3/14/2011

cell phones = mixed blessing


What was it like before cell-phones dominated our daily life?  How common is it to see a person walking along the street or shopping in a store while their attention is diverted by the ubiquitous little bit of electronics. 

I’ll have to admit, and maybe it’s my generation, I resent being always on call.  I don’t want my movements tracked!  I am actually glad sometimes to find I have ‘no service’.  My grown kids know I may just turn the phone off on a whim.  I have been glad for the cell phone when I’ve needed to call AAA for car trouble.  So, I guess it’s a mixed blessing.  At least I can turn it off when it annoys me or I’m on a secret tryst.   

The reason for this theme is my recent trip on a cruise ship.  It actually caught my attention that people weren’t going around distracted and talking into their hand.  They actually saw you and gave a smile - we engaged with one another in a polite friendly way.

See?  I was really there!

2 comments:

  1. great photo, i would love to see it. I feel the same way you do about cell phones, but i took it a little further. i do not use a cell phone. i have one that is a 10.00 a month tracfone, that resides in my truck for Emergency's only. no one has the number, i don't even know the number to it and it now has 26 hours on it, i get 50 minutes per month for 10.00. if anyone wants me, they wait until i get home like we did all of my 66 years. don't get me wrong, i think they are OK, but very much abused. i hate shopping and listening to loud conversations in line or while women browse clothes or next to me in the waiting room of the doctor office where i listened to a yelling match between mother daughter for more than 20 minutes. also in restaurants where the phones are ringing all around us and people always talk louder, so we spent one meal listening to a 20 minute loud encounter of a man doing business. can you tell you hit my hot spot? i am off my soapbox now, but one more thing DRIVERS and cell phones YIKES

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  2. Phones are great in an emergency and to talk to friends but I do agree that with the cell phone mania things have gotten out of control. When I was young if you went out and someone called it was not a major diaster, they just called back. No harm, no foul. Now people panic if they can't call someone anywhere, anytime! Having to listen to other peoples conversations is annoying and very rude on their part. While I do carry a cell phone I am not a fanatic and I will turn it off when I don't want to be bothered. I will also ignore a land line phone when it rings if I am otherwise engaged or just not in the mood to talk. Jim acts like that is a cardinal sin to ignore the phone but as far as I am concerned there is no law that says I have to answer a phone just because it rings. They can always call me back.

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