CupCaked wrote:
Tom & Linda wrote:


Jim wrote:


That is pretty sad, to have your cell phone ON during a cruise. JDR


No it's not. People check on parents who may be elderly. People check
on medical things. People check on pets. On kids who may have stayed
home by themselves.


Hans and I have VERY elderly parents (we're both only children, so
their care falls directly to us), a house, three cats and a dog, plus
very high contact jobs. Still, we don't feel the need to have our
cell phones on 24/7 when we take a vacation. Sure, we call home
during the course of our trip, but having our cell phone on is a bit
of overkill, IMO.


I have to say, I've never seen Tom use his cell phone. I have other
friends, they have them, very rarely do I see them use them. And others,
that use them sparingly, and apologize for using them in your presence.
Yet, so too many others use them basically because they have them. Two
problems I indentify is that they turn public areas into communal phone
booths. Yes, at one times, phone booths allowed privacy during phone
calls but that's a different era it seems now. Now people make calls and
talk, talk, talk, to either involve someone on the other end in their
lives as to what they are experiencing at the moment, to chat and keep
up to the minute, to do business (but that's less and less), etc. It's
chat, chat, chat.

I don't have a cell phone. There are times when it would be very
convenient but I've lived long enough to remember when people did not
use them and I consider a more pleasant time (I will get one for the car
but I will NEVER use one while operating a motor vehicle). I could
actually ride a commuter train and take a much-needed nap after work
without hearing stupid rings going on and various cacaphonic bits of
conversations. The cell phone conversation is particularly grating
because during a person to person conversation you hear voice A and
voice B responding, or at least voice A and voice B and hear at least
how they react or ignore what each other says, where a cell phone
conversation is Blah, blah, blah, -break- Blah, blah, blah, -break-, and
so on. Those bits of quiet inbetween, especially when you are tired,
really become jarring when the voice again speaks in to the phone. Then
there's phone voice, something different than a normal voice that some
put on when they are making business calls vs. private calls.

What really bothers me, in this rather not enough aware of surroundings
society of today, is that cell phones lock people into being more
unaware of society. In touch, my ass. People are out of touch with those
around them and are, too often, though unintentionally, rude. Standing
in places, pacing back and forth in front of areas people need to go to,
impeding the flow of people trying to get somewhere, staring at the
phone to dial and not seeing those around them and sometimes walking
into the path of others. This is part of the cell phone so called "in
touch" culture we live in.

I'm not against cell phones. Used sparingly and responsibly they can
save lives, be crucial in terms of keeping in touch with the elderly, be
crucial in terms of the peace of mind of a loved one when one is delayed
traveling, and so forth. But, they are far too numerous and have changed
the quality of life. I think that's a human problem. Oversaturation.
Through the years we just don't know when enough is enough. No one
person can determine that but that's something I think that needs to be
discussed before things get out of hand.

I'm finding, though, that there are restrictions being put on the use of
cell phones and I think this had to happen. There are restuarants,
theaters, movie cinemas, some transportation, quiet areas like
libraries, that prohibit the use of cell phones. It had to happen. They
are ubiquitous and maybe a majority of people who use them (which is
probably the majority of the population at this time), use them
reasonably sparingly. But, there are many who are addicted to using
them. And some of these people are an absolute pain in the ass.


Ben S.



Karen


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