Generation Text

I remember being resistant to cell phones.

I held off getting my first one until 2003, a time when most of my friends had long ago joined the “cellular revolution.” Maybe I felt as thought mobile phones were a means of control, and you were giving up a degree of freedom to be tethered to them all the time. Maybe I was worried about a recurring payment plan that sounded an awful lot like a great way to dig a debt hole for myself.

The device I initially acquired was bare-bones, more a symbol of a begrudging capitulation to societal pressure than an enthusiastic embrace of emerging tech. Even when I did have the phone, I used it sparingly, terrified of exorbitant bills for a service I couldn't quite fathom why I needed.

Sure, it was useful “in case of an emergency”, but I had lived my whole life up until that point without a cell phone, so I couldn’t understand why I needed one. The only purpose it served was as a telephone; you certainly wouldn’t want to waste time texting.

For those who m…