I was exposed as a Luddite in the course of my duties this week. A colleague asked me to explain third-generation (3G) mobile communications technology. "Er, you know, videos and Internet on your phone ... and stuff." He looked wildly unimpressed and walked off to ask someone who knew what they were talking about.

Beijing has had a curious effect on me. For years, along with maybe half a dozen others, I've been keeping the phone boxes of Australia in business, stubbornly refusing to get a mobile phone.

I managed to hold firm through relentless nagging and exasperated pleas to embrace the 21st century.

That was one thing. But telling Beijingers I didn't have a mobile phone was akin to saying I had leprosy. It was unimaginable in this city where even the lowest of wage earners walk around with the latest telephonic device clamped to their ears.

They were baffled. "What? Why don't you just go out and get one they're not expensive."

I knew I'd never be able to provide an adequate explanation. So now I'm one of China's 461 million mobile phone users. It took just three months here before I finally cracked and bought one of the loathsome contraptions purely as a navigational aid, of course.

One too many cock-ups meeting up with people tipped me over the edge and it was straight down to the nearest China Mobile outlet. The technology would bring convenience to my life and reduce hassle. No point fighting it any longer.

Then came the humiliation. I didn't quite know how to use the wretched thing and spent the first couple of months sending text messages IN CAPITALS LIKE I WAS SHOUTING, unable to flip it over to lowercase.

Particularly uncharitable recipients of my messages would return volley IN CAPITALS until I finally sorted it out.

Mine was the cheapest in the shop and comes with no bells or whistles whatsoever. It invites sneers from passing teenagers sporting the latest gadgetry.

They're all waiting for the great 3G revolution to hit China. Or an iPhone. Or a networked home appliance that they can communicate with when they're out.

China's mobile phone industry is clearly burgeoning. The Chinese 3G standard, TD-SCDMA, is about to enter a new round of network trials. The government's expected to hand out 3G licences sometime soon perhaps in time for the Olympics.

Meanwhile 120 million mobile phones were sold in China last year, a 40 percent increase on 2005 according to a recent Xinhua report.

It's no wonder I buckled under the pressure. In fact, since I cast off my technophobe cloak it's been comforting to talk to several closet Luddites who also did without a phone until they moved here and found it impossible to get by without one.

Now I can shove my phone in the face of an unsuspecting taxi driver when I'm not sure where I'm going and have some clued-up conspirator on the other end do my negotiating for me. I can call someone the second I get lost, and avert catastrophe quicker than you can say "Weiii?"

And although it still takes me an age to bash out a text message, and locking it remains a mystery, there's no denying this mobile malarkey has made things a lot easier. But all this talk of bandwidth capacity, videos and the Internet? Networking my home appliances so I can send a message from my phone to my TV? Please. One step at a time.

Contact the author at robynschorn@gmail.com

(China Daily 02/07/2007 page15)