I read an article the other day that talked about the growing trend among consumers to hold onto products longer. Cars, clothes, TVs and even shampoo and toothpaste are getting the last bit of use squeezed out of them. Great news for the environment, we are throwing away less and reducing, reusing and recycling more.
The part of the article that surprised me, however, was that consumers were now replacing their cell-phones every 18 months instead of every 16 months. I realize that some cell-phone plans automatically upgrade the phone every 18 months, but this still shocked me. I've had my cell phone for 6 years.
It's a pay-as-you go model with minutes costing 25 cents each.
Crazy, huh? Not if I hardly use it. The phone ends up costing me about $10 a month.
There is no camera or Internet connection. It doesn't play music or have any apps. I can send text messages, but I'm so slow at that I rarely ever do.
What I do do is make and receive the occasional phone call. If I've remembered to charge it up. Which reminds me . . . .
I tried to find a photo of my phone online and could not. I don't think it's particularly outdated looking, but I still think those communicators they use on Star Trek are cool. Yep, I've got a flip phone. A six-year-old flip phone. It works great. Why would I get another, more expensive phone?
This one will be perfect for embarrassing my kids in a few years.
7 comments:
You may find that change as your children get older. When Jacob and Katie were 15, they told me they were the only kids their age w/out cell phones. I thought they were exaggerating, until I looked around at a Youth Activity one night. They weren't kidding! So we let them get cell phones and unlimited texting. They pay for the phones themselves, and I love being able to get a hold of them so easily. I recently updated my old phone (also a flip phone with no camera) to one that texts more easily--I got it at Costco for free. I now text my sister, friends, my husband, my kids. It's great! ; )
I think that's great, Afton. Whatever we have, we come to rely on. Here's what I want to know--what brand is your phone? Most phones do not last 6 years. Have you had to replace the battery ever?
Sounds like that's the kind of phone I need to get. I keep accidentally accessing the internet and it costs me like $3 every time.
I have a plan through Virgin Mobile and the phone says "Virgin Mobile" on it. Inside it says, Audiovox. I bought it at Target for $70. I really don't use it very often, but it does rattle around on the bottom of my purse all the time. I've never had to replace the battery.
use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without. Good motto.
My cell phone is six years old, too. Now the battery won't stay as charged for as long. I keep it in the car, so I hardly use it myself. It's not a flip phone. I find it annoying to switch to new technology, because you have to spend time to figure out the new technology, plus then you get new problems. I would rather stick with my familiar ones.
I'm holding out for the brain implant!
I know I'm sort of a dweeb with this stuff but the commercials for high-tech phones make me not want to get one. There is a commercial of a guy who is not looking up at anything in reality because he is looking at a digital version of everything on his phone. Is that supposed to be cool? Then there was one where a family went to a museum and the kids were texting on their phones the whole time. I thought that was what people didn't want to happen. We'll be forced to adapt soon enough. I had to join facebook because the young women think email is old-school, and they keep texting me and it takes me a half an hour to reply.
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