Cell Phone Rant

[paularoid]

(This isn't mine. I won't own a cell phone while I can still get away with it.)

You and your cell phone

http://channels.lockergnome.com/windows/archives/20060328_you_and_your_cell_phone.phtml

I got on a rant with some friends over at Backwash about rude, intrusive people with cell phones. Here’s an expanded and cleaned-up version of what I had to say.

I carry a phone 24/7, but I’m about as obtrusive with it as I was with the .45 I used to carry as an off-duty cop. I won’t talk if it’s going to inconvenience or annoy anyone else, except for a few seconds in an emergency, and I won’t talk at all when I’m driving. My friends and family know that and - you know what? - they understand, and they like it fine.

I use caller ID and voice mail the way they’re meant to be used... for my convenience, not yours. Don’t bother to call me if you’re not going to leave a message, and I’d have a root canal before I’d call someone back from caller ID. If they can’t be bothered to let me know what it’s about, it’s not important enough to take up my time.

I don't want to listen to your choice of music. If you have that option on your phone, don't expect me to stay on the line until you decide to rescue me from it. I don't force you to listen to Mozart, and you can show me equal courtesy if you want to connect.

I would love to see a law that prohibits using the damned things in public at all. Let people leave the room and not inflict their inane lives on others. Places could have little phone rooms, where phone jerks could go to make those terribly important calls, and bore and annoy the hell out of each other instead of everyone else. (We used to have them. They were called "phone booths." Phone withdrawal is not physically harmful, and frankly I don't want listen while you feed your addiction to connection. It is an addiction, you know, or else a total lack of class. You don't have to make that call right here, right now.

Item three. YOU DON'T NEED TO SHOUT! (Maybe this should be #1.) You have one of the culminations of modern science at the end of your arm, and it's quite capable of picking up a whisper. The only reason for shouting is to impress other people with your sphincterly conversation. All it does is make me wonder how that culmination would impress your... ah well...

Anyone who has an auto crash while talking on the phone should go directly to jail after they get out of the ER. I'm not saying don't talk while you're driving - although I frankly think that should be a crime too - but if you have a crash... tough. The phone is prima facie evidence of reckless driving.

Oh yes, by the way... your bloody phone has a silent mode. Use it when you're in places where educated, cultured people don't make noise, like restaurants, movie theaters, any kind of line, and airplanes. (See public places, above.)

Intruding on other people's lives IS NOT YOUR RIGHT, and I'm not interested in your self-serving excuses for your execrable manners. If your momma didn't raise you right, I shouldn't have to put up with the results. If you have to communicate around innocent people, learn to read and write, then get a BlackBerry.

Next, let's talk about cars with 500-watt amps and motorcycles with loud pipes.

Dirty Harry would have known what to do.

So long, and thanks for all the fish.
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[RedjackRyan]

Applause Applause!

I hate the things myself and rarely use the one i own.. (and i got reprimanded for it in Virginia beach)

[Randy & Betty in Pa]

Can ya hear me now????

[AceOn6]

One more...

Ladies, the restroom is NOT an acceptable alternative to a phone booth. And yes, I will flush twice just to rat you out.

[mixtymotions]

AceOn6 - BWA HAHAHAHAHA!!! Be sure to hit the hand dryer button again before you sashay out!

[hoops]

i have one for emergencies only... i have a very large family and need to be informed immediately if something happens because they all count on me to be there in a moments notice and i provide myself for this

[Gigglepottomus]

Something thing that bugs me is when I am working with someone and we have to stop what we are doing until they finish their call. I shut mine off at work and turn it back on during breaks to check messages. I keep hoping my co-workers will follow my lead but they haven't yet. :mad:

[paularoid]

I understand the "need" for a cellphone for some (medical, emergency workers, etc.) but I will never understand the "desire" for one. I'm also thinking that many if not most people should reconsider their definition of "need" in regards to things like a cellphone.
.

[Dee]

As some here might recall, I was basically forced into getting a cell phone when Bell Canada couldn't provide me a working phone line in my previous apartment. This was just prior to the new cable phone options, alas! Otherwise, I wouldn't be locked into this 3-year contract I have now. I would opt out, but there’s a $25 per remaining contract month penalty if I do, which is simply out of reach for me.

I like to think I use my cell with discretion, and rarely in public places such as on city busses where I've heard more than my fill of what some people consider worthwhile cell conversations. Most of them are rather comical and preposterous. One day I was treated to a loud shopping list of every single item a woman had purchased that day.

[moe75]

I bought our cellphone exclusively for Heather's use only. She didn't want it, but I insisted, because it made me feel more secure that she would be able to use it in an emergency. It's already paid off once.

Other than that, it's a useless piece of plastic junk to me. I think the worst ones are the people who bring them into video stores and then proceed to read the back of the DVD cases to their honey line by line. Or the ones who use it in the local produce store, describing how firm the tomatoes are or how green are the peppers. "Green like in shamrock green, or green like in lime green?" I mean, how did we ever cope without them? :rolleyes:


Agggggggggggh!!!

[AceOn6]

Aaaah, Moe, but they do come in handy when you've driven to the store and forgotten the list.

[moe75]

Aaaah, Moe, but they do come in handy when you've driven to the store and forgotten the list.

But in that case you'd have probably forgotten the pen and paper as well :p

[paularoid]

http://channels.lockergnome.com/windows/archives/20060331_cell_phone_followup.phtml

The response on the You and Your Cell Phone article was overwhelmingly in favor of the sentiments I expressed. In fact, there were no dissenters are all. Clearly, you all believe the cell phone nuisance factor has gotten completely out of hand. There were a number of ideas, some of which would probably flag the NSA’s computers. While I can sorta understand the feelings, I believe there is a more effective way to handle it - not only that, it might even work!

The best of several suggestions was that we should all complain directly to the people in charge of the space, rather than to the callers themselves. The phone users have nothing to lose, and may react as if threatened. If, however, we ask to have the management speak to them and inform them that they are annoying other patrons, it puts the issue in a whole new dimension. The offending party is made aware of the problem (Duh!) without confrontation, and the management is put on notice that the other customers aren't going to put up with having their meal, or whatever, disrupted.

Let's all do that, shall we? If everyone who agrees that this behavior is unacceptable will get on the bandwagon and do this simple thing, I'll bet we can whip this. Public opinion is a powerful tool, and we all have it in our pocket.
.

[Des]

May I suggest ear plugs:D

[paularoid]

May I suggest ear plugs:D
That's like asking everyone around you to put on a gas mask while I smoke. It's not realistic.

I'm a smoker. I realize that my smoking bothers many people and consequently I do not smoke around them, or I ask first. I know I'm probably in the minority here but I feel that such behavour should be a common courtesy of all smokers - AND - the same -should- be true of all people that feel the need to deal with their cell phones in public.

Just my opinion for whatever that's worth...

I've seen cell phone users that are more militant about their cell phone use than smokers are about their ability to smoke,... and there's a LOT of nasty smokers out there. Cell phone users are far more nasty from my experience.
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[Rikki]

I use my cell phone when I need to and when I feel it's appropriate. Adults are supposed to be smart enough to decide for themselves what times are appropriate.

If somebody feels comfortable with me listening in on their conversation, then so be it. They have a right to look as stupid as they want.

It was unusual at first, but, I got used to it. Just as I got used to people telling me all the time that I can't smoke here or there or practically anywhere. I am an adult and can make those decisions for myself, just like cell phone users.

[paularoid]

http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/001780.html


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Sounding Off on Cell Phones

Posted by Randy Ross
Tuesday, April 04, 2006, 03:47 PM (PST)


A recent study on cell phone use--from the Pew Internet project--reveals the following warm and fuzzy facts:

* 74 percent of Americans who own a cell phone say they've used the device in an emergency.

* 41 percent say they fill in free time when traveling or waiting for someone by making calls.

Do you fit the profile?

Being that I'm one of the few people who don't own a cell phone, I was more interested in these additional findings:

* 82 percent of all Americans and 86 percent of cell users report being irritated at least occasionally by loud knucklheads making cell calls in public places. (At my gymn, you can hear people in the lockeroom. Supposedly phone use was banned to prevent individuals from taking photos of others with their cell phone cams. Right.)

* 28 percent of cell phone users admit they sometimes don't drive as safely as they should while using their mobile phone.

This last point is the one that really gets me. I currently ride a bicycle to work. (I don't do it for the environment. I do it because I like the exercise and prefer to avoid public transportation in the winter when fellow riders are hacking and sneezing on each other.)

At least once month, I have a close call with drivers who are yakking on their cell phone and not paying attention. They run red lights, blow through stop signs, fail to notice me when making sudden swerving turns because they've missed a turn.

And lest you think I'm just a kvetcher, check out this article from the AAA. http://www.wawa.com/wawaprofile/safetypdfs/Drive%20Safer.pdf
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