Uber-nerd, the need for an anti-static strap, floormat, or anything else is really up to you and your situation. I lived a lot of years by the ocean, and it was an environment where static problems were completely unheard of, so didn't need to be given a second thought at all. I've also lived a lot of years in the high desert, and now in another high-altitude low-humidity environment, and it is absolutely no-questions-asked necessary to work at preventing static discharge from damaging electronics.
If you live in an area or have an environment where static is a problem, you probably already know it because you are on the giving or receiving end of shocks on a very regular basis. Some people in this thread recommend things like touching the computer case or other such things to discharge. The problem with that advice is that it is completely useless unless you are so religious about it that you do it every single time. One touch is all it takes, and one time forgetting to touch metal on the computer case before touching the keyboard or some other peripheral is enough to put something you depend on out of commission. So... too late for a short post here, but... If you do have static problems, I'd strongly recommend taking measures that require no active thought at all to discharge the static. Change the carpet, add a humidifier, put a grounded mat where you have to step on it or touch it, something requiring no thought. But if you don't have static problems, there's probably no need for anything at all.
Finally... people don't even feel most static electricity discharges until they reach something like 1500 volts. However, a discharge that a human can't even feel can fry a hard drive or other components inside your computer. Just because you don't feel a shock doesn't mean it wasn't static electricity that made some component in your computer (or telephone, etc.) suddenly stop working.
Example: You are working in your computer. You faithfully touch the metal case before starting. You then take two steps to pick up the hard drive you're putting in the computer. You and that hard drive now have a static charge, and the next time you or the hard drive touch ground, that discharge is going through the hard drive. If that next grounding happens to be the gold-plated contacts touching the drive cable, you can easily have a fried hard drive or controller card or PSU, and all the while you have no idea there was even a static discharge at all.
Mark.
If you live in an area or have an environment where static is a problem, you probably already know it because you are on the giving or receiving end of shocks on a very regular basis. Some people in this thread recommend things like touching the computer case or other such things to discharge. The problem with that advice is that it is completely useless unless you are so religious about it that you do it every single time. One touch is all it takes, and one time forgetting to touch metal on the computer case before touching the keyboard or some other peripheral is enough to put something you depend on out of commission. So... too late for a short post here, but... If you do have static problems, I'd strongly recommend taking measures that require no active thought at all to discharge the static. Change the carpet, add a humidifier, put a grounded mat where you have to step on it or touch it, something requiring no thought. But if you don't have static problems, there's probably no need for anything at all.
Finally... people don't even feel most static electricity discharges until they reach something like 1500 volts. However, a discharge that a human can't even feel can fry a hard drive or other components inside your computer. Just because you don't feel a shock doesn't mean it wasn't static electricity that made some component in your computer (or telephone, etc.) suddenly stop working.
Example: You are working in your computer. You faithfully touch the metal case before starting. You then take two steps to pick up the hard drive you're putting in the computer. You and that hard drive now have a static charge, and the next time you or the hard drive touch ground, that discharge is going through the hard drive. If that next grounding happens to be the gold-plated contacts touching the drive cable, you can easily have a fried hard drive or controller card or PSU, and all the while you have no idea there was even a static discharge at all.
Mark.