This question has been bugging me ever since I could afford to buy a cell-phone. I managed to delay it for as long as possible, but sometime around 2006, sitting at a remote place in North Bengal with non-existent or poor STD services, kind of forced me to hook on to the cellphone network. Now I learn through googling that the device had come into being a early as 1990 and that I had survived the onslaught of this device for a good 16 years !
Since then it has been a kind of love-hate relationship. On one hand, it is sheer magic to be able to communicate from anywhere anytime complete with streaming video images and on the other hand , it is terrible that anyone could intrude into your time anytime, anywhere. It can be a magic window to access happenings and people , world-wide , 24 x 7 and it can also be a cruel leash around your neck 24 x 7.
I am very poor at responding to a call , and definitely not ‘the fastest draw in the west’ as the likes of people whipping out their phone from nowhere, on the slightest indication of a call, whatever they may be doing, wheresoever . My log register always shows more missed calls and sent calls than received calls.
I observe that most people carry their phones while going for walk or run and I have heard that they carry their phones even to the loo. As for me, I find it difficult to keep a phone even close enough to reach before two rings.
Where I really missed a phone was when I started seeing the ubiquitous message on my computer screen – “OTP sent to your registered mobile number xxxxx901 and enter the OTP to proceed further” That’s the time I started looking for the phone frantically , most of the time , finding it only by calling from my land-line.
So, I started keeping the phone close to my desktop PC as another accessory like mouse or keyboard.
Over the years , the device size has been getting smaller and smaller and presto, suddenly there is a U Turn and the evolution is in the opposite direction. Here’s a cartoonist’s view of the point of inflection
Anyway, the smart-phones have arrived and with it , the social media apps whatsapp, telegram etc. When I tell people that I don’t always carry my mobile phone, the FAQs are:-
Aren’t you on whatsapp ?
– I do have the app installed but is it really required to read a surd / blonde joke , immediately on alert, leaving whatever you are doing ? Isn’t it enough to browse, say, once a day?
How can you move around without google maps ?
– I agree , google maps are useful when you are in a strange city, but how often do you need to navigate to your wash room ?
How do you keep in touch with your children ?
-well, I use the land-line, instant messengers or email while I am sitting at office or home and while on move, it really doesn’t matter if one is out of reach for an hour or two .
Don’t you miss it when , say, receiving someone at air port or railway station ?
-In army we tie up a whole lot of details before an operation, like frequency for radio communication etc.. but we never lugged around our radio sets 24×7 just for such contingencies. When required for a specific operation, it sure is very useful.
Coming to the original question, ‘do I really need a cell-phone’ ; it is good to own one , but I have stopped looking at it as a phone anymore . It is a standby for wallet, notebook, modem, music player, news aggregator , in-box, torch light and a thousand other things besides being a device for emergency voice calls.
So, it is good to have one or more devices, but to carry it everywhere you go , I feel , is definitely a leash around the neck that I would rather do without.
