A Non-Mobile User in a Mobile Phone World
Call me Lynne.
I'm a Senior now, at the age of 60+.
I grew up in a world where you could still find farms with wooden outhouses, rather than indoor toilets. When I was a child, there was no such thing as a cordless phone, and all phones had rotary dials. Although airlines had been in operation for decades, the Boeing 707 and all other jetliners were still considered New Technology. My very first flight was on a 727; the last plane of this series was retired from service in the early 2000's. The jumbo jets had just reached the "drawing board" stage, and the United States and Europe were vying against each other to create the first SST (Supersonic Transport Airplane).
As technology grew, I tried my best to grow with it. I embraced the Digital Watch with its analogue-clone dial and equally, the full LCD numbered readout version. I never gave up vinyl; but I embraced first, the audio cassette, then the DAT audio tape, the CD, and the Mini-Disc (Remember those?). Last year, the final CRT based TV was discarded, in favor of a 42-inch HD flat screen version of this venerable broadcast media delivery system. I use computers but build my own systems, rather than accept an off the shelf unit as a standing rule; I am a Power User, and I tend to burn out common off the shelf configurations within two years.
My house phone is a cordless model operating on Radio Frequency Transmission; but the one thing I cannot seem to accept or get along with is the mobile phone. Oh, I have bought them more than once; however, I don't get enough use from them to open a contract with a network provider. I do pay-as-you-go, and forget the infernal unit exists after a time.
All day long as I go about town, I see cases of "mobile phone ear"; people dashing from place to place, mobiles firmly against their best ear. It's a wonder half of them don't get run over as they attempt a street crossing! I strongly object to the way the mobile has invaded modern society for the following reasons:
If I am going to an appointment, I am going to deal with the person who is the appointment's object; and the last thing I want, is to be interrupted in that meeting.
If I go out with friends, I go to enjoy their company, not to answer phone calls; that is what my answering machine at home is for.
If someone wishes to verify my identity, I have a passport, multiple email addresses, a land line, and a birth certificate.
I'm now finding myself locked out of various web portals due to the fact that I cannot supply a mobile number. Even here on STEEM, they wanted one and tried to insist that "A land line cannot receive an SMS text". WRONG! Here in the UK, land lines have been enabled for SMS messaging for close to a decade. I fear that one day the computer workstation will be abandoned in favour of the mobile phone. This will be a dire mistake in my humble opinion.
Mobiles just don't have the power of a full sized computer, and likely never will in my lifetime. If PCs Macs, and other home and office use computers cease to be manufactured, I'm afraid that will be the end of the internet for me.
Rant over.