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Cellphone “refuseniks” are a small but proud bunch
Thursday, June 25th 2026

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Cellphone “refuseniks” are a small but proud bunch

Alex Lifschitz, of Los Angeles tweets from his on-campus apartment at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Henrietta, N.Y. on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009. Lifschitz, in his third year at the Rochester Institute of Technology uses Twitter as a tight-knit circle, keeping his contacts more limited than on Facebook. Using his cell phone or laptop, he tweets to let professors know he can't make it to class or to ask questions about assignments. He also uses it for something as basic as organizing a food run with friends on campus. "I can simply tweet and ask who wants to go somewhere with me, and I'll have a few takers at any given time," he says.
Alex Lifschitz, of Los Angeles tweets from his on-campus apartment at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Henrietta, N.Y. on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009. Lifschitz, in his third year at the Rochester Institute of Technology uses Twitter as a tight-knit circle, keeping his contacts more limited than on Facebook. Using his cell phone or laptop, he tweets to let professors know he can’t make it to class or to ask questions about assignments. He also uses it for something as basic as organizing a food run with friends on campus. “I can simply tweet and ask who wants to go somewhere with me, and I’ll have a few takers at any given time,” he says.
By | newsroom@denverpost.com | The Denver Post
PUBLISHED: | UPDATED:
Getting your player ready...

Not so long ago, we all lived in a world in which we decided where to meet friends before leaving the house and we hiked to the nearest pay phone if we got a flat tire. Then we got cellphones.

Well, not everyone. For a hardy few who choose to ignore cellphones, life is a pocketful of quarters, missed connections and a smug satisfaction of marching to a different ring tone.

After 20 years, 85 percent of adult Americans have cellphones, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Those who still do not have them, according to Pew, tend to be older or less-educated Americans or those unable to afford phones.

Cellphone “refuseniks” probably account for less than 5 percent of those who do not have cellphones, said John Horrigan, consumer-research director at the National Broadband Task Force.

“The cell refuseniks are making a statement that they control their availability,” Horrigan said. The New York Times

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