TMI: Call me

Every week, I enjoy answering Sean's Too Much Information questions which he creates for his blog, Just a Jeep Guy.

1. Do you still have a land line?  Yes.  At one time, it was essential for safety reasons because I couldn't  make or receive a cell phone call or even text inside the house.  We needed a reliable phone because my son often went by boat to visit friends on an offshore island.

If some high winds blew up (which often happened), he needed to reliably contact us if he was forced to stay overnight.  But the rural cell network has been upgraded so the signal is much improved. I am seriously considering cancelling my land line.

Presently, I pay over $200 per month for phone and internet services and I can't afford it!  This is the total of my land line ($30), internet ($40), my son's cell ($50 + tax), my cell ($50 + tax) and half of my daughter's cell ($25.)   When I set up my first home in 1985, I had one phone bill:  $10:00 per month!

2. Which cell phone do you use and why?  My Samsung Galaxy III was my first SmartPhone and I love it!  But I only use a fraction of its technical wizardry so an upgrade to the latest version would be wasted on me.

3. Which provider do you use? Is there really a difference?  In Canada, there are only a couple of cell phone providers in the country and they both seem the same with regard to service and price.  This monopoly means that cell service here is the most expensive in the world. :-(

4. If you call someone and they don't pick up, do you leave a message?  Yes, always! In particular, my elderly parents really get in a dither if they receive a "hang-up" on their answering machine.  They always assume something bad has happened.

5. When you have a missed call (with no message), do you call the person back?  No, unless it one of my children or my parents.

6. Do you text willingly or reluctantly? How are your skills?  I learned to text for the first time when arranging the hookup with a 28 year-old hottie when I lost my gay virginity.  It was well worth it!

Texting is the main way that parents now communicate with their teenagers and I'm good at it!

But I hate receiving texts from my ex-wife.  Sometimes she's polite but mainly, she's angry, bitter, oppositional, complaining or trying to micro-manage the kids.  Her texts always add stress to my life. At times, I won't receive a single text in a whole month and then, I'll get forty texts in a single day;  erratic!

My son has been urging me to block my wife from calling or texting me and I'm seriously considering it.  The implications of this would be huge and it warrants a post on its own.

7. Has your cell replaced your camera? No, but I will take the odd phone pic because it's convenient, especially if I need to get a quick record of something like a license plate number.  But if I want a quality picture to keep, I will always use my camera.

8. Selfies.... are something which I avoid taking; the extreme close-up does no favours for my haggard, worn-out face and I need to have more control of the lighting.

9. How many apps do you have? Which is your favorite and why?  I have little interest in adding apps to my phone. I rarely even use the ones the phone came with.  But I do have a weather app as well as apps for Grindr, Scruff, POF and Squirt.  The gay essentials!

10. What would life be like with no cell/smart phone for one month?  I'd hate it!  Throughout history, technology is always moving forward, never backwards.  In fact, it is impossible to go back once we've experienced the benefits of a new technology. 

BONUS
How much has your cell phone become a part of your sex life? Sexting, hookup apps, selfies, video, GPS, more?
My cell phone is of primary importance in my gay sex life because all of my hookups are now arranged on my SmartPhone, using the gay hookup sites: squirt.org, pof.com and grindr.   It would be extremely difficult to arrange a hookup in my rural / small town area without my cell phone.

I take selfies with my cell phone mainly to send the hookup guy my face pic;  young dudes in particular often ask for one.  I never / rarely take cock shots.  As well, I never allow a video to be taken of me during sex despite occasional requests.  .