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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Huckleberries Online

My 2 Cents: Cell Phones, Can’t Live w/o ‘Em?

If it wasn't for Amy Dearest, I still wouldn't own a cell phone. I don't like talking on any phone let alone a tiny one that doesn't fit in the crook of your neck. And I don't like to be interrupted by a caller whenever I'm out and about. However, Amy Dearest and her mother finally persuaded me last fall to sign up for the family plan -- their thinking being that we could call one another whenever we wanted to do so for one, ahem, low price. Initially, that low price was $75 per month, with a 10 percent SR discount figured into the price. But the number hit $100 last month b/c Amy Dearest now enjoys text-messaging. Which means that we now have signed up for the $5-all-the-text-messaging-you-want plan monthly. So we're paying for cell phones and a home phone because I need it for my wi-fi computer -- $150 on a bad month. Just. For. Phone. Service. Fuhcryinoutloud. Throw in the fact that I occasionally misplace my cell phone -- and I regularly ask myself if the convenience of being annoyed at any time at someone else's whim is worth the price of living in the modern age.

Question: Do you find cell phones indespensible? Or an expensive annoyance?



Huckleberries Online

D.F. Oliveria started Huckleberries Online on Feb. 16, 2004. Oliveria's Sunday print Huckleberries is a past winner of the national Herb Caen Memorial Column contest.