{"id":52,"date":"2016-02-15T18:20:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-15T18:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sibha.online\/wprandom\/2016\/02\/15\/do-i-really-need-a-cell-phone\/"},"modified":"2019-06-28T07:51:44","modified_gmt":"2019-06-28T07:51:44","slug":"do-i-really-need-a-cell-phone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sibha.in\/RR\/2016\/02\/15\/do-i-really-need-a-cell-phone\/","title":{"rendered":"Do I really need a Cell-phone"},"content":{"rendered":"

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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 !<\/div>\n

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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.<\/div>\n

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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.<\/div>\n

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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.<\/div>\n

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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.<\/div>\n
So, I started keeping the phone close to my desktop PC as another accessory like mouse or keyboard.<\/div>\n

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<\/p>\n

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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:-<\/div>\n

<\/a>Aren’t you on whatsapp ?<\/p>\n

– 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?<\/div>\n

How can you move around without google maps ?<\/p>\n

– 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 ?<\/p>\n

How do you keep in touch with your children ?<\/p>\n

-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 .<\/p>\n

Don’t you miss it when , say, receiving someone at air port or railway station ?<\/p>\n

-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. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

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.  <\/i><\/div>\n
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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.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … Continue reading “Do I really need a Cell-phone”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-humour"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sibha.in\/RR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sibha.in\/RR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sibha.in\/RR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sibha.in\/RR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sibha.in\/RR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sibha.in\/RR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":658,"href":"https:\/\/sibha.in\/RR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions\/658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sibha.in\/RR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sibha.in\/RR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sibha.in\/RR\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}