One evening in the early sixties a hot sports car pulled up across the street. What especially impressed some other kids and me as we swarmed around it was: it actually had a phone. Overwhelmed by this extravagance, we could only imagine the importance of the calls made from that phone, probably many of them timely commands to stockbrokers, directing them when to "Sell1x Sell1x"
Now it's "Cell1x Cell1x" as in cell phones. These phones are ubiquitous, their usage omnipresent, their owners often oblivious to anyone nearby. At a time when many smokers check with those around them before lighting up, few cell users seem to even hesitate before whipping out the phone for that all too crucial conversation. You may be trying to have a nap on a train, peacefully reading a book at the library, or sitting enjoying a movie, when some jerk next to you just starts jabbering away.
Worse yet, the call which couldn't wait for less intrusive circumstances may be a reminder to bring back the video to Blockbuster, or perhaps something even less urgent and profound.
The problem is that as technology for telephones has grown by leaps and bounds, the quality of the verbal exchanges on them has not. Intelligence is focused more in the chips than in the chats.
How many millions of conversations have revolved almost exclusively around the location of the caller?
Hey, guess where I'm calling from? I'm in the ?plane, car, train, space shuttle, whatever.
By now, the novelty of calling people from just about anywhere having long ago worn off, cell phone use has become a matter of status. Some individuals have the real or imagined need not only to reach out and touch someone at a moment's notice but to advise you and everyone else within earshot of all the details of the conversation, whether or not there is really anyone at the other end of the connection.
Having only fairly recently updated my phone to a push button version, I admit that I am not one predisposed to appreciating the latest in phone technology. But even I can see the value of having a cellular phone available for emergency or truly important calls. What I can do without is the non-stop exposure to the mundane minutia of the everyday telecommunications of people I don't know. Those are better suited to the sanctity of their homes or the relative privacy afforded by, perish the thought, public pay phones.
Enough. We should no more tolerate having blather blasted into our ears than we do second hand smoke blown in our faces.
It has gotten so bad that some
have tried to devise their own rules of etiquette. That is a step in the right direction, but one conveniently slanted more toward modifying their use in certain situations than eliminating it.
Signs in hospitals I've been in clearly state that they don't want cell phones in their buildings-not "on," not on "standby," not just for that quick call to report on Uncle Louis' condition whether standing within inches of Uncle Louis' monitoring equipment or from the visitors' lounge.
Driving while on the phone at any speed, with or without speakers, is ridiculous, and should be illegal everywhere. At the very least, cell phone using drivers should pay insurance rates in accordance with their propensity for getting into accidents at a much higher rate than non-users (four times greater according to a
