and for more complex or lengthy conversations, text for everything else. your phone account online should allow you to track your minutes usage.

It doesn't even have a camera!



On edit: Please accept my condolences to you on your loss and your sister's health. I don't mean to be flippant about that at all.

Opened the back, removed battery. Can't seem to figure what the #'s are.
I am not the account holder, I'm one of the 'family' users.

On mine, I can hit the home button, then tap a button to see all the apps.

One of them is settings, and when I go into that, there's an option called data usage. On an LG phone, maybe it's called data usage?

Mine shows a graph of my usage, how close I am to the limit, and it says what the billing cycle is, so I know how much time I have left to use the remaining data.

Apps > Settings > "Wireless and networks" > ...More > Usage

Then I can tab through to "data", "minutes" and "texts". I'm able to set the start and end point of the time period it's looking at as well.

you should be able to monitor your account online to see your usage...

But then, I'm a Luddite. I have Tracfone with ATT service. My phone tells me how many minutes right on the home screen. 10 bucks a month for 150 rollover minutes per month. I have so many minutes built up I'll never use them.

doesn't matter with me either way. I can see positives and negatives with both. Being a shy guy, I am more inclined to text when it comes to women, but many times it is quicker to say what I want to tell her when we're talking on the phone. And that goes for other people in general, too. Usually it is quicker just to dial and speak, rather than typing with my thumbs. Though, sometimes to this day, I still get a little self-conscious about the way I talk after being made fun of so much during my childhood for sounding monotoned.

I'm not a phonophile, I guess! LOL

So usage is a moot point. 90% of the time I prefer text, but I will talk if people call me. I actually found out my grandfather was in his final days by text (one that came through at 4 am from my dad). My friends and I will text for hours on end without actually calling, and I'm totally fine with that.

I also use my phone for work.

I'm in my early 30s if that makes a difference.

Telephone chit chat makes me want to die. I hate the pauses and waiting for people to come to the fucking point. And since most people are mindless slack-jawed mouth breathers on the phone understanding their verbal diarrhea drives me up the wall. Seriously, the most eloquent, charming people in a face-to-face environment become absolute morons on the phone.

Plus texts can be dealt with as time permits in discrete chunks, while a telephone call requires me to stop what I'm doing and submit to someone else's schedule.

It's gotten to the point where I actually consider phone calls a bit selfish and rude.

I don't use my phone to text. I don't Tweet. I don't do Facebook. I do fart occasionally.

I have an iPod Touch and send and recieve texts once in a while via e-mail.

I don't use my cell phone too much. I have 90 hours on it and I've had it since 2010.

I also have a land line that I use more than my cell. I only use the cell in emergencies, such as an electric outage or in the car.

if it's just an information exchange. I hate answering the phone and I hate talking on the phone.

Texts are great and let you get right to the point without all the how are yous. But there are times when a call is desired or necessary.

I mostly text with people I'm closest to so it can be very casual and right to the point.

And phone call with my niece and nephews since they don't have phones yet.

Look for free texts and free nights and weekends.

It allows you guys to keep texting till a specified time, where you can talk for as much as you want.

Depending on your phone, if you have a smart phone, there is usually an app that mentions your account information.

Good luck.

But there's circumstances where a phone call is the better form of communication.

without a doubt, texting.

I've always had phone phobia. Always. Now that I have the ability to text, I choose it constantly. It saves me so much time (AND anxiety!) The only person I still call is my mom, and that's only when she's at work and I need to talk to her asap. The rest of the time I text her too (and she texts me, LOL).

Texting is how I keep track of my teenagers too. I don't know how my parents survived not knowing where I was most of the time. I'd go crazy. I always know exactly where my kids are.

I'm lucky to have unlimited texting, so I don't really worry about going over. My phone company texts me when I get close to going over on my plan (my data plan that is), and texts me when I have reached my limit - also I can check how much I've used by going online and viewing my account.

Short pieces of information - text.

Longer more complex stuff - phone. Or just to chit-chat - phone.

for more save your minutes for more complex stuff. I text back and forth with my wife all the time.

You should know how many minutes and free texts you have per month (if you don't ask your kids). If you go over, they start to nail you. The other way to run up a bill is the data usage. Make sure that stays off. Only use the internet if there is a wi-fi connection.

It sounds like you had an unusually bad month family wise. Give yourself a few months to get use to it. Maybe if you have a calender handy jot down every day how many minutes you think you spent on the phone and at the end of the month see what you come up with.

I'm a busy person, and often at work (kitchen manager in a busy pub), so i am not usually free to answer phone calls...
So if someone ~is~ calling me, it's generally pretty important.

For me, texting is preferred for anything outside either an emergency, or something that REQUIRES me to hear the nuance in the other person's voice, or for them to hear mine... or if i'm just catching up with an old friend with whom i haven't spoken in a while.

I don't like to talk a lot.

email is my preferred comms

I often can't take a call, either I'm at work or bouncing around the city where it's noisy, distracting, and I'm apt to be in and out of service. And even when it would be possible to take a call, texting is far more succinct, quick and clear for 90% of communication needs - I don't need to waste three to five minutes on a call to ask the lady to grab milk on her way home or confirm my arrival time when I'm visiting my sister. Something longer and more detailed, I'll usually go for email.

As for "chit-chat", well, besides it being mostly completely outdated and irrelevant due to social media (I don't need to spend an hour on the phone to find out how my shiny new niece is doing when I've seen a week's worth of Facebook posts from sis), when I do want to "just talk" it's almost inevitably Skype. Even works OK on Verizon 4G here; if I could cut back to an hour a month of "minutes" that would cover talking to Dad, and he's literally 98% of my call history.

I'm slow, so text for very short messages, like a dozen words. Anything more than that, a phone call.

Have you checked around about landline prices? For the same price as the most popular internet company in town charges for just internet, I got the same speed internet plus a landline with unlimited long distance and caller ID. I love the landline, won't give it up until I have no choice.

I hope you can find some solace.

As for phones... I prefer text or email at this point. I don't like being summoned by the phone because it interrupts, and I find that most people keep their phone volume way too high, which means that they blow out their speaker/mic within a couple weeks of getting a new phone. This makes their voice tinny and difficult to understand. (I first noticed this with my mother, who abuses the hell out of her phones and her ears, then started mentally tracking the phenomenon.) I also find the distortion between networks to be nigh unbearable.

I also have people with hearing impairments and sensory processing issues in my life, for whom text is a lifesaver.

Plus, I have a lot of unreliable narrators in my circle. It really does help keep difficulties to a minimum if everything is written in an independently verifiable way.