Why I dislike Cell Phones

[Xue Sheng]

This may not be the best thing to admit when your job IS based in technology, but outside of what my job requires I do not keep up with it and one area I am entirely clueless in is Cell phones. Could be because I really don’t like them and I only carry one because I have to.

And the first part of this sounds like an old joke but it actually happened.

A while back I had to go to one of my departments regional offices for a PC security/network issue and as I walked in the front door of the building there was a guy I had never seen before standing there and he said “Hello how are you today” I looked at him and said “fine”. He then said “What are you up to today” And I responded with “Who are you” He looked at me angrily turned and walked off. As he turned I noticed this small thing attached to his ear that I later learned was a cell phone. I had just got use to looking for the wire coming out of people’s ears and now that was gone, so I was once again trying to figure out who is crazy and who is just on the phone.

I came across this several times since then and the most memorable one was a time I was sitting in a coffee shop waiting for a friend to show up when this guy walked in having what appeared to be a very heated argument in Spanish with himself. He ordered a coffee paid and continued arguing then turned and headed right towards me to sit down at the table next to me continuing to argue in Spanish I noticed the little cell phone attached to his ear. Prior to this I noticed absolutely no one seemed to pay him any attention and I am thinking I am sitting here watching a loony and no one seems to care. But once again it was the small cell phone attached to the side of his head that I didn’t see until he turned.

Fast forward several months and I no longer pay any attention to such things I am technologically desensitized to it, until this past week that is. I left my office and went to get some lunch, I was waiting for my order when a guy came in and he was also having an argument and my first thought was “oh he is on the cell phone” so I paid n further attention to him nor did anyone else in the room. That was until something he said cut through the roar of the room “What type of sandwich do you want? I have no idea and I which you would shut up!”

Now this sounded odd so I looked at him and yet no one else in the room seemed to be paying any attention to him. His argument was getting more and more animated and it ended with “OH you can just go to hell and get your own sandwich, I’m leaving” He turned and walked out… but there was no cell phone... he was arguing with himself.

No one else seemed to have notice this there was no one looking at him as he stormed out nothing changed so I began to think I was crazy. Until I walked out into the street and he was pacing back and forth still arguing and there was definitely no cell phone or anyone else around.

It appears that less than sane do walk amongst us (lord knows I am likley one of them) but thanks to Cell phones nobody notices anymore.

Just wanted to share that.

 

[Arizona Angel]

That is too funny. That would catch me off guard. Maybe one of these days we can all have cellphone reception. I live in an extreemly unpopulated area, and have no cell service near my house. I can imagine though. Bet that makes a mall a rather percarious place to be.

 

[exile]

XS---that is so funny---I had a very similar thought myself some months back, watching a guy walk back and forth talking in very hostile and upset way to what appeared to be himself---but he had one of those earphone sets in that people use to minimize exposure to the electromagnetic field of the cellphone (which some people suspect to be quite dangerous over enough time and exposure). I had just started using one of these too so I was attuned to the possibility that that's what was going on, and eventually I did see the wire, when he turned his head. But I also had the reaction---yeah, I've seen this sort of thing before and it was always a nutter who was doing it (in NY, it was often on the subways that you saw something like that). Now you can't tell anymore unless you want to get closer to the person than might be safe, if indeed they turn out to be one of the nutters...

 

[bydand]

Oh great another way for cell phones to bug me. I still am upset over those GD walky-talky phones. It was bad enough hearing one side of an inane conversation, now you have to listen to both sides. It makes you wonder just how far the average IQ of this country has fallen when you actually hear how stupid most of these conversations are. Great, just frickin' great, now earbuds so you don't even see the phone. We have enough crazy people walking the streets around here that we probably wouldn't notice somebody talking or arguing to themself.

Side note: Back in the early 80's in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan there was a guy who would wander around town arguing with himself about bear hunting, what was funny is the fact he was arguing weather to go hunting in the nude or not.

 

[Jade Tigress]

I think it's kinda scary...

 

[Bigshadow]

Oh great another way for cell phones to bug me. I still am upset over those GD walky-talky phones. It was bad enough hearing one side of an inane conversation, now you have to listen to both sides.

Amen brother! I am so sick of hearing beep beep and listening to conversations. We have folks at the office with those. I hate their walkie-talkie cell phones! What a gimmick!

I once listened to a guy on his walkie talkie cell phone bad mouthing his ex-wife with one of his children while sitting through dinner at a local Red Lobster restaurant. It was quite annoying, I was very close to politely tell him to "Take it OUTSIDE IDIOT, nobody thinks your cool!".

I have a friend and co-worker who cannot get the phone he wants because his wife has to have the plan that uses the walkie-talkie beep. I told him he needs to grow ... Let's just say I laughed at how shallow that was.

Don't get me wrong, I love cell phones, I love my cell phone. I use both wired and wireless headsets. My wired one is a stereo headset for MP3 playback and I have a bluetooth for the office.

However, I am polite and I don't carry on conversations in front of people.

Aside from the walkie-talkie phones, I find it very rude when people will answer a phone call during a conversation and carry on another conversation while I wait. I usually leave when that happens.

 

[Xue Sheng]

just to note:

walkie-talkie cell phones are just wrong, but then again I do not like any cell phone that much.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

I don't have one.
I -had- one. But the dumb shmucks at Cingular told me that to change my plan required a new contract (after being a customer for years)...I told em to sod off. SPRINT hijacked (slammed) my land line, so I refuse to o business with them in any way. Nextel is Sprint, so they're out. T-Mobile is out because every freaking time I walk past their kiosk at the mall, 3 drooling morons start bombarding me with sales slober. Considering I'm now doing that 4x a day.....it's gotten old, fast. Verizon is a maybe, simply because I get a discount if I go with them, but, I kinda like being unreachable sometimes.

So, no cell phone for me.

 

[Bigshadow]

I like mine so I can stay connected to things, my email, work, home, etc. If I want to disappear, I just turn the phone off or silence it. I also have it so that it does not ring for unknown phone numbers. They have to leave a message.

The next thing is to get Bob to set up a mobile.martialtalk.com