I have a cell phone.  You probably have a cell phone.  The last two standing of my cell-less friends got them years ago.  I have a smartphone with access to the internet, my Twitter, Facebook, and Gmail acounts.  You can reach me in at least 5 ways via a device that fits in my back pocket.

I’ve had a cell phone since I was a freshman in college.  Before that, I had a pager.

I was a 16-year-old girl living in southwestern Ohio, and I had a pager.

The point of a pager is so that people can communicate with you at a moment’s notice.  It’s urgent.  You can’t wait until they get home and check their answering machine.  You need to know if they are going to the football game this weekend, and you need to know RIGHT NOW.

Can you even imagine a scenario where a 16-year-old’s attention was needed that urgently?  The only people who take 16-year-olds seriously are 16-year-olds.  Every other age, younger and older, all know that 16-year-olds are the least significant and most attention-hungry members of society.  What argument can be made that results in a 16-year-old having a pager to be a rational decision?

I’m still not that important.  No one needs to get a hold of me at a moment’s notice.  I’m not saving anyone’s life.  My input is not needed to make time-sensitive decisions.  I have no one for whom or to whom I am accountable.  There are absolutely zero reasons I need to be reachable at all times.  Nobody needs me that badly.

And yet, my phone is less than 2 feet from my left hand even as I type these words.

Just in case.