Why must all great thread digress down the path of bullshit by phantom posters and selfie pics???
Some points:
I train with a 50 year old guy. Been married 27 years. He just got an iPhone 5s, first smart phone he's owned. I asked him today near the end of our workout if he felt it was "hardcore" of him to be texting while training? He laughed, admitted his fault and pocketed the device. It then led to the real questions. How could a man and woman possibly live alongside one another this many years without the need for constant interaction and accountability that a cell phone brings with it? He said, plainly, "well, we made plans and stuck to them. We went to work and didnt see each other until we got home. It was simple". I then downloaded on him the nightmare that a cellphone and texting can bring to your typical relationship. Especially one in its early days.
I know of one kid spending $90/mo on probation fees and $1300 on a class for anger management (yes in California) after he was arrested for slamming his girl friends phone on the ground and being arrested thereafter. He'd read some lurid texts from some other shit for brains and spent the night in jail, then was arrested once more when he showed to court with her to face the charges, overlooking the court order to remain separate from his by then, reconnected girlfriend. Your average teen or young adult does not have the skills within to manage life with these things.
I've had an iPhone for almost 2 years now and am about over it. The constant buzzing and vibrating is maddening. Yes, i know its all in the settings and I've changed some, but I'm still over it. The temptation to check emails when theres nothing I can do about the complications within them robs my days from simply relaxing. Its become a glorified mp3 player in the gym really.
Talking on the phone is expected when I see women buried with their face in a text or gabbing away. They need that kind of thing to feel secure and enabled. When I see men doing it, i see them, as other posters have said, as week and simple. I usually wont answer my phone in public unless i can sit down somewhere or lean up against a wall and only then, in absolute emergencies. I work in a place where men frequent and its all too often, low and behold, they get a call from you know who, just checking up on them and their whereabouts. Im forced to think, how many more times a day they must get the same call?
I have one friend who is very intellectual and travels a lot. Been all over the world and makes money doing it. Refuses to get a cell phone and says he likely never will. Yes, he's employed most the year and makes plenty of money to live on and saves some. Life, can be lived without the cell.