this user can play it

i'm up to 8 phone calls received today and all of them have been spam.

i don't think enough people acknowledge how capitalism has destroyed and is destroying our methods of communication

"every social media site dying doesn't matter, I'll just use my phone and email to talk to all my friends!"

Great news about how well THOSE work now, in basically all cases

When it makes a noise, it ruins your day 99% of the time

Funny thing about the phone

I pay $[way too much] for a service that I basically don't use. I don't know enough people phone-wise to text a bunch. I get upwards of 30 calls a day, all of them robocalls or garbage or debt scammers. I don't even use mobile internet, since I am functionally housebound at present, and so unless the internet is down, wifi works just fine thanks. I am paying $[YOWTCH] for the privilege of having an expensive device which is, theoretically, reachable.

"Well why don't you cancel it then" because, beloved of Sjöfn, then I can't place doctors' appointments online. I can't bank. I can't have a paypal account. I can't have an email account ("but they don't require..." yeah every one I've opened up lately has required a phone for verification purposes, IN ADDITION to a backup email address), I can't shop online because you never know when a phone number will be REQUIRED for a shipper, I can't place appointments with my disability specialists.

My entire existence is tethered to a $[JCVS WHAT?] monthly fee for a service that I don't even USE.

Obligatory: well why don't you switch to a prepaid sim card then and

Because, unfortunately, the few times I DO use it, I have to use it A LOT, and so keeping an emergency "yeah this is my number haha" phone isn't an option, because I could charge it up with 120 minutes and just let them drip away until it's time to recharge, but then suddenly I get a very important life-affecting phone call that I HAVE to make/take and it lasts 4 hours and I can't always be sure I'll have the minutes charged up for that and I DO NOT want to be like "oh, hang on, let me charge my phone with minutes" when it comes in, and I know from experience you can't do that mid-call anyway, AND when you get into the realm of "oh just keep it charged with 4+ hours then!" you're looking at paying $[GODDAMN] a month anyway so

might as well pay the arm AND the leg so that I can keep my digital friends with me in my pocket when I DO have the chance to leave the house on a walk or a trip, you know?

What a racket