Anyone go back to a flip phone?

[jyoutz]

I cannot see how people do any business today without a smart phone. Phone books are non-existent anymore and the only way to find phone numbers for a business is to look them up online. If you’re not at home next to a computer, it’s impossible to find phone numbers without a smart phone.

 

[BlueKnife]

Me and my wife went a step further and got rid of the stupid cell phones completely. We use a landline at home.

We have a landline at home as well, but mainly because there is no cell service in our area. I have a smart phone with no sim card in it. It's primary purpose is for OnX (a topo map navigation app), camera and browsing while on WiFi, none of which require it to actually work as a telephone. I also have a flip phone that I will add minutes to a few times a year, usually if I'm going on a road trip. I spend most of my time in areas with no cell service, so paying for a phone consistently wouldn't make sense.

 

[tacticalturnip]

My dad has a flip phone. Doesn’t have a clue what is going on in his 15 grandchildren’s life. Can’t get pictures on his flip phone. Oh well. Staying connected and making an impact on the life of young people must be a good thing. Maybe he didn’t have anything to contribute anyway. There are a ton of good reasons to have an iPhone.

He could carry a flip phone and keep an iPad, desktop, or laptop at home with which to keep connected. Unfortunately, some folks wouldn't keep in touch with others if they were living in the same house.

You're there for your kids; you can't force him into the fold, but you can learn from their behavior, and as the kids get older- well, the absence of grandpa makes for informative conversations on the importance of mental health.

It sounds to me like you're doing the best you can to make up for his absence; as father's in this situation it's all you can do. My kids are fortunate enough to have my wife's father as an elder male role-model, I hope your children are just as blessed.

Sorry if this took a bit of a turn for the personal, your post just hit me rather hard.

 

[MossRoad]

Our "land line" is an old iPhone permanently plugged into a charger sitting on the old phone table in the dining room. It was $5 a month to add to our plan. Real land line was well over $50 per month. The only people that call it are telemarketers, my older siblings, and my mother in-law.

 

[tractortroof]

He could carry a flip phone and keep an iPad, desktop, or laptop at home with which to keep connected. Unfortunately, some folks wouldn't keep in touch with others if they were living in the same house.

You're there for your kids; you can't force him into the fold, but you can learn from their behavior, and as the kids get older- well, the absence of grandpa makes for informative conversations on the importance of mental health.

It sounds to me like you're doing the best you can to make up for his absence; as father's in this situation it's all you can do. My kids are fortunate enough to have my wife's father as an elder male role-model, I hope your children are just as blessed.

Sorry if this took a bit of a turn for the personal, your post just hit me rather hard.

Good post, my wife’s father is very involved and a good model. The impact that a grandfather can have is enormous. iPhones are a wonderful blessing, especially when you are not local, but even when you are, You can share life in a unique way. Pictures, events, encouragement etc.

 

[5030]

My dad has a flip phone. Doesn’t have a clue what is going on in his 15 grandchildren’s life. Can’t get pictures on his flip phone. Oh well. Staying connected and making an impact on the life of young people must be a good thing. Maybe he didn’t have anything to contribute anyway. There are a ton of good reasons to have an iPhone.

What Farcebook is for. My wife has it. I don't and don't want it either

 

[tacticalturnip]

Good post, my wife’s father is very involved and a good model. The impact that a grandfather can have is enormous. iPhones are a wonderful blessing, especially when you are not local, but even when you are, You can share life in a unique way. Pictures, events, encouragement etc.

My grandfather was the only reliable adult male in my life; had I not had him, Lord knows who I might be. I think the difficulty with technology is finding a balance, and it's a lot harder for some than others to achieve that.

 

[Oaktree]

I cannot see how people do any business today without a smart phone. Phone books are non-existent anymore and the only way to find phone numbers for a business is to look them up online. If you’re not at home next to a computer, it’s impossible to find phone numbers without a smart phone.

Maybe where you live, but we still get a phone book in the mail every year. Not sure who publishes it anymore.
I wish there was such a thing as a phone directory that had personal phone #s in it like the old days. If you don't know someone's cell # AFAIK there's no way to look it up.

My grandfather was the only reliable adult male in my life; had I not had him, Lord knows who I might be. I think the difficulty with technology is finding a balance, and it's a lot harder for some than others to achieve that.

The only grandparent I ever knew was my father's father. Paternal grandmother died when I was a toddler, never met either of my mother's parents.
As hard of a guy as my father was to get to know, he was an open book compared to my grandfather. It didn't help that he spoke very little English (despite having immigrated in the early 19-teens), my Russian wasn't much better. Fortunately, my father was a solid guy.

I grew up thinking old people didn't speak English. Much of my grandparents' generation in our town were immigrants...there was enough of a community where they could get by with the old language. It wasn't until I was almost a teenager and met one of my friends' grandparents I discovered otherwise.

 

[Oaktree]

Huh? Unlimited, talk, text and other stuff I don't use and every cell phone provider uses everyone else's cell towers anyway.

Boost is as 'mainstream' as you can get as Boost is a wholly owned sub of Verizon.

I'd never heard of them before. When I say "mainstream" I think Verizon, ATT, T-Mobile, etc. not the plethora of resellers.
So, if Boost is part of Verizon, what's the difference between the two, and/or reason for its existence?

 

[deserteagle71]

Maybe where you live, but we still get a phone book in the mail every year. Not sure who publishes it anymore.
I wish there was such a thing as a phone directory that had personal phone #s in it like the old days. If you don't know someone's cell # AFAIK there's no way to look it up.

Not here in Nevada. Last phone book I remember getting was really thin...mostly Yellow Pages for the businesses. Been at least 10 years since I had a landline; saw something on the news recently that ATT (who maintains all landlines in northern Nevada) is petitioning the state to abolish their landline contract because so few people use them anymore. If that's granted then there will be no more phones that are connected to a wire.

I've had a cell phone for many years. But a smartphone only recently. As others have stated above, it would be pretty difficult to get along without one now. Especially when traveling around Nevada as there are so few towns that are spaced 100 or more miles apart and there are no more pay phones anywhere. So whatever you do you have to get needed information via your smartphone.