This morning, I read an article in the online British news site Mirror.co.uk about a man from Somerset who was mugged of money and cell phone, only to have his cell phone handed back to him as being not good enough to steal. Intrigued, I did a little more investigation and saw that this is not a unique story; there have been other reports of muggers returning cells to their owners because they were too cheap. After I got a good chuckle at the idea of having your cell phone deemed unworthy of theft, I realised that my little cheap cell phone serves more purpose than I thought.
I have always had a cheap cell phone around. I throw it in my backpack when I’m going hiking, I take it to the beach, and if I know I’m going to end up on a party street or on a pub crawl, I often exchange my more expensive cell phone for a cheap one that is virtually devoid of personal information. That way, if it gets lost, stolen, broken, or left behind, the damage to my wallet and my person is minimised.
Of course, one never knows when or where they might be mugged. But sometimes we can know that we will be walking home late or going through a less populated area to travel to our destination. In those cases, cheap might be wise. Cheap cell phones might also be a good idea when considering the safety of our more vulnerable – the old, the disabled, and the very young.