Although in most of the world it is now seen as the norm to have a mobile phone, there are still enough people who hold out against the idea of buying or owning one.
Some will go to the extent of refusing a gift from a family member who thinks they should have one.
Among the reasons given for not owning a cell phone, one of the most common is that they seem to be needlessly flashy.
The idea of cell phones as an accessory for posers is one that has less pull today than it did at the beginning of this century, but nonetheless sticks in many people’s minds.
It is easy to laugh at this and call the skeptic a technophobe, but the image of a city trader circa 1990 with a cell phone the size of a brick clamped to their left ear is one that can be hard to shift.
There was certainly a time when owning a cell phone was a show of status more than anything.
In the days before text messaging, before the internet, mobile phones were simply for making and receiving calls – and getting a signal strong enough to have a conversation longer than “Hello? Yes, I’ll be home in 15…” was practically impossible.
In those days, a cell phone certainly was not a necessity for all but the most pressured of occupations.
As time has gone on, and cell phone coverage and take-up has grown to an increasing level, having a cell phone is still not necessary per se, but makes a lot of lives much easier.
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