DS#1, after spending the first 4 years of his life almost entirely with me, has just started pre-school. This is so exciting-- perhaps more for me than for him. I'm thrilled to have more time one-on-one with DS#2 who is 2, and has spent all of his life in the shadow of his more extroverted big brother. I have been looking forward to going to the playground in the crisp Autumn mornings and only having to worry about keeping *one* child from breaking his neck; and thinking, how delightful it will be to go to the grocery store with no arguments over who gets to sit in the cart. In my reckless enthusiasm I have even gone so far as to sign #2 up for a mommy and me class on one of the mornings when #1 is in school.

But when I was filling out the emergency contact cards at the school, and had to leave the cell phone number space blank, I suddenly realized that the school expects me to be instantly reachable at all times. What if DS gets sick at school when I’m at the playground or in the store or in the class? Is it irresponsible not to have a cell phone when you’re a mom? And then I started thinking, back when I was in preschool and there were no cell phones, it would never have occurred to my mother in a million years that she should stay home by the phone during those 3 hours just in case something happened to me. This was in the early 70s, but probably this would also have been true of a parent ten years ago. How weird that this technology has changed what society expects from parents so drastically.

There's no huge reason why I don't have a cell phone. I just didn’t see the need for one when they started to become common. I resented the idea of having to be available to everyone at all times. I was irritated (and still am) by having to listen to other people’s conversations. It seemed like a pointless expense. And now that they’re ubiquitous, I feel like time has passed me by – and I admit there has been a certain amount of pride in not having one, not being a slave to technology etc... Now I feel like a freak, but even so, I really don’t want one. For all the reasons listed above, but mostly because of the expense. But st the same time I feel guilty for not having one. Shoot. How much does it cost to have a beeper?