I have a cell - for emergencies only. Call me at home - don't run up my minutes with needless crap. I've even shut off the messaging on my cell. Don't need it. I don't believe in text messaging - can't be bothered. Don't believe in answering machines - had one and got rid of it. If I'm home I answer, if I don't answer I'm not home.

I don't like automated messages - I feel it's pathetic customer service - I don't care what the excuse is for having it.

I don't like to push button #1, #2, #3, etc. for what I need. Here - push THIS!

Keep your ipods, blackberries, blue tooth or whatever else you want to call all this crap. And I don't believe in watching TV on your cell. Stupid. If I want to watch a movie - I want to watch a movie in comfort - not holding a dang cell.

You can even watch movies on your computer - - - cripe - nothing like turning a person into a computer droid ---- why not sleep with the dang thing too while you're at it! Maybe someday someone will invent one that will cook and serve your meals through the screen so you can "bond" more with an electronic toy and you would never have to bother with the real world again!

Our minds are so preoccupied with all this crap that we've lost touch with the world. Have you noticed - common sense is slowly disappearing in the world today????

We no longer have to think - all these toys do it for us. Too bad they can't p.i.s.s. for us too - maybe that day is coming as well.

I don't believe in living for your on-line friends and acquaintances (no offense to anyone here) when you are now ignoring your family and friends that are/were in your life. Don't get me wrong - I have many on-line friends - they are great people - but always remember that family and friends come first.

If you come to visit - don't plan on taking calls on your cell or texting. Either visit me or stay home and play with your toys. If someone needs to get hold of you - they can call on my land phone - you can use it - no problem - no questions asked.

When eating dinner - eat dinner - pee on the phone calls - they can wait. Families need to be families and spend time together. There is a time for family and there is a time with friends. There is nothing more important than spending time with family.

Remember - God did not put us here to spend all our time texting or on line!

Remember to keep your life - don't give it up!

Mama you made many wonderful points here and I thank you for speaking so straigh- forth! And I agree 100%

God Bless You, Cathy

I agree with your idea about not allowing one's supper to be interrupted by phone calls, mama. When the phone would ring during meal-time, my Dad used to say: "I pay the bill for that phone, and it's their for MY convenience- not the caller's!"


Cell phones? Phooey! I'm almost always near a land-line... 'cept when I'm driving or on the crapper. And in both cases I ain't gonna be bothered, no matter how urgent the caller thinks his call is!

I have a cell for emergencies. I dont even give anyone the number. It is in case I have car trouble and need to call for help. Jon and I make some extra $$$ fixing computers so they come in handy that way. We have so many friends who live for online games. One in particular neglects spending anytime with their daughter for playing games in an online community. Another friend often falls asleep in front of his computer playing online.

That one really made me angry once and I told him so. He lives with his parents and we had went to their house to fix his Dads computer. This friend..its a guy Jon has known since highschool was in his bedroom. WELL we didnt want to be rude and leave without telling him bye when we were done so we knocked on his door. You know he never did answer the door. He muttered a bye and that was about it. I emailed him when I got home and asked why he didnt open the door and he said he was playing online and couldnt quit in the middle of a game. I go dude you shouldnt put the make believe computer world ahead of real live friends and I was told he was playing with his "online" friends. Then I read the email to Jon.. They never spoke for about 2 months because of that and they had never had words over anything before. I cant stand online games myself. My attention span doesnt last that long. Jon got me a playstation 2 years ago and I have played it about 6 times total.

My little sister is like that..she own and maintains a website and treats the site like its one of her kids. She spends alot of time moderating it and talking to her members. She and I actually had words not long ago over it. I was posting there but they all have kids. I dont..unles you count my husband lol. I posted that I wasnt gonna post anymore cause I didnt think I belonged there. She totally took it wrong and the two of us had a bad go about it. I still dont think she understood what I meant. I was posting recipes in the cooking thread and they are all posting about their kids. I went looking for and found this site right after that. You guys are a def upgrade We both agreed to pretend that never happened but I was suprised at the way she dealt with it because I didnt mean anything bad about it at all. I needed to find a foodie website and did. The online world def means alot to some people.

I've known extreme folks like that too, janie and frankly, I find them really freaky.

Games? Never once in my life. I never even had or enjoyed "Atari" back in the day, and I can't stand playing with or doing anything "gadget-related" like Play-Station, Gameboys, etc. Just ain't my thang on any level. I love the computer for reading news, logging-on to two food forums I take part in (for maybe 15 minutes a day) and e-mailing a few folks- other than that, I write and word-process a lot. But this "my life and my family are those who are online" idea to me is too weird to me.