Are you a cell phone "refusenik"?

A whopping 85 percent of American adults own a cell phone, but as the New York Times reports, there's a small but stubborn contingent—the cell phone "refuseniks"—who wouldn't be caught dead with one. Sound like anyone you know?

The Times story profiles a handful of people who, for a variety of reasons, don't want a cell phone in their lives. There's the writer in L.A. who'd rather "live in the moment" than check his cell every 10 seconds, the woman who thinks it's "scary" that a cell phone means you're always reachable, and the artist who finds that not having a mobile means she must make elaborate plans in advance to meet up with friends for lunch.

As the Times story points out, there's a big gulf between the cell phone "refuseniks" and those who, say, want a handset but can't afford one. As one consumer research director told the Times, the "refuseniks" are "making a statement that they control their availability."

Of course, "making a statement" by not having a cell phone has its downsides, as one of the subjects in the Times article found out when her car broke down on the highway.

Personally, I can't say I know any "refuseniks" of the wireless kind. I know a few Facebook refuseniks, mind you (although, thanks to picture tagging, even those who refuse to get a Facebook account often end up on Facebook anyway), and I still know a few defiant TV refuseniks.

But even my Facebook-refusenik friend has a cell phone, which she checks quasi-obsessively for incoming text messages. My parents have cell phones, as do my wife's parents (they don't know how to use them all that well, but they've got them). The hipsters in my neighborhood who wear black and refuse to shop in chain stores? They all have cell phones. I briefly resisted getting a cell phone but broke down back in 2002, and now I won't leave home without one.

Then again, there is a certain appeal to being completely unreachable, like when my wife and I went on our honeymoon in Italy—two weeks, no phones. We were in the moment. But once we got home, well ...

So, what about you? Are you now, or have you ever been, a cell phone refusenik? Got any cell phone refusenik friends? Do the refuseniks have a point, or are they just plain nuts?

Related:
The Cell Refuseniks, an Ever-Shrinking Club [The New York Times]