Phone-y Syndrome

When did life become so important that we need to be able to connect to the entire world at the push of a finger while in the middle of no where? OK, so I understand if you are a doctor, you literally have people's lives in your hands and really do need to be constantly available. And maybe a lawyer, real estate agent or stock broker. These are all REALLY demanding jobs, and you know when you sign up for them, that your personal life is on the back burner. I'm sure there are other professions where this is also required, but being a cashier at the local stop-n-shop does not qualify, I would not think.
I do not own a cell phone. My husband has one that rarely even gets turned on, and my daughter has a prepaid one that she takes if she is going out. I want to be able to contact her at ANY time, and if she is at a school dance, I want to know she can call or vice versa. However, you will not see a cell phone grace the dinner table AT ANY TIME. No one has texting thumbs here.
Another big problem I have is the Blue Tooth. WHY, oh WHY do we REALLY need to make this phone-y phenomenon even more uptight? Why in the world does a housekeeper need a halo on her ear that will allow her to act like Scotty on the Enterprize. She does not need to be beamed up!
Maybe I am just being uptight. However, it seems to me that the people in the lowest income bracket are the ones that are the more likely owners of this over-priced technology. I see more people driving around, looking like they are crazy and talking to themselves, than I even begin to care to mention. In past times, we tried to AVOID looking crazy! Now it is almost normal to look like you are talking to yourself.
I heard a teenager admit once that even though she always looked like she was on her cell phone, it was normally her talking into a dead phone. She just wanted to "look like she was busy talking to one of her many friends". So, I have to wonder if this is a false sense of popularity, if you are looking from the outside in. If you always look like you are on your phone, you seem, byt proxy, more important or maybe even better liked, because you are of such importance in someone else's life that they cannot wait to see you face to face, call you while you are at home on a land line, it is too urgent to wait for reply by email or, even heaven forbid -- SNAIL MAIL!
Yes, there are times when I wish I had a cell phone. When I broke down on the Interstate and it was 3 miles to the nearest exit, I did feel a little silly. There are times when I use my husband's -- when I am in crisis mode and need the quickest possible answer. However, my life functions completely normally without being "plugged in" to the rest of the world.
I may be one of the world's last hold outs on owning a cell phone. I don't care. I am also one of the world's last hold outs on seeing "The Green Mile". It has not impaired my quality of life so greatly that I cannot survive.
I do know, for certain, that it does not enhance my life to have one. You are constantly trying to see if you have a message, or if you missed a call. And, luckily, I am the only one in the room who does not start digging in my bag when a cell phone goes off. I would never find it in all the coupons, anyway!