Nomophobia
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Yes, yet something else to worry about: nomophobia. It's a fear of being without mobile phone contact … NO...MObile..PHOne...phobia. The term was coined in the UK when it was determined by a study that people who lose their phones, run out of battery power or don't have network coverage, suffer the same anxiety that folks suffer when heading to the dentist's office or getting married. Yikes!
More than half the people (in the study anyhow) never ever turn off their mobile phones. Really? More often than not, we forget to turn ours on. I've been using my mom's phone since I got back into the States. When I do remember to charge it and then turn it on, I forget to take it with me when I go out.
We buy a new mobile phone in pretty much every country we visit. They're pretty much disposable … $20/phone and then pay-as-you-go service. We never get fancy phones … no iPhones for us. No, we get the type that still require you to use the “1” key for either ABC, “2” for DEF, etc. We must tap it until the proper letter appears on the screen. We seldom send a text that's error-free and sometimes the messages are rather bizarre. We buy them in order to contact vendors, marinas and other cruisers when the VHF radio won't suffice.
There is hope for all the nomophobes out there. There's a Mobile Phone Anxiety Advice Center.
I think if we were land folk full time, we might succumb to the constant need to be in touch. As it is, when we're at sea, we figure we're lucky to be in touch with the world once a day via SailMail (radio signal) and then mostly for weather forecasts. As for mobile signals, they're few and far between at sea and so far, we've managed without a satellite phone. Perhaps, we have mophobia... a fear of having a mobile phone and too much contact or perhaps it's just not important to us.
What about you? Are you a nomophobe? Can you go without your mobile phone for long periods of time...like say, 48 hours?? Would you want to?
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(and $$) should be used to educate folks just how their taxes are spent ... perhaps, even revitalizing the thought that paying taxes was part of their patriotic duty. They rationalize that people are more apt to part with their money more graciously if they agree with how it is spent. Just look at how well volunteer and philanthropic organizations do in coaxing money out of people. But spending more tax money to market to citizens, so they feel better about paying taxes … maybe not.
in 1546. Probably a penny had some worth then. It certainly doesn't now. In many of the countries we've visited ... New Zealand, Australia and Canada come to mind immediately … they've phased out pennies altogether. They round off everything to the nearest 5 or 10 cents. No such thing as $9.99 … it's always $10, no matter what the sign says.