What Are the Advantages of Having a Cell Phone?

Through the use of cell phones, keeping in touch with one another is as simple as pushing a button. Even when you can't talk, cell phones make communication easy with the use of text messaging. With more sophisticated cell phones, you can also send pictures, video clips, listen to music, and even access the Internet. Some cell phones also provide access to calculators, maps, GPS devices and television.

Keeping in touch has never been easier. Cell phones fit in your purse or your pocket. With many states passing no-hands laws, you may be required to connect your cell phone to ear devices that allow you to talk while you drive. The advantage of cells phones is that you no longer have to worry while your loved one is out on the road late at night. If someone is driving and must call you, he can do that with a cell phone. Please note, however, that chatting with a driver is a source of distraction for the driver, so keep conversations short.

Shopping with a cell phone is convenient. Coming home without having bought everything on your shopping list because you left the list at home doesn't have to happen again. Call home while you are right there in the store. Your family will appreciate your thoughtfulness.

Cell phones can be a safety measure for young people in school. Laws forbidding use of cell phones in schools have lifted in many states after lawmakers realized the need for immediate emergency contact between children and their parents. Parents can feel more confident knowing their child can call home if need be and the same goes for children in school. They know their parents are just one phone call away. Seniors living alone who carry cell phones in their pockets or purses feel safer knowing they can call a caring adult child, relative, or friend anytime, anywhere, in case of emegency.

Many cell phones come with a Global Positioning System (GPS). When following directions while driving is a problem, this service built into your cell phone can get your where you need to be. GPS works as an interactive map. These devices are designed to be attached to the driver area inside the car and, with voice-over instructions, they guide you turn by turn once you set your point of direction into it. GPS devices installed in cell phones work the same way, only they are smaller and usually do not have voice-over directions. They can be hand held by anyone riding in the car or placed where the driver can see the map without taking her eyes off the road. With GPS installed in a cell phone, the location of that phone can also be established from another location--for example, the police department in the case of a missing person who has a phone with GPS activated in her possession.

Cell phones allows you to send short messages known as text messages to other cell phones and through some landline services. You type short messages in using the key pad and receive messages through another cell phone as written words, which are often abbreviated. Often this is a silent process and therefore covert and ultra-convenient at times when talking is not allowed. For landline delivery, the person on the landline end receives a voice message asking if they wish to receive a text. Once they agree, voice recognition software delivers the text sent from a cell phone to their landline.

Take a picture of your stalker. With a camera phone, assailants know they will be caught if they accost you. You will be able to take a picture of them and email it to the police within seconds of being mugged. So keep your local authority's phone number and email address handy for quick retrieval through your cell phone.

In case of an accident, cell phones hold crucial information that your family and loved ones need to know. In your contact list, paramedics can find your In Case of Emergency (ICE) list, and with one button they can locate people who can help them help you.