I finally got a smartphone only a week ago, a droid.
Now, I have a certain aversion to cellphones in general and avoided them for many years, then purchased a Razr in 2003. Since I rarely used it, the prepaid minutes through T-Mobile worked fine for me and made me feel a bit less gouged by the bill.
Over the past 2 or 3 years, people had begun laughing at the "old technology" of my Razr, but I am 52 now and honestly could not care less about the ribbing. Not everyone has a desperate urge to rush out and buy "the next phone." That Razr served me well.
My new droid is a no-contract through T-Mobile, and I wanted it because of my circumstances. I have vision problems and use public transportation, so access to the Internet, transit schedules, reading the news, etc are very useful and entertaining to me. This is a luxury I can easily afford.
Not everyone realizes it is a luxury, however. I hear mothers saying it's impossible to raise kids without a cellphone, which is beyond absurd. Kids who can't afford to buy a hamburger on their own have smartphones. And what do they do with them? They have inane conversations. They play games. They send emails and listen to tunes. And they have no idea how masturbatory it looks for them to be constantly staring at their palms.
Lethal traffic accidents due to cellphone use occur regularly. Pedestrians wander into traffic lanes, oblivious to their surroundings. Kids snark at each other about what kind of phones they have, which sounds a lot like comparing penis size. And it is very easy to track all your movements by the position of your smartphone, so privacy has suffered too, if it exists at all. And they are much too expensive, but people today seem to love being overcharged.
I think smartphones are great, but it takes a little maturity to use them and not be used BY them.
George Carlin said we are constantly in search of the newest phone, one that will make pancakes and scratch our groins for us. He was right.
Kevin 52 USA
Thanks!