I disagree. Having a cell phone brings with it inconvenient expectations. People expect that if you have a cell phone you are reachable. Period. And when they expect that they can reach you, they feel they can go ahead and make changes to plans, be late (as long as they call ahead!), leave messages they expect you to look at later and respond to, etc. No, like I said, it’s not my responsibility to make things convenient for you.
Work is one thing. Who’s talking about work here?
Besides, while they do exist, there are very few jobs that require a cell phone, and zero jobs that require texting, and don’t get me started on kids at school with phones.
I did’t say “require,” I said “make productive use of”. There are plenty of people who make good use of cell phones, and many who depend on business e-mail access on their cell phones.
I know of two recent instances where TV anchors had their cell phones ring during broadcasts - and answered them. Mrs. J. says she was watching CNBC the other day and the anchor’s phone rang, she looked at it, said “Oh, it’s my daughter” and answered the call (the producer switched to another correspondent).
There are not enough WTF?s with which to respond to this idiocy.
The technology is great. People are morons. The technology facilitates moronic behavior.
I don’t have a cellphone, even though I’d guess 95% of the people I know have one. Just never felt the need, myself. My wife has one for emergencies and because she’s often carpooling or needs to be reachable while on the road. Sometimes I’ll borrow it when I’m away from the house and she’ll be remaining there. Otherwise, I prefer not to be bothered; I don’t need something else cluttering my pockets and prone to being lost.
I don’t dislike cellphones, although I’ve seen more than a few people who became jerks once they got one, or whose jerkiness was given a new forum for display once the phone was in their hands. My biggest gripe: people who drive and talk. It’s just dangerous, even with the hands-free option. Like the bumper sticker says: “Hang up and drive!”
I have little problem sending messages to voice mail, and my voice mail doesn’t work. I see people’s numbers on Caller ID. Though the iPhone has the text transcription of voice mail so when I finally do set it up I’ll probably read the messages. I’ll have to get good at skipping ‘ums’.
I like having a cell phone, and the ability to check the net from anywhere. But I feel no necessity to be absolutely available. Sometimes I don’t call back til the next day if I don’t want to. It’s no biggie.
However, my sister is the opposite end of the spectrum. She’s hooked, she’s on the phone all day long, she’s totally addicted. So from that perspective I can remember when I took pride in not owning a TV, becuase I wasn’t one of those brain dead TV addicts. Now I watch far too much TV because my wife loves it. I stopped complaining though cuz my net addiction is just as bad. There is something to be said for being able to unplug and simply sit in the moment. I find it hard to do.
This debate reminds me a little of the SUV debate. People who hate SUV drivers try to come up with rational reasons to justify it (environmental impact, use too much gas, can’t see around it, etc.) but for some reason just perceive SUV owners as arrogant with an exaggerated sense of self-importance. The same is true of cell phones even though they have become ubiquitous.
I have had cell phones since around 1985 when I first got a hard-wired car phone, and I think it’s a great tool. But I still don’t get these people I see walking down the street, shopping in the mall, talking all the time. When I am stopped at a red light, I sometimes amuse myself by counting the number of drivers that pass me who are on the phone. The percentage is strikingly high, from 10-25%. Is it possible that 10-25% of all drivers are talking on the phone at any given moment? What the heck is so urgent? I use my phone so my wife can tell me she can’t pick up the kids, and so I have a single contact number for business calls (I don’t work in a fixed office).
Some people seem to just need to hear themselves talk, and it seems to a substitute for actual real-world activity, like thinking or accomplishing something. Some of us, even those with cell phones, wonder why some other people have to be talking constantly.
There’s no rational justification for annoyances like this, so people try to point to how they talk too loudly, ignore cashiers, etc., even thought that’s a minority, so they don’t sound petty.
So people who do not have cell phones can point to someone who is talking too loudly on one and say, “See that asshole with a cell phone? I don’t have one. So that means I’m not an asshole.”
Just last night my wife and I were watching TV, and saw an ad for the iphone. Both of us had previously mentioned seeing them, and observed that they looked like incredibly cool gadgets. But last night I asked my wife if it were possible that if we were to get one, we’d feel inadequate simply because we didn’t have a use for so much of its capability.
I don’t really like talking on the phone on any occasion, for work or pleasure. I am very happy that on most days at work my phone never rings, and I do not use it to initiate calls. I used to always have music on in the background, but do so less and less these days. I don’t have a circle of friends/relatives/colleagues that I feel a need to be in regular/frequent contact with. Heck, as wonderful as the internet is, I prefer reading - other than checking my e-mail I generally only get on-line when I’m bored at work. So I’d have this marvellous near-miraculous device in my possession, and I’d be using it for what I could do with a transistr radio and a gnawed down pencil stub and a scrap of paper!
While I’m not technophobic, neither am I technophilic (word?). The land line and and answering machine does just fine for nearly all of my needs. While I used to be able to hook up a stereo in no time (and enjoyed doing so), more modern computerized electronics do not come naturally to me. If I use a function on my VCR, computer, digital camersa, or cellphone only occasionally, the next time I need that function I will have forgotten it and need to re-learn it. That is not any fun to me, and I have no interest in developing such capability. So, I assume I will become more-and-more out of touch.
The ONLY occasions I have wished to have a cell are the one or 2 times a year that my train home is delayed en route. It would be nice on those occasions to call my wife and tell her I’m delayed. But we rarely have anything going on that really makes it matter what exact time I get home. And if I’m late and haven’t called, she knows it is a train delay (unless I dropped dead). So there really is no NEED to call. And I’m not willing to pay more than an incredibly minimal fee for those extremely infrequent and minor inconveniences.
Add to that the fact that the cost of all but the cheapest pre-paid cellphone is not insignificant. I’m close enough with my money that if I can see a way to avoid spending even so little as $10 a month on something I don’t really want or feel I need, that’s $120 a year I can save or blow on something I might really enjoy - whether that would be a round of golf at an expensive course or a really pricey dinner.
We have 1 family cell, that my wife usually carries. Other people use it if they are going to be in a situation where they will need to call for a ride or something, or on a trip where a car might break down.
Just because the technology exists, I have no interest in paying for it. I often wonder (and we’ve debated here before) how much of technological advances are demand vs supply driven. A good example IMO is the camera phone. How many people really ever felt a desire or need to take pics with their phone? Sure, if you have the capability, you use it. But would you really have spent more for that ability absent the marketing?
Or digital or high def TV? How many folks were really dissatisfied with their old sets? Sure, a few videophiles want to be at the cutting edge. And a larger number probably would say improved picture quality would be desireable. But I’d venture an even larger number of folks would not have come up on their own with the idea that they wanted their old TV to become obsolete.
OK, that’s clearer. And I don’t disagree with you at all.
Here’s the thing, though: IME, the number of people who use their cell phones as you describe is astonishingly low. Unless your definition of “productive use” is mighty broad.
I definitely agree that anti-cellphone sentiment on the SDMB is, at times, utterly off-the-charts in its irrational vitriol.
One of the most utterly baffling posts I’ve ever seen was in a previous cellphone thread. A poster (I think it was Diosa Bellisima) said that she’d twice been in fairly serious car accidents, and it was very useful, perhaps even life-saving, that she had a cellphone and was able to call 911.
Someone responded by (in essence) accusing her of being a hopeless rude cellphone addict who was lying.
It was crazy. Here are my thoughts on the topic, at somewhat greater length.
But truly - if cellphones are such a boon to productivity, how come so many people are busy yakking over business matters during obvious leisure time? If cellphones helped you get your work done faster, wouldn’t all this stuff get finished at the office? :dubious:
Maybe they’d still be at the office if it weren’t for the cell phones?
Like the way my laptop helps my productivity: I’m about to go home, eat dinner and then work on my laptop for another couple of hours. The alternative is to stay at the office for another couple of hours.
From what I can tell here, hatred of cell phones isn’t so much hatred of cell phones as it is hatred of other people. People who have them are rude or if I have one, then people will actually call me sometimes and that will be annoying.
I have one as my exclusive phone because I don’t want a landline. Looking at my phone’s history, the last call I got was on Monday and it was from my Dad, who wanted to tell me about his recent international vacation. My last text message is from January 20th. Not too much of a bother because people know I’m not interested in engaging in idle chit-chat very often.
As for the rude people talking on their cell phones in public … well, it bugs people without phones just as much as it bugs people with them so having one doesn’t really make much of a difference to me in that situation. I just take care to make sure I’m not one of them. I also apparently don’t run into this situation nearly as much as other people. I wouldn’t even say it’s anywhere near a regular occurance.
Rude people are going to be rude with or without cellphones. I don’t get this whole “I don’t want a cellphone because I don’t want to be associated with a bunch of douchebags” thing. The cellphone is incidental to their douchebagginess.
No, they’re (most likely) not. Or, at least, they’ll be rude much less often. The situations in which cellphone users act rudely often do not lend themselves readily to being rude in other ways (e.g., shopping, dining). Furthermore, even those situations that do would likely require a more concerted effort (and, with a nod to Colbert, balls). Rudeness in line at the grocery store? With cell, it’s easy; make or take a call when it’s your checkout turn. Without cell…not so much. Maybe yelling at the checkout person? Rudeness at a restaurant? With cell, it’s easy; inappropriately loud conversation about topics that others might find disagreeable with their dinner (e.g., a colonoscopy). Without cell (and discounting instances with heavy alcohol consumption)…again, not so much. And so on…
I have no idea where this “association” idea came from; as near as I can tell (and I admit that I haven’t re-read the thread), a person who has, uses, and likes their cell proposed it. For the most part – again, as near as I can tell – that’s a crap idea. It’s not that people who don’t have/want a cell are afraid that they’ll be associated with other (perceived) rude people, but rather that they simply don’t need or want a cellphone.
The douchebagginess (your term, not mine) accompanying cell usage is just seemingly inherent in the way they’re used (or, at least, is exaggerated).
I agree that cell phones make it easier for people to be rude, but my point is that normally considerate people are not suddenly going to be tranformed into jerks just because they have a cell phone.
Hey, if you don’t need a cell phone, more power to ya. For me (and everyone else I know) cell phone are so ubiquitous that everyone assumes everyone else has one, and while they do present problems so do a lot of other things in life. Also, in my experience the rude people with cell phones are the exception, not the rule - they just stand out more. YMMV.
Yeah, I remember that thread. Sorry, but that’s not how the conversation went down. You are being hyperbolic or having distorted memory. If you want to perseverate on it, post a link so everyone can form their own opinion.
Thing is, I don’t want to have to experience other people on the phone when there are other, more important things they should be doing, like driving, doing a transaction in a store, or… and this is the most esoteric… respecting the quiet and privacy of others. It’s essentially an anti-social activity which takes you out of whatever you’re doing in meatspace, which can range from necessary to distracting to rude to downright dangerous.
No, I don’t have a cite for this, and people are saying this is a small percentage of cellphone users, and it probably is, considering everyone in the first world has one, including my 76 year old father who still does not know how to program the VCR, and yes, still has and uses a VCR. However, I do hear people on the phone, in public, talking at louder than normal conversation volume, fairly often, and not paying attention to the world around them. I also see people driving irresponsibly and talking on their cellphones several times month. Kids at my school have been caught texting each other answers during tests, or trying to take calls during class. This protestation, that all these people NEED their phones, is silly. You might need it in general, but you don’t need it right then.
The cellphone itself isn’t evil, obviously. It’s just a tool, and thus it’s the user who is virtuous or jerkish, not the tool. If you use yours wisely and politely, then no one is complaining about you, and no one is going to take yours away, so what are you getting all defensive about? However, some tools facilitate normally well-behaved people to be assholes. I’m sure the woman who ran a red light last week and almost t-boned me would not have done so if she wasn’t on the phone. I’m sure the girl on Sunday who was talking at full volume in the restaurant (while several people glared at her… not me, Max the Vool, I had my back to her ) would have eaten silently if she didn’t have a phone on her. I’m sure the woman whose phone ringing interrupted the guest speaker at the conference for about 30 seconds would not have made a spectacle of herself if she didn’t have her phone on. Is my point.
Sure, carry it for work, for emergencies, to keep track of your kids, etc. Answer it discreetly, in private, quietly, when you need to, when you are not performing another, more important task. Get it out of my face otherwise.
Oh, and another point. You will NEVER see me on my phone in a room or car or wherever in close proximity to other people for anything more than a handful of seconds. For some reason, I just feel like conversations of which everyone else in room is only privy to half are rude to conduct in public, esp. when other people are standing there, waiting for you to be off the phone so you can continue interacting with them. I feel the same way when I’m on the phone at home. If I get a call I know is going to be lengthy and my husband is in the room doing something, I try to go somewhere else in the house if I can. It’s just basic politeness that I think shouldn’t disappear, but is. The needs of the human being in front of you should take priority over conversation with the person calling in non-emergent situations. JMO.
Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that you are all lying, hopelessly rude cellphone addicts.
I see people’s numbers on Caller ID. Though the iPhone has the text transcription of voice mail so when I finally do set it up I’ll probably read the messages. I’ll have to get good at skipping ‘ums’.