# cellphones **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 27, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones/257033 "2004-07-27T02:35:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nonpolar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3da27b/32.png) [@nonpolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonpolar)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones/257033/1 "2004-07-27T02:35:35Z")
Everywere I go I see people with their cellphones,and I understand that we need to be in contact with eachother,but then looking at the women and teenage girls I see they are addicted to the cellphones . I wonder if they would be able to give up those toys or not? ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones/257033/2 "2004-07-27T02:37:38Z")
yes ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones/257033/3 "2004-07-27T02:47:38Z")
Wow! We’ve come to a resolution already. ---
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones/257033/4 "2004-07-27T02:50:59Z")
I went to a concert this weekend and my friend and I shook our heads at how many kids were messing around on their cell phones and not paying attention to the concert they paid money to see. There was one idiot who took a call and had to squat down real low to be able to hear. Solution? Don’t take the fucking call! None of this affects me personally, but I wonder why people bother with this. Enjoy the company you’re with; you don’t need to be in contact with everyone every single minute of the day. [sub]Standard disclaimer about how some people are on call and _do_ need to be reachable all day…I’m obviously not talking to you[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones/257033/5 "2004-07-27T02:53:39Z")
Great. Next topic? How about: I notice people don’t drive as well when they are talking on their cellphone. Is there any way we can get people to stop talking on the phone while they drive? ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones/257033/6 "2004-07-27T03:02:19Z")
> [@Rufus Xavier](#): > > … Is there any way we can get people to stop talking on the phone while they drive? Murder. Lots of it. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones/257033/7 "2004-07-27T03:28:06Z")
I am waiting for someone to come in here and blame cell-phone overuse on President Bush. ---
**Author:** ![Zap\_Rowsdower](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3da27b/32.png) [@Zap\_Rowsdower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zap_Rowsdower)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones/257033/8 "2004-07-27T03:33:39Z")
It’s not the phone but the users. Just this Saturday while I was on a bike ride crossing a bridge on a narrow side walk to get to the bike path with cars inches away zooming by at about 50mph. Then some idiot on his bike (who also wasn’t wearing a helmet) stops right in the middle to talk on his phone blocking the path making it difficult to cross. This idiot couldn’t go 10 feet so he is out of peoples way before gabbing about “na, nothing much just heading out on my bike ride…” Sure I take mine with me in case of an emergency, but I leave it off. When out with friends, eating, seeing a movie, whatever, I will leave my phone off out of common courtesy. I’m probably the only one who does though. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones/257033/9 "2004-07-27T03:39:00Z")
> [@Muad'Dib](#): > > I am waiting for someone to come in here and blame cell-phone overuse on President Bush. Of course it’s Bush’s fault! If he hadn’t stolen the 2000 Election, we wouldn’t have to be on our phones all the time, constantly communicating in order to vote him out in November! We wouldn’t be having this problem if Gore was in the White House! -Lord Ashtar, who’s always happy to oblige 😉 ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones/257033/10 "2004-07-27T04:59:36Z")
> [@Muad'Dib](#): > > I am waiting for someone to come in here and blame cell-phone overuse on President Bush. But they haven’t. And if there’s anything dumber than blaming Bush for something completely beyond his control, it’s coming into a thread and _pre-empting_ that sort of behavior. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones/257033/11 "2004-07-27T05:34:29Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > But they haven’t. > > And if there’s anything dumber than blaming Bush for something completely beyond his control, it’s coming into a thread and _pre-empting_ that sort of behavior. Dude, I was being sarcastic. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones/257033/12 "2004-07-27T05:35:44Z")
> [@Lord Ashtar](#): > > Of course it’s Bush’s fault! If he hadn’t stolen the 2000 Election, we wouldn’t have to be on our phones all the time, constantly communicating in order to vote him out in November! We wouldn’t be having this problem if Gore was in the White House! > > -Lord Ashtar, who’s always happy to oblige 😉 Ahhh… My world is at balance again. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones/257033/13 "2004-07-27T06:34:19Z")
As long as I live, I will never understand it. I have a cell phone, and I like it and all, but I don’t understand the _desire_ to be reachable at all times by phone. There are many times where I go out of my way to be _un_reachable. Christ, my phone has voice mail. I’ll get the message when I’m damn good and ready. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones/257033/14 "2004-07-27T07:08:20Z")
> [@spooje](#): > > I have a cell phone, and I like it and all, but I don’t understand the _desire_ to be reachable at all times by phone. You don’t have a child in day care, do you? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones/257033/15 "2004-07-27T07:25:30Z")
You know what _really_ bug me? Computers. Who needs those things? Not to mention wristwatches. Or lightbulbs. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones/257033/16 "2004-07-27T07:30:35Z")
Because there are so many ways to be widely obnoxious with a wristwatch or light bulb. (And yes, this is directed at those who are rude on their phones rather than the phones themselves.) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones/257033/17 "2004-07-27T11:17:04Z")
OK - cars, then. Plenty of ways to be obnoxious with them. Listen, I’d be the last person on the planet to defend rude cellphone users. Many a time I’ve felt the urge to stuff some assholes’s Samsung up his left nostril, especially in movie theaters. It’s just that people who criticize cellphones or cellphone users in general seem so, well, anachronistic. I know they aren’t all that popular in America yet, at least not as much as they are here (Israel has more cellphones per capita than any nation in the world except, oddly, Luxumburg), but I’m pretty sure that virtually every cellphone-hater on this board will be carrying one in his or her pocket ten years from now, if not before. They may still hate it (I’m kind of ambivallent about mine) but they’ll have one nonetheless, because their society will demand it. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones/257033/18 "2004-07-27T12:06:36Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > You don’t have a child in day care, do you? What ever did people do before cellphones? ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones/257033/19 "2004-07-27T12:56:08Z")
> [@World Eater](#): > > What ever did people do before cellphones? All the children DIED. Don’t you remember the headlines in the years past of all the daycare children DYING because the parents couldn’t be reached instantly? I really don’t have a problem with people using cellphones any more than I have a problem with loud, talkative people in general. There will be annoying people no matter if they have cellphones or not. I do like having my cell phone, even thoguh I don’t use it for casual chatting (I’ve never been a phone person), but it is handy. I see the phone addicts all the time, and as I have some annoying habits myself, I don’t let it get to me too much. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones/257033/20 "2004-07-27T13:08:25Z")
> [@Boscibo](#): > > All the children DIED. Don’t you remember the headlines in the years past of all the daycare children DYING because the parents couldn’t be reached instantly? Whew, thank god those days are in the past. Now the daycare centers can reach the parents at the movies, or in their car. Good times, good times. > [@](#): > > I really don’t have a problem with people using cellphones any more than I have a problem with loud, talkative people in general. There will be annoying people no matter if they have cellphones or not. I do like having my cell phone, even thoguh I don’t use it for casual chatting (I’ve never been a phone person), but it is handy. I see the phone addicts all the time, and as I have some annoying habits myself, I don’t let it get to me too much. Nor do I, you really have to pit the people. The problem with cell phones however, is that they _make it far easier_ these people to be assholes. Before cellphones if you stepped on their foot or something they would be a loud yahoo, otherwise, they stayed a silent asshole. With cellphones they don’t need two to tango anymore, so to speak. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphones/257033.md?page=2)