My friend looked at me with wide eyes and exclaimed, “You’re getting rid of your cell phone?! How are you going to survive?”
I giggled and said, “Don’t worry! It’s not like I’m never going to talk on the phone again. We’re going to use Skype for our phone service. And I think we’ll be just fine. I survived the first two decades of my life without a cell phone. Besides, if we discover that we can’t live without one, we can always sign-up with a new cell phone provider.”
***
Since our contract with Sprint ended a few months ago, we’ve been thinking about living without a cell phone. Last week we finally took the plunge and canceled our cell phone service.
The main reason we canceled our cell phone service has to do with mindfulness. It’s not about saving money. Although, it will be nice to save an extra $60 a month.
Cell phones aren’t evil and I’m not saying you shouldn’t have one. Like anything, they are tool that can be used for a lot of cool projects. For example, Freakonomics ran a story last year and noted how “mobile phones in developing countries are now used to provide farmers with agricultural information, remind patients to take their meds, gather health information in the field, and transfer money.”
Cell phones can do a lot of good in the world. However, I don’t need one. At least not right now. I need more time to listen and to pay attention. Unless I’m talking on the phone in a quiet place, I have trouble doing both. [click to continue…]