>
but a mere 25 years ago, most people had no cell phone, no mobile phone, and never, ever suffered mishap as a result.But that just isn't true. Being able to use a mobile radio to summon emergency services earlier has statistically significant association with improved outcomes [0]. It isn't just about what happens to you, it's about what you can do for others you come across in emergencies. 25 years ago, I'd need to drive a minimum of 15-30 minutes to the nearest house and hope I was able to use their landline (or break in I guess?), or maybe there would be an open service station within that distance (often not). People died (still do) or suffer serious injury getting lost in the woods very close to home. I nearly did once in the 90s, cross country skiing and being foolish. I went out in the afternoon on a gray, gray overcast day, zero shadows, fresh snow, and as a skier since a child I felt overly confident and didn't take a normal fanny pack even with light (back then of course lamps were a lot crappier pre-LED), water or whatever. It got dark fast, by this point about 15°F, and I got completely, utterly confused. I knew I should be close and indeed reconstructing afterwards (finding my own tracks later in the week) I was within 1/2 mile or so. But it was a half mile through old forest without that clear trails. Fortunately I had had some outdoor training and recognized this was genuine trouble, I didn't try to go back in the woods but crossed a frozen swamp and broke for a farm field, and then from there to an actual house whose light I could see and use as a guide about a mile and a half away. Even if no one was home there'd at least be a road I could follow, fortunately there was someone and I could beg to use their landline and call a friend. But there were directions of travel I could have gone there with no one, and no road, for 6+ miles of mountainy forest. And if one succumbs to panic, it's easy to end up spending hours going in circles, or even without because sense of direction is hard with zero markers, no stars or the like. Or are fine, but fall and break a leg or something. This happens. People die. I and friends worked as First Responders and later mountain rescue volunteers of various levels. It's all well and good to say "well you should never do that" but humans are imperfect, even experienced ones. Having access to quite accurate near term weather forecasts alone is just massive, a boon a lot of us don't stop to appreciate.
Obviously, as tools cell phones have other risks. It's possible to get overconfident with them and take risks that negate the benefits. People have died due to silly things like literally stepping backwards over a cliff trying to get the perfect selfie. And there are other negative effects as this article talks about. Nevertheless, it's wrong to claim everything was fine back in "the good old days" when life expectancy was significantly lower [1]. You don't have to have a fancy smart phone to have a basic comms, GPS and map, but that doesn't negate how valuable those can be.
----
0: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22142669/
1: https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/USA/united-states/life...