At This Point, Could We Make It Without Our Cellphone ?

Discussion in 'Gadgets & Tech Talk' started by Mary Stetler, Jun 15, 2022.

  1. Mary Stetler

    Mary Stetler Veteran Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    May 30, 2021
    Messages:
    5,697
    Likes Received:
    10,706
    When I need to do something and don't quite know how, I go to the internet. I need to change my phone number to a new phone. Site says, just text a number to... and do this. But my text works sporadically so I can't do that. So I chat a bit more with robot and ask if I can talk to a human and they gave me a phone number. What if humans are not available?
    Speaking of phone numbers, there are people who don't know phone numbers any more--even their own. That was almost the first thing I was taught, going into kindergarten.
    Worse yet, what if an emp actually does happen. I saw a guy in a Batteries Plus store who had MELTDOWN
    because they were going to have to send his phone out for repairs.
    Will the world go bonkers, even more, without the internet for a few weeks while they repair a satellite?
     
    #1
  2. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2018
    Messages:
    20,310
    Likes Received:
    42,307
    Is this supposed to happen?
     
    #2
    Jake Smith and Tony Page like this.
  3. Mary Stetler

    Mary Stetler Veteran Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    May 30, 2021
    Messages:
    5,697
    Likes Received:
    10,706
    No, not necessarily. I was just thinking how dependent we are.
    Man needs food, clothing, shelter... and now internet.
     
    #3
  4. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2018
    Messages:
    20,310
    Likes Received:
    42,307
    Oh, OK. I'm not so sure that the internet is equal to food and shelter, though. My sister and BIL live in the boonies in south Georgia and have never had internet; they don't miss it. When we visit I have to walk outside their house and around the farm to try to get a phone hotspot.
     
    #4
  5. Teresa Levitt

    Teresa Levitt Veteran Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2019
    Messages:
    1,025
    Likes Received:
    1,971
    be. ... b o r i n g
     
    #5
  6. James Hintze

    James Hintze Very Well-Known Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Oct 20, 2020
    Messages:
    513
    Likes Received:
    502
    How much of our food and shelter depends on the internet? Our elder son spends his working hours at home on the internet. He works for a company in NY that helps corporations solve IT problems. He seems to be very good at it.
     
    #6
  7. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    May 29, 2020
    Messages:
    22,679
    Likes Received:
    32,164
    The problem is that there are no more Yellow Pages. Without the web or a phone book, there is no way to find sources for goods & services.

    Regarding cell phones...I really don't like having that single-point-of-failure for my phone service. Land lines and Rolodexes are durable. I noticed technology eroding my skill set when auto-dialers came in. I can still recall the phone numbers to several of the businesses I bought from early in my purchasing career (1977) because I called them so often, but after than when auto-dialers came into being, I could not tell you a single one.

    I've met a ton of people here who have never had internet. A friend has headed a very active non-profit for decades, and they have dial-up. There are still lots of folks in my county who cannot get a decent cell signal at their homes.
     
    #7
  8. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    24,326
    Likes Received:
    42,628
    My son has a cellphone but he only uses it to text or to make/receive calls. He doesn't have a computer and has never wanted one, which seems odd because I was one of the early people to have a computer, while he was still living at home.
     
    #8
  9. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2018
    Messages:
    20,310
    Likes Received:
    42,307
    I assumed the thread was more about individual's use of the internet than supply chains. I spent nearly 30 years in IT so I'm fairly well versed. No doubt that total loss of internet connectivity would be devastating.
     
    #9
    Jake Smith, Tony Page and Don Alaska like this.
  10. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
    Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Mar 6, 2018
    Messages:
    11,065
    Likes Received:
    20,456
    I am a little like that, @Ken Anderson. I had computers quite early, and I finally got a smart phone because it was so hard to get a flip phone that handles 4G. I primarily use the phone for calls and some texting. It is too difficult to use it for much else with my fat fingers and dry skin. I probably would have high-speed internet by now, but the original reason I got it installed was because my job required it. Only DSL is available here. There is some cable around, but I don't knwo of anyone hooked up to it...if it is even functional. The fiber optic cables are there, though. Most everything is available in the cities here, but many rural areas have to rely on satellite hookups if they want internet.
     
    #10
  11. Mary Stetler

    Mary Stetler Veteran Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    May 30, 2021
    Messages:
    5,697
    Likes Received:
    10,706
    DSL would be enough to get me off the internet. I am a bit spoiled but could do without.
     
    #11
    Jake Smith and Tony Page like this.
  12. Shirley Martin

    Shirley Martin Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jun 9, 2015
    Messages:
    55,628
    Likes Received:
    23,290
    Will the world go bonkers, even more, without the internet for a few weeks while they repair a satellite?

    Yes.
     
    #12
  13. Kate Ellery

    Kate Ellery Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Dec 12, 2015
    Messages:
    36,340
    Likes Received:
    7,850
    Me to especially with all the lockdowns we had.
     
    #13
  14. Jeff Elohim

    Jeff Elohim Very Well-Known Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Nov 26, 2020
    Messages:
    2,346
    Likes Received:
    774
    All my life the healthiest teens I've seen, for that matter any age persons,
    are the ones with no television, no computer and no phone.
    They are the most honest, respectful, hard working, at home and outside the home if the job is out there,
    and remain the healthiest of all people I've ever seen
    and never have to worry about cvd or any epidemic or fake pandemic or the like at all, God Willing so far.
    /except for the harmful gov actions, mandates and laws that might or do affect them/
     
    #14
    Jake Smith likes this.
  15. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    24,326
    Likes Received:
    42,628
    He didn't want a driver's license when he turned sixteen either. We were living in Anaheim, and he said the bus would get him anywhere he needed to go, and he did know his way around the Orange County and Rapid Transit bus systems. He later got a license when he needed one for work, but driving wasn't important to him. He was in his twenties before he got a license.
     
    #15

Share This Page