Reasons to Kill Your Telephone

A bit over-dramatic coming from Sebastian. Some decent points, but too hyperbolic to take seriously. Also, some of them only apply to his unique situation (4/5).

Many of the other points can be dealt with through other means. Tell idiot cousin not to call you. Block his number if necessary. Demand more from people. It is possible to put your foot down and demand a set time even if you have a phone, and that will demonstrate balls just as well. In fact, I'd say it does a better job of demonstrating that. Extremism is often the easy way out compared to setting real boundaries and sticking to them.

> Sorry dude, I don’t have a phone. Are we on for 7 or not?

And yet people make plans with him? I would expect "Never mind, we'll try some other night when I don't have anything else going on" and then a call to almost anyone less intentionally difficult to deal with.

Very good points.

Now, telling your friend in Beijing that he doesn't have to wait on a bench for the rest of his life because you're stuck in an elevator feels like a good enough reason to have a phone.

I fully agree to his points. Phones are an annoying distraction most of the time. Though they can be useful for emergencies, that's quickly overused. I much prefer other methods of communication.

I had my phone stolen in the early stages of a three week conference tour in Europe. Since I was anyway on the road, I decided to wait until getting back to Finland before getting a new handset.

That was a very relaxed couple of weeks. And surprisingly, people were willing to agree on time and place to meet, and kept to those because I didn't have a phone. Much less hassle and calendar tennis this way.

Unfortunately the realities of running a business forced me to get a phone after the trip.

There's nothing like trying to skype to 911 when you can't find wifi.

I'm not much of a phone person these days (which is funny because pre-internet, my phone was practically surgically attached to my ear). I got rid of the land line because it was costing big bucks to almost never use it. I researched the cheapest phone option I could find. I got a prepay cell phone that I keep for calling my mom (who is not on the internet) and for dealing with other calls I occasionally need to make. At first, I carried it with me. These days, it mostly sits on the counter at home and is so ignored that I periodically pick it up only to find the battery is so low that I need to charge it before I can use it. And, really, I frequently just plan to make calls from the free phones available in the phone room at work.

Of course, I also don't have much of a social life at the moment so I don't deal with most of the scenarios referenced here (like meeting people at a predetermined time).