Simplicity Vs. Interrupted

My house, the snake pit, sits nestled into a hill side. It is surrounded by corn fields and even though the neighbors house is less than a quarter mile away, I can't see them and they can't see me. I like it this way.

When we were looking at houses we knew we could only purchase a house that had high speed Internet access. We were fortunate enough to find this "gem" of a house that met our need of feeling secluded while still being modern enough for us to connect to the outside world. I do enjoy my cable TV and my Internet is blazing fast. There is just one small problem with the location of our home: We don't have cell phone reception.

At first this was a problem. Correction, a crisis. A crisis of epic proportions. I LIVE for gossiping on the phone and how was I going to have an instant alert that a new e-mail had arrived?

We got a land line. Yeah, one of those big clunky things that has big buttons on it and doesn't conveniently fit into your back pocket. I know, I thought they were extinct too.

The first year was really hard. I would stand in all sorts of crazy positions around the property just so I could send and receive a text message. Sometimes, I would drive down the road 50 feet so I could use my cell phone. I felt so disconnected from the world. Never mind that I had facebook and knew what all of my friends were doing at any point of the day. It just wasn't the same as picking up my phone for gossip time - and using the land line to call long distance is expensive! Oh cell phone minutes, how I missed you and your lack of differentiation between long distance and local calling.

Then I discovered something amazing. Quiet can be a good thing.

I've adjusted to not having cell phone service and I actually enjoy it. I don't have to feel as though I need to be instantly connected and always available for everyone in the world. I can walk outside to the garden and never once be interrupted with a phone call or a text message. I'm able to really enjoy family moments now that I'm not rushing around trying to communicate with the rest of the world.

Because I rarely use my cell phone, I haven't upgraded my phone since 2007. My phone is just shy of it's 5th birthday. It's taped together. Literally. There are four pieces of duct tape that are holding my phone together. The screen is so scratched that you can barely see what you're doing, and people constantly complain that they can't hear me when I'm on my cell phone.

I'm pretty proud of my taped together phone. I feel like the smart consumer who is saving loads of money by keeping the same product forever and ever. But as more and more people started to complain that they couldn't hear me, I knew it was time to look into purchasing a new phone.

Smart consumer feeling went bye-bye.

Did you know today's phones not only make telephone calls, but they can cook you dinner?!

OK, perhaps a phone making dinner is a slight exaggeration, but I just about fell over when the nice man at the T-Mobile booth patiently started showing me everything new phones could do.

Then, the unthinkable happened. He showed me the most amazing button EVER.

Apparently, you can make and receive calls on your cell phone through you home wireless network. At no extra cost. You probably knew this because you live in the modern world with your shiny, non taped together phone. Please excuse my shock and awe. I live under a rock.

I instantly wanted to abandon my simple life free from interruptions so I could once again be connected to the world.

Then I heard the price tag.

Even with my upgrade it was still going to cost me 200 bucks, after a 100 dollar mail in rebate. While the good American in me wanted to whip out a credit card and get that instant gratification of owning new technology, I reminded myself that I don't own a credit card and that diapers beat new phone every time.

I've had a few days to mull it over and I'm not certain I want a phone that I can make calls through my wireless network with. Do I really NEED to be so connected to the outside world? My land line phone number is very protected, and only the most important people to us have the number. Like the e-mail address you send junk mail to, my cell phone collects the unwanted phone calls from the VA, or Walgreen's, or the drunk dial from a friend in the middle of the night.

And yes, I know, I don't HAVE to enable the wireless calling, but lets be realistic - it will always be enabled when I'm at home. Cell phones are like Facebook, addicting and impossible to turn off.

So I face a major decision: Purchase the phone, move back into the real world, and be permanently connected to everyone in it, OR keep the taped together phone and enjoy the simplicity, UNinterrupted.