communication is good... i write long articles and give speeches locally... no one can understand communication beter than a hardcore socialist like me... but cell phone talks and sms are not communication... they are a waste of time.
i have never owned a cell phone... i never will... internet and messages can be used from a tablet ( portable ) or desktop... better yet is to have a bunch of people who we can trust enough to keep us informed of common things.
you mention your mother's messages ( video?? )... i have written in my earlier post about one-way video messages that can be recorded on a desktop or tablet...
one-way message... mail or video recording... is the best form... it encourages people to be polite and thinking during the lengthiness of the message... all this sms language has destroyed decency... and every two-bit person think themselves so important that they can yak on the cell phone anywhere without being concerned about others.
the flooding in san francisco happened a few years back despite cell phones being present... and there was much crime in the stadiums where the clue-less authorities had put people for refuge... there were stabbings... and the american emergency department, fema, arrived late despite having cell phones and access to large number of boats and helicopters.
earthquakes and floods will damage cell phone base stations... and cell phone networks go dead... this is in addition to the jamming of networks when the base stations are not damaged and are therefore excessively by civilians.
and remember the crime that happened in the "rescue" in uttarakhand... shops were set up in the "rescue" camps and the sellers were charging four hundred rupees for a biscuit pack which otherwise costs ten rupees... could the rescued people avoid this crime because they had "the cell phone"??
two-way instant network-communications is not good in hands of civilians in emergencies... and anytime else... cell phones don't rescue people... it is proper techniques and proper political arrangement of society that rescues.
india has the largest number of cell phone users in the world... about thrice the total population of usa... did the cell phone helped amaanat when she was tortured in delhi in december 2012... do cell phones help prevent suicides in bangalore... do cell phones help the people killed or attacked by dogs in bangalore...
cell phones has encouraged all the wrong things... aggressiveness, rudeness, lack of care for traffic rules, lack of concern for others when in public, uneducated-ness, crime, an unnecessary thing made "essential"...
important is every citizen having a portable and light computer... but having constant access to two-way communication is wrong.