Which "natives of the English language" do you have in mind? I ask this because you use the before the quoted noun phrase above. And when a native English writer/speaker uses the, we are making a definite reference to something. When we make a definite reference to something that is a plural noun phrase, we almost always have a specific group in mind, AND we usually expect that our hearers/readers know which group we are talking about. But here I have no idea which group of native speakers you are talking about.
If you use no article (also called the zero article) before "Native speakers of the English language", you are making an indefinite reference and do not have a specific group in mind; you just mean native speakers of the English language in general.
As far as
My cell-phone is on silent mode.
First, it would not matter if there were 10,000 available modes. You would still not use an article. Each mode is already unique.
This is similar to a location where there could be one million tables, and you would say:
My cell-phone is on Table 6852.
And we would not say the Table 6852 even though we have a definite table in mind. It is basically the name of a uniquely identifiable table. And silent mode can be considered a uniquely identifiable mode. Just like Stack Exchange uses User##### to uniquely identify users. We don't need the definite article before one item/user/table/mode that can be uniquely identified from others in a certain set of items/users/tables/modes.
As for the preposition, on is definitely the one to use, because it fits with already established uses of on.
You can shorten your sentence to
My cell is on silent.
My cell is on vibrate.
My cell is on loud/ringer.
Just like
My TV is on mute (mode).
My speaker/volume is on low (mode).
The heater is on high (mode).
And you can instruct someone to put their phone on vibrate or their TV on mute.
Using in instead of on in the above sentences sounds bad.
Note that a person can also be on hold--not in hold--when waiting for a person to talk to.
Ultimately, it's just a collocation that doesn't require either the definite or indefinite article. We have lots of those, including
I'm on top of the world.
The shot is on target.
The actors look better on screen than face to face.
That football player is on fire; he's scored goals in seventeen straight games.
We have collocations with in (stand in line) and at (be at school) also, but this answer has been long enough.
Society without an article is the abstract concept of society:
Society as a whole needs to take responsibility for these problems
Society with an article refers to a particular organization
I keep my money in a building society
I am a member of the amateur dramatic society
Something is generally countable except for
- abstract concepts like peace and fairness
- activities like swimming
- substances that are infinitely divisible (water, sugar, leather, soap cheese, etc)
Note that you can still use a plural for something that is uncountable, to
indicate there are multiple types of it:
I tried several cheeses at the food fair (meaning several types of cheese)
Going back to your examples,
Society doesn't pay enough to old people.
This is society as an abstract concept.
The society doesn't pay enough to old people.
This would be a particular organization, for example a charity that helps old people.
Societies don't pay enough to old people
This could be either referring to several different organizations (for example charities) or different kinds of abstract society, for example in different countries.
I think that the first example has the intended meaning and the other two, while grammatically correct, probably do not have the intended meaning.
Best Answer
In English, when you don't have a particular place or thing in mind, you have to tell us that with a word. Leaving out a word means something different.
The "zero article" is a grammatical concept in the English language which transforms your singular-form noun into a proper noun (the name of something specific), or a generic mass noun, a little like making it into an abstract concept instead of a real thing or place*. What is the "zero article"? It's simply not having any determiner placed before the singular form noun.
So, unless you are talking about a sleazy bar named "Office" or the abstract platonic ideal of "office" (which is nonsense), we need a determiner of some sort. For example:
If you make use of ANY of the above determiners, you will avoid the zero article. Otherwise, it's a proper name, mass noun, or abstract concept, which is typically nonsense.
Since you want to say that you aren't going to any particular office, you need either the indefinite article: "an", or you need a quantifier: "any".
Either will work adequately to convey your intended meaning.
* Footnote: There are a limited number of specific exceptions to this rule. "School", "Prison/Jail", and if you are British, "Hospital".