So there I was, a creature from the Cretaceous, hanging out with a much newer model in the Sprint store. And what a scene it was for these prehistoric eyes: mobile doo-dads from here to the horizon!
Friend wanted a Blackberry. She had inquired across the street at Best Buy, where she was advised that because of the contract she had with Sprint the coveted gadget would not cost her a couple hundred bucks but something over $700. So it was away to the Sprint store, therein to ask if anything could be done about the expensive mobile phone that worthy corporation had sold her a few months before, which was already showing signs of decrepitude.
While we waited for her to be told what a joke that idea was, we overheard two conversations.
One woman stood at the counter and argued, ad INFINITELY nauseam, about some problem she had encountered with Sprint’s service. Unclear exactly what it was, but whatever: Sprint was having nothing of any schemes to accommodate her. She argued forever, always assuring them that paying the exorbitant charge they were trying to rip from her was no problem, but the point was that they could do better. She was agreeable and polite and endlessly persistent.
All the time she was dickering with the sales staff, another woman talked into the store’s land line, trying to explain the injustice of some rip she had been unfairly charged, or so she said. The Sprintoid on the other end of the line wasn’t budging. She, like her counterpart at the front desk, had been talking at the time we entered, and both women argued their cases for a good half-hour while we stood there waiting for service. No cooperation to speak of was forthcoming.
The cost of the gadgets on display was astonishing. And they do some astonishing things: not only do they let you make an idiot of yourself by yakking while driving or while walking around in public, they connect to the Internet and function like tiny PCs. My friend wanted the Blackberry for a single reason: she wanted a mobile computer that would connect to Outlook, so she could carry her electronically inscribed calendar with her at all times. Ultimately she ended up paying around $260 for this privilege, purchased off the Web since Sprint was no more helpful than Best Buy had been. Add to that the cost of connecting to Sprint, and on and on.
Think of that. Two hunnert and sixty bucks for a calendar. Electronic tethers that guarantee you will never be alone, no matter where you go…
We might say “that will never let you be alone.”
Now that we’re admitting the economy is sinking into “recession” (possibly misspelled with an r instead of a d), at least some of us will need to take stock and consider what costs we can cut. The whole array of mobile gadgets, IMHO, offer rich pickings for those who would like to enrich themselves by spending less on unnecessary stuff.
Where is it written that we have to be “connected” at all times? Hey. We do not live in the Borg! Resistance is NOT futile!
Nothing bad will happen if our friends, business colleagues, and family members have to wait to yak with us until we get to a phone at our office or home.
Little that we do in our daily lives will be changed if we read our e-mails in an hour instead of right this minute, or if we tweet when we reach our desktop instead of off our cell phones.
And who knows? Maybe we could keep track of our appointments in a pocket-sized spiral-bound notebook, overpriced at Target if it sells for a buck and a quarter.
How much electronic junk do any of us really need? And why should we feel we have to carry this stuff around with us everywhere we go? And…more to the point: how much is it costing you?
Fellow frugalists! Cheapskates of the world! Arise and throw off your leashes! Ask yourself how much you really need mobile phones, mobile Outlook calendars, mobile games, mobile computers. Live free! And save a few bucks on principle.
😀
Honestly, I am never home. I go home basically to sleep and do chores. Part of it is that sometimes I have to work late, but most of the time it’s just that home is a boring place to be and has slower internet. I don’t have a landline because it would be pointless. I don’t know a single person my age that doesn’t have a cell phone, but a landline is a rarity (and seen as somewhat of a frivolous expense).
I work in mobile, so I live it and breathe it. But really, these are the next “laptops” (aka UMPCs- ultra mobile pc’s). And honestly, that rules. I hate being connected to other people, but I love being connected to my world wherever I am.
LOL! Maybe I should have included that: if you really, truly need a cell phone, kill the land line.
🙂 I kept the land line because I can’t afford cable, which is much more expensive here and which includes TV service. I hardly ever watch television — when I have time, I’m so tired I can’t hold my eyes open — so I’ve resisted buying a service that includes redundant (for me) features. That leaves DSL as a likely high-speed Internet connection, especially since Qworst promised a cut rate for bundling DSL, the cell phone, and the land line. I think you have to keep the land line to get DSL.
Another issue, too, is that to buy the number of minutes I’d need for my ordinary social phone calls, I’d have to spend more than I can afford on the cell phone, and more than the land line costs.
At least, I THINK so. The whole mess is SO involved and complicated, especially with umpty-umpteen different providers offering apples, oranges, grapes and persimmons, it’s impossible to compare services and figure out which is the best deal. They all begin to look like rip-offs to me. I think they’re all overpriced and they’re all fraught with traps designed to catch up unsuspecting consumers. And not a one of them seems to have decent customer service.
I hate to say it but, if I didn’t have my iPhone & all my electronic “connected-ness” I wouldn’t be able to go on vacation. I’d be tethered to my computer all the time. So, I hate to buck you but, I love the ability to work from anywhere and don’t intend to throw off my bonds any time soon!