Cell Phones - WHY?

[AngliaGT]

I see young Mothers,with their babys in strollers
yakking away.What is so important that they have to
direct attention from their kids?
Why can't people just jog/exercise/walk,without
having to communicate with someone else?
What in the world is so important that they have
to let anyone else know what they're doing?
I would try & ask them,but they seem to be SOO
involved in their conversation,that I would never get
their attention.

- Doug

 

[Deleted member 8987]

Similarly, I am just absolutely amazed at how many people seem to be so irreplaceably important to such matter as world peace, federal budget, maybe NASA's attempt to get a man on Mars. No other reason I can think for all them folks on cell phones.

 

[TR6BILL]

Try working on a teenager in a dental chair when suddenly they push my hand away to reach for their cell phone because one of their buds has texted them! And, it is <span style="font-weight: bold">always </span>the teen girls that do this, never the boys. Talk about set you off. And we tell them to leave their phone in the waiting room, but they slip them in anyway. This is not only annoying, it is pathological.

 

[DrEntropy]

This is not only annoying, it is pathological.

 

[martx-5]

Try working on a teenager in a dental chair when suddenly they push my hand away to reach for their cell phone because one of their buds has texted them!

That's absurd and rude. They can read it later. I would calmly ask them to leave and make another appointment <span style="font-weight: bold">without their cel phone.</span>

 

[judow]

Try working on a teenager in a dental chair when suddenly they push my hand away to reach for their cell phone because one of their buds has texted them!

That's absurd and rude. They can read it later. I would calmly ask them to leave and make another appointment <span style="font-weight: bold">without their cel phone.</span>

And charge the parents for the visit!!!

 

[Guest]

Try working on a teenager in a dental chair when suddenly they push my hand away to reach for their cell phone because one of their buds has texted them!

That's absurd and rude. They can read it later. I would calmly ask them to leave and make another appointment <span style="font-weight: bold">without their cel phone.</span>

And charge the parents for the visit!!!

Definatly a no soup for you moment.

Doug, just be glad you don't live in New Orleans. I've seen mothers carry their children by one arm. By that I mean they grab ther child by one wrist and hoist them up. This is usually to get them across the street but it appears to be the normal prefered mode of child transport.

 

[Silverghost]

Try working on a teenager in a dental chair when suddenly <span style="font-weight: bold">they push my hand away </span>to reach for their cell phone because one of their buds has texted them! And, it is <span style="font-weight: bold">always </span>the teen girls that do this, never the boys. Talk about set you off. And we tell them to leave their phone in the waiting room, but they slip them in anyway. This is not only annoying, it is pathological.

Give them a shot of Novacain in the wrist holding the cell phone and watch the device hit the floor. "If you hadn't pushed my hand out of the way and accidently jabbed yourself with the Novacain needle, you'd still have feeling in your hand you know."

 

[vagt6]

The future communication device for this younger phone-infatuated crowd will be <span style="font-style: italic">surgically implanted</span> I-Phones.

I'd bet they'd sell like hotcakes on college campuses, and the surgeons will make a FORTUNE!

:lol:

 

[aerog]

I see young Mothers,with their babys in strollers
yakking away.What is so important that they have to
direct attention from their kids?

I don't know, and since it really doesn't affect me I really don't care. Let her talk, at least she's out and not sitting at home so the kid can sit in a crib while she gabs on the landline. Maybe she's chatting with another stroller-motor in another neighborhood...maybe.

On the other hand I wonder that too. You're singling out mothers with strollers, but guess what - you include people on up into their 70s and 80s too. Around here I see <span style="font-style: italic">lots</span> of them walking around the neighborhood yakking on phones. Don't believe for a minute that older retirees can only cope with a "jitterbug" phone. There again I really don't care except someone should sit down and explain how well the modern microphone and cellphone works. Amazingly there's no need to yell into it to be heard.

This is me being fair: some people actually have important things to talk about with other people. Excluding the typical stroller-motor chit-chatting, some people (like me) have found it convenient to not be tied to a physical location to make or receive important phone calls. I recently had to have a short (yet important) discussion with my boss when I was grocery shopping. No, it couldn't wait. Yes, I'm sure it annoyed someone.

This is me being annoyed: but then I really can't bring myself to believe all the people I see standing with their families in lines at Disney World, wearing bluetooth headphones in their ears, are all taking important business calls. One time I was standing behind a guy with his wife and kids. They were all excited about the ride and being on vacation while he was yakking away (at full volume too) with someone about the previous night's football game. Nothing like sharing a memorable experience with your family.

 

[aeronca65t]

I use my cell phone for both voice and texting. Very moderatly....I have a basic phone plan that does not have unlimited service (I forget my max usage allowed.....I never get there).
If it is all possible, I will excuse myself and move outside or away from others when I talk. I do not text while conversing with others (and certainly not while driving).
Like Scott, I notice a lot of older folks using cell phones, including texting.

Both mobile voice and texting allow me the kind of flexibility that is useful.
My job sometimes requires just-in-time decisions and I have a big family that often calls upon me to "put out fires" while on the move.

I like my mobile phone. Like my refrigerator and my vacuum cleaner, it's a helpful tool in my life.

 

[JPSmit]

Interestingly, was reading an article yesterday that was comparing the oil threshold - which most believe we have passed where all the easy oil is gone and new deposits will be smaller, more difficult to access and will run out before existing supplies to the attention threshold - where we have passed the point where getting peoples attention was easy to the point where getting people's attention will be harder, more difficult to access, for smaller times and will run out quickly. Interesting analysis.

 

[elrey]

HEY!!! COOL IT, CAN'T YOU SEE THAT I'M TEXTING! GEEZE! Wait, hold on, I've got a call...

 

[Gliderman8]

HEY!!! COOL IT, CAN'T YOU SEE THAT I'M TEXTING! GEEZE! Wait, hold on, I've got a call...

It been going on for longer than you think....

 

[DrEntropy]

I have a mobile. All clients and a few family and CLOSE friends have the number. It keeps me on a short leash to make income or decisions. Useful for that alone. Yakking on the 'phone for 'entertainment' was never on my list of "to Do" stuff.

 

[John Turney]

These are the same people who yak, yak, yak to their friends when they are walking together.

As to why someone needs a cell phone, I have a profitable consulting business and I need to have my clients reach me whether I'm at home, in someone's office or at the beach. So I carry a cell phone. If I'm in a meeting and can't talk (assuming I don't want to get out of the meeting), I hit ignore and let it roll over to voice mail.

 

[Guest]

I refuse to text message. The telegraph went out when the telephone was invented

 

[AngliaGT]

Scott,

This was the FINAL straw - I'm just tired of the whole
cell phone thing.I'm also tired of anyone who wastes time talking
about nothing.
I work in a grocery store,& see young girls talking to ???,
while explaining EVERYTHING that they're looking at - "I'm looking at
the cottage cheese,now I'm looking at the cheese,& now I'm looking at
the yogurt,& now I'm looking at the......"
My point was that so many people waste time talking about nothing,
while walking/walking a child in a stroller/Yuppie stroller/etc.
If it's important - more power to you,but most of these calls are
just self-absorbed "nothing" conversations.
I've even seen young boys on bikes talking on their cell phones-
Why?
I had one kid yakking away while riding a "mobile device",& scratch
the side of our panel truck,because he was absorbed in his conversation.
Enough already.

- Doug

 

[Basil]

I don't text a lot, but it can be handy. For example, just yesterday, my wife needed me to stop at the store and pick up some items for a party. She texted me a list. Very handy indeed and convenient.

 

[GregW]

Don't hate the cell phone, it is just an object. The real problem is people. In my neighborhood, women routinely push their baby strollers across the street without checking for traffic. Grocery stores are full of vacant staring customers that leave the shopping cart at an angle in the isle so that it blocks traffic the most. I could go on and I'm sure a lot of other folks here can too.