# I pit cell phone addicts. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 19, 2012, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cell-phone-addicts/641495 "2012-11-19T12:24:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cell-phone-addicts/641495/101 "2012-11-20T21:12:14Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I finally broke down and got a cell phone. Someone called me at 5:30 Sunday morning. When I called back at 7:30, he had the gall to ask “Why didn’t you answer? What were you doing?” Because no one ever did such a thing before cell phones were invented. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cell-phone-addicts/641495/102 "2012-11-20T21:13:51Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Sure, but only if I have permission to stab couples who stop right outside a busy doorway to slooowly make out goodbye. Fine by me. 🙂 > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I know people who are so addicted to their phones they are literally on them every waking moment. That is so sad. > > I finally broke down and got a cell phone. Someone called me at 5:30 Sunday morning. When I called back at 7:30, he had the gall to ask “Why didn’t you answer? What were you doing?”\ So, did you manage not to respond with, “I was sleeping, you idiot!” ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cell-phone-addicts/641495/103 "2012-11-20T21:45:50Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > Standing ovation and ten minutes of applause. I hate cell phones with a vitrol usually only reserved for sentient lifeforms with horrific criminal records. Isn’t clapping really just a form of masturbation? ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cell-phone-addicts/641495/104 "2012-11-20T21:58:12Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > This picture is appropriate [http://cheezburger.com/6771850496](http://cheezburger.com/6771850496). > > It’s a quote from Einstein “I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.” above a picture of people at dinner where everyone is looking at their phone. Meanwhile, while I was in Japan, I skype’d my parents to talk about how my trip was going and emailed my mom pics of the sights I was seeing. If I didn’t have technology, she would have gotten an extremely short international phone call to confirm I did, in fact, not die in a flaming plane crash over the Pacific. We also email back and forth during the day, which helps us feel closer as we live 4 hours away from each other. Our relationship is enriched through funny cat photos and the ability to speak to each other instantaneously, as opposed to having to file away a thought until we’re both at home and able to make long-distance calls. Seriously, if someone is with you in person and they’re on their cell when you don’t want them to be, _just tell them_. It’s not the cell that’s the problem, it’s the person. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cell-phone-addicts/641495/105 "2012-11-20T22:04:48Z")
> [@gamerunknown](#): > > Isn’t clapping really just a form of masturbation? If each hand hasn’t given its express consent to be touched by the other hand, it’s _much_ worse than masturbation. We’re talking assault, rape, and a possible pandering charge for whoever brought the hands together. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cell-phone-addicts/641495/106 "2012-11-20T23:00:33Z")
> [@Bilbo1967](#): > > I have absolutely no idea what else I could take from it. You went to a public place and then got all snarky and left when other members of the public turned up. Which was the last part of the whole post - you are looking for something to be offended by. > [@](#): > > Are 7 year old kids really pre-school where you are? I really don’t know any more, since it’s been almost 40 years since I had anything to do with a pre-school child. I’m also not very good at guessing ages. > [@](#): > > I agree that not even buying anything is just rude though. Well, it’s nice that you managed to see something in my post that you weren’t looking to be offended by. :dubious: > [@Seanette](#): > > It’s curlcoat. The problem is most likely that someone had the nerve to bring children anywhere near her(?), thus forcing her to be anywhere near non-adult human beings. I thought you had me on ignore? Go clean house or something and let the adults talk. It’s not like you have any experience with children. ---
**Author:** ![Bilbo1967](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@Bilbo1967](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bilbo1967)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cell-phone-addicts/641495/107 "2012-11-20T23:04:09Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > Which was the last part of the whole post - you are looking for something to be offended by. I’m guessing that sounded like a clever comeback in your head, but in reality, you should probably seek professional help for that level of paranoia. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cell-phone-addicts/641495/108 "2012-11-20T23:49:35Z")
> [@gamerunknown](#): > > Isn’t clapping really just a form of masturbation? If it is, you are doing it wrong. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cell-phone-addicts/641495/109 "2012-11-21T00:08:43Z")
> [@Bilbo1967](#): > > I’m guessing that sounded like a clever comeback in your head, but in reality, you should probably seek professional help for that level of paranoia. 😕 Paranoia? About what? I have a feeling that you simply cannot understand what is being written. One pro tip tho - picking a sentence or two out of a post and trying to pretend that’s what the whole post was about is kind of juvenile. It also might be the basis of your failing to understand what I’m saying. Which was, in small words: Some folks in the thread commented about the waste of giving smart phones to every child in the family. I happened to see two apparently pre-school kids (they were short and it was the middle of a school day, so…) with what appeared to be high end new laptops, and posted it here as an “can you believe this” sort of thing. I made the mistake of saying something about the manners of the kids and father, which apparently is all you saw. If you are hyper-sensitive to that sort of thing, maybe you should rethink your child rearing ideas. None of what I posted had anything to do with my objecting to sharing Starbuck’s Wifi, so I have no idea where you got that. I didn’t get “all snarky” and leave because “other members of the public turned up”, I left (as I said earlier) because I was done with what I needed to do there and the one kid was interfering with my ability to just sit and relax. And that’s all I did - leave. Three people using the wifi and not buying anything, vs one customer who spent $10 for half an hour of use. And from that you are all butthurt because of? I didn’t want to have to keep plugging my computer back in? I didn’t feel like listening to a bunch of noise? Just what is your problem with me removing myself from an environment I didn’t like? ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cell-phone-addicts/641495/110 "2012-11-21T00:40:58Z")
> [@](#): > > **kushiel** ]“. . . We also email back and forth during the day, which helps us feel closer as we live 4 hours away from each other. Our relationship is enriched through funny cat photos and the ability to speak to each other instantaneously, as opposed to having to file away a thought until we’re both at home and able to make long-distance calls.” And if that gives you joy, fandabidozi. I guess I, and some other people , don’t relate to the desire to be in constant contact all day. Not to say those who do are wrong; I just find it hard to relate to so end up getting more annoyed than I probably should _when it impacts my experience_i.e. distracted drivers, phones in theaters, people holding up a line because they’re otherwise engaged. > [@](#): > > Seriously, if someone is with you in person and they’re on their cell when you don’t want them to be, _just tell them_. It’s not the cell that’s the problem, it’s the person. Quite right. I don’t think anyone is making an argument against the technology itself. It’s more a commentary on those people who seem to not know where to draw the line. My comments to these kind of people have either fallen on deaf ears or I get a big rationalization for the behavior. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cell-phone-addicts/641495/111 "2012-11-21T01:24:21Z")
Ladies and Gentlemen, please take your seats, the **Curlcoat** show starts now… ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cell-phone-addicts/641495/112 "2012-11-21T01:55:58Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Ladies and Gentlemen, please take your seats, the **Curlcoat** show starts now… You are a little late asshole, since my first post here was 58 posts ago. If you want to make this thread all about you and your little problems, make it interesting at least. Sheesh, how could someone like you be from the same city my husband was born in… :smack: ---
**Author:** ![BottledBlondJeanie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/0ea827/32.png) [@BottledBlondJeanie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BottledBlondJeanie)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cell-phone-addicts/641495/113 "2012-11-21T06:16:32Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Fine by me. 🙂 > > So, did you manage not to respond with, “I was sleeping, you idiot!” Of course not, don’t you know she broke her arm several years ago. For Og’s sake, give a handicapped person a break! ---
**Author:** ![Bilbo1967](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@Bilbo1967](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bilbo1967)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cell-phone-addicts/641495/114 "2012-11-21T13:16:18Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > 😕 Paranoia? About what? > > I have a feeling that you simply cannot understand what is being written. One pro tip tho - picking a sentence or two out of a post and trying to pretend that’s what the whole post was about is kind of juvenile. It also might be the basis of your failing to understand what I’m saying. Which was, in small words: > > Some folks in the thread commented about the waste of giving smart phones to every child in the family. > > I happened to see two apparently pre-school kids (they were short and it was the middle of a school day, so…) with what appeared to be high end new laptops, and posted it here as an “can you believe this” sort of thing. > > I made the mistake of saying something about the manners of the kids and father, which apparently is all you saw. If you are hyper-sensitive to that sort of thing, maybe you should rethink your child rearing ideas. > > None of what I posted had anything to do with my objecting to sharing Starbuck’s Wifi, so I have no idea where you got that. I didn’t get “all snarky” and leave because “other members of the public turned up”, I left (as I said earlier) because I was done with what I needed to do there and the one kid was interfering with my ability to just sit and relax. And that’s all I did - leave. Three people using the wifi and not buying anything, vs one customer who spent $10 for half an hour of use. > > And from that you are all butthurt because of? I didn’t want to have to keep plugging my computer back in? I didn’t feel like listening to a bunch of noise? Just what is your problem with me removing myself from an environment I didn’t like? OK, I give up. I’m not wasting any more time on a fuckwit like you. If you can’t see your stupidity, I’m damn sure I can’t make you see it. ---
**Author:** ![pantheon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6bbea6/32.png) [@pantheon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantheon)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cell-phone-addicts/641495/115 "2012-11-21T15:44:04Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Even charging for text messages is a bit of a push. They cost literally nothing to transmit. Nothing at all. . I agree that US telecom services are overpriced, but I’m curious what you are basing this on? Do cell towers and fiber optics and satellites come free in the bottom of cereal boxes where you live?! ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cell-phone-addicts/641495/116 "2012-11-21T16:15:39Z")
> [@pantheon](#): > > I agree that US telecom services are overpriced, but I’m curious what you are basing this on? Do cell towers and fiber optics and satellites come free in the bottom of cereal boxes where you live?! Text messages cost nothing to transmit, and take no additional toll on the infrastructure. Presumably, that infrastructure exists primarily to serve voice customers, and prioritizes voice transmission. Text messages basically only move in spaces where there is no other traffic. Now, maybe you could argue that you need to work the infrastructure costs into the price of the text message. Even if you do, you are still talking about basically nothing. Certainly not the $20 I spend every month! ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cell-phone-addicts/641495/117 "2012-11-21T17:52:46Z")
> [@Bilbo1967](#): > > OK, I give up. I’m not wasting any more time on a fuckwit like you. If you can’t see your stupidity, I’m damn sure I can’t make you see it. :rolleyes: How childish can you get? Does it occur to you that it might be _you_ who is being stupid? Given your response to all of this, I’m thinking you do know you made a mistake and are too immature to admit it. Shrug. ---
**Author:** ![pantheon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6bbea6/32.png) [@pantheon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantheon)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cell-phone-addicts/641495/118 "2012-11-21T19:35:31Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Text messages cost nothing to transmit, and take no additional toll on the infrastructure. Presumably, that infrastructure exists primarily to serve voice customers, and prioritizes voice transmission. Text messages basically only move in spaces where there is no other traffic. > > Now, maybe you could argue that you need to work the infrastructure costs into the price of the text message. Even if you do, you are still talking about basically nothing. Certainly not the $20 I spend every month! Trillions and trillions of SMS messages annually take no toll on the infrastructure, are free to transmit, and just kinda tag along in magicspace outside the lines? :smack: The fact that they move on what were originally control channels for voice is irrelevant. It’s like saying saying you should be able to ship cargo on airplanes for free by stuffing it in the cockpit because that’s just space where no other luggage/passengers are anyway. Yah, in principle..if it were an occasional trans-oceanic diplomatic pouch..sure. Trillions and trillions of pouches? Not so much. I will grant that a SMS message takes less than a penny to send and receive (transmission cost!), as opposed to 20 cents on both ends (off-net rates a few years ago), but portions of pennies add up when you are talking about TRILLIONS AND TRILLIONS of texts! It doesn’t matter if it is single character “K” (in your view)…it still has addressing and control and timestamp and QoS etc etc overhead, and has to find its way from and to the _mobile_ devices involved, regardless of where they are. It’s slightly more complicated than you think. And that negligible infrastructure..the one that cost trillions and trillions of dollars and without which you couldn’t send texts…yah, it is relevant. What in the world would make you think it is not? If it is not relevant, and transmitting (and thus receiving, and apparently everything between) is free, why don’t you cash in and start a global texting service? (I work in telecom, and trust me the industry is based on billing to several decimal points/fractions of a penny because of the volume. And no, I’m not a Verizon Wireless phonejockey; I work for a private company you’ve never heard of and I design and implement wide-area [city-to-city, state-to-state] data networks, and it’s all zeros and ones at a certain level, and none of them are free.) ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cell-phone-addicts/641495/119 "2012-11-21T21:29:21Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Quite right. I don’t think anyone is making an argument against the technology itself. It’s more a commentary on those people who seem to not know where to draw the line. I take your point. But the arguments begin when people disagree on where that line should be drawn. The family discussed in the article has had to cut back on their dining out due to the amount of money they’re spending on their smartphones, and that’s their choice. Frankly, if it’s a choice between dining out several times a month and a having only the most limited kind of dumb phone, versus dining out once a month or less and having a decent Android phone, that’d be my choice as well. Besides, I can buy what I need at the market and put on a mouth-wateringly good steak dinner, and I enjoy doing it. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cell-phone-addicts/641495/120 "2012-11-21T22:14:40Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > :rolleyes: How childish can you get? Does it occur to you that it might be _you_ who is being stupid? Given your response to all of this, I’m thinking you do know you made a mistake and are too immature to admit it. Shrug. No, trust him, **curly**. It’s _you_ who comes off as the idiot fruitcake. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cell-phone-addicts/641495.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cell-phone-addicts/641495.md?page=7)