How Old Were You When You Owned Your First Cell Phone

[Erick Estrada]

Does a bag phone count?

[Kiran403]

Had a pager from ages 14-17, First cell phone at the end of year 17 was a StarTac.

[Ironhorse]

Around 28.

Nokia 101 brick phone.

[Regulator75]

Around 20-21 years old, looked kinda like this. (1996)

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

Currently, 25.5 million people in Canada use smartphones – 70% of the population. ( http://mediaincanada.com/2018/01/23/...-to-ios-study/). Mobile phones are undeniably a society shaping tool. The introduction of these devices changed the way people interact, learn, and entertain themselves. The day you started owning a cellphone can be understood as a moment that dramatically transformed your life.

I want to know, when did you get your first cellphone?

to be honest, I was about 32.

[Red Potato Standing By]

Originally Posted by Kiran403

Had a pager from ages 14-17, First cell phone at the end of year 17 was a StarTac.

School drug dealer?(when I was in high school the kids with the pagers were generally the dealers, it was a small town not many had pagers)

[habernac]

hahahha, 35. I only bought one so my wife could call me if she went into labour. I didn't text anyone for years. I've now fallen into the trap of using it all the time with the rest of humanity.

[alexle]

Nokia 5190, from eBay. I was probably in Grade 8 or 9 (13-14 years old)

[Kiran403]

Originally Posted by Zethrynn

School drug dealer?(when I was in high school the kids with the pagers were generally the dealers, it was a small town not many had pagers)

Not quite. I was big into hiphop culture and so many rappers had pagers so I just wanted one. Cell phones were super expensive and a pager plan was only $10/ month. Also, I had a fake ID pretty early on and made extra dough pulling smokes or booze for other kids for a fee.

[Red Slinger]

Mine was an old LG little blue flip phone. It was indestructible.
I think I was about 30 at the time. I was indestructible.

[Galakanokis]

Pretty much had all of these starting with the one on the left in 96. Have had a work pager or cell phone for over 20 years.

Debating getting my 10 year old a cell phone now. He uses an old one on just wifi but thinking about a full fledged cell.

[bc-chris]

i had to get a phone last year (at the age of 44) when my dad got sick - it's an old second-hand iphone. my wife and mom needed a way to get a hold of me when i was out in the evenings playing hockey in case my dad took a dramatic turn for the worse - so before every game i gave the score keeper the phone and said, 'if this thing rings it will be my wife or mom calling to say my dad is near death and i have to leave immediately. i'm not sure what my team will do without a goalie, but at that point i won't really care."


after my dad passed away i kept the phone, but it usually can be found on my window sill plugged into the wall. my wife still needs to remind me to "take the phone!!" i'm not really sure why - i maybe get 1 text a day and it's usually from her - ha!


i'm quite happy without it

[mikephoen]

I was leaving a ball tournament out near Caroline in the summer of 1997 with a group of friends, and we were the first to arrive at a single vehicle roll over accident. None of us had a cell phone, so one of us rushed back to the ball tournament to find someone who did so we could call for an ambulance.

I stayed behind and got to watch a kid die in the ditch that day.

I have no idea if a faster call could have done anything (we were in the middle of no-where), but I went and bought a cell phone the next day anyway. I don't think I've gone more than a few hours without a phone within reach since then.

[I_H8_Crawford]

18 years old. Got the Nokia 252:

[Locke]

Awww.....yeah, check out this sexy bitch!



High School baby! T9Word FTW!

[Huntingwhale]

2008 was my first, at the age of 24. Was always a landline person and smart phones weren't really a thing. Mine was also pay as you go, so I always had to stop by the Mac's store and ask them for 15/30 minutes of talk time prepaid. They would then print it out on a long receipt and have to punch in the number. If I ran out of minutes or texts, I had to get another. Screwed myself over a bunch I would run out of minutes or texts doing something important and had to be vigilant.

[lazypucker]

Originally Posted by alexle

Nokia 5190, from eBay. I was probably in Grade 8 or 9 (13-14 years old)

I've got this one too as my first phone. Instead of phone cases, I remember you can actually go out and get a different faceplate.

[dubc80]

I remember thinking texts were the dumbest thing ever and that it would never catch on...

"If you want to talk to someone, why don't you just call them???"
- Direct quote by me, circa 2002

[TheScorpion]

I would've been 14 when I got my first usable cell phone.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

I would've been 14 when I got my first usable cell phone.

What do you mean by usable? As in your first cell phone that wasn’t filled with candy?