Have you caused damage from ESD?

Was recently working in a mine that had issues with dust that gave off ESD. The workers were constantly shorting out there walkie talkies , and if you took a laptop or cell phone into the mine it was a good as toast. This was why we were called in . We were tasked with making a dust suppression system that would go ahead of the workers into the shafts and knock down the dust and eliminate the ESD. Rubber boots and gloves were the order of the day . It was so bad if you shut off your lamp and watched you would actually see tiny bolts of lightning crackling off your clothing as you moved around . That being said back in the normal work space that is my shop Ive never had issue with it when working on phones or computers and i never wear a grounding strap . My shop does not have any carpet and the air is never very dry As @dan says it has to do with were and when .

ESD is a tricky thing! Different locations, the season and the weather can be the difference between a good repair and one messed up by ESD (static electricity)!

Your work area is also a factor. Make sure you use static free flooring & the chair you are sitting in.

I would recommend getting an anti-static mat which is hooked up to a good ground point. That way you're covered. Whats important is placing your tools and parts on the mat so they discharge any static charge, this also includes you as well!

The big question is how sensitive is the gear you are working on. In years past it was very sensitive MOS & CMOS could easily get damaged. Newer DTL & TTL logic was less sensitive. With the start of microprocessors better techniques to protect the logic was introduced making them less sensitive every generation.

From my understanding the pendulum will be slipping the other direction as we go deeper into the sub-micron scaling of chips.

Here's a bit more: ESD Wrist Strap, What to Connect To?