solotripper wrote on Jun 19^th, 2015 at 7:58pm:

I get why people take devices like this and the posts all make sense in regards to how to use one and how to tell others what to expect IF you have them on your call list. I guess for me and maybe only me because I'm single and have no kids or anyone dependent on me financially or even emotionally for that matter that I even ask this question. I'm old enough and others here are as well, when you left for a trip like this, told you loved ones where you were headed, time you'd be gone and when to expect a call ( landline/radio phone days only). You told the outfitter or maybe a ranger your itinerary and THEY decided when to worry or look for you based on their experience and the weather or other factors that only someone right there would know. Now we live in a 24/7 digital world where people mistakenly believe in many cases that they should be able to call you anywhere you are and even more problematic is they think YOU should respond within seconds/minutes of their calls. People that use smartphones for business or are socially active know that some people will call/text incessantly because YOU didn't respond the moment you got their message or should I say they think you should have received it. So in the long run, what's more stressful for the loved ones and you as well? You do it the old school way and they learn to "chill" while you’re gone OR you buy./rent a hi-tech device that may or may not work as you/they think it should and THEY get stressed because the device for whatever reason doesn’t give them the peace of mind you/they thought it would? Too my way of thinking, it’s not entirely clear that they alleviate the separation anxiety, rather they add a modern twist to it.

I'm completely with you on this, ST, and, yeah, it may be because we're from a different time.  Over the last five years we do carry a SAT phone but that's because my mother-in-law is 94 and if anything happens while we're away my wife, who is my travelling partner, feels she needs to know (although I'm not sure what we could do about it anyway.)  In the five years we've carried it we've never called out and no one has called in.  We check it nightly (mostly) and that's it.  Me, I'm all about getting away from it all, not taking it with me.  Although, judging from the increasing amount of stuff we carry you might not know it. ;D