The Cell Phone Curmudgeon

Sure, the iPhone is kinda cool and it's nice Apple finally dropped the price to something not completely absurd, but am I alone in just being completely uninterested in cell phones and portable devices in general?

These days I consider myself middle-of-the-road when it comes to technological adoption -- I don't really get too geeked for tech toys anymore, but if they're going to actually be useful, I'll eventually pick one up when the price is decent. But with cell phones, I still pretty much hate 'em for anything other than outgoing calls. That's why very few people have my cell number. It's rarely turned on and I don't want people to get the impression that I'm actually reachable.

And while the iPhone and similar devices give a nice interface and plenty of other functionality beyond just the phone, I still don't really have much interest in anything else taking up valuable pocket space. A couple of years ago I had to carry a Treo with me for a few weeks and it was miserable. It was like having a brick that could receive phone calls with buttons so tiny that not even my small fingers could deal with.

So, while I have a cell, I use a prepaid plan that ends up costing me about $8/month. And I still have never sent a text. Does anyone else have a cell only for the rarest of usage?

Next time: Ryan complains about "beepers" and "mini-cassette answering machines."