Richard, I know exactly what you mean - it's just unbelievable how people can't LIVE without those phones. Granted, I've had one for many years, but you know what? It has an off switch!! I also just went to Tracfone which will save me $70/month. It seemed more than stupid that my husband and I paid that for service we rarely used. Our plan was for 550 shared minutes a month (the lowest allowable by Verizon) and we generally used 60.