My phone doesn’t go everywhere with me, it is often turned off for long periods of time and, unlike TV Ad's, it is not the first thing I seen in the morning.
On the other hand in pre-cellphone times:
- It was damned hard to transact business on the go.
- It was touch and go as to whether you could communicate in emergency situations or simply situations that would cause stress to another person eg an 11 hour hold-up on an iced M25 many years ago - without my mobile Mrs SD would've been 'in bits' with worry.
- It was not possible for Mrs SD to track my progress during my mountain hikes and my bike rides; she worries, especially when I am solo and more so as old age creeps up on me.
- Romantic souls that we are, we were not able to pepper each other with lovey-dovey one-liners and emoticons etc. And what fun they can be!
Etc...
So now, I love the things, they make my/our life much easier and more fun - albeit they need some discipline to keep in check.
I prefer cellphone-days to pre-cellphone-days.
