Sassa got me thinking...could you live without yours? I could live without mine for a short period...I don't use it in banks, post offices, grocery stores, restaurants, etc. And I have a rule at my house that says no texting at the dinner table (only one family did I have to enforce this one! They were texting each other...duh!)
Can't we talk to each other...what is this where we can't put the darn thing away for two minutes? I don't get it!
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I don't have one, but I'm not a very social person. They seem to be very much a necessity to most people.
We use the technology to connect in various ways (cell phones, internet), but it can drive us apart.
I "couldn't live" without internet. I can no longer even conceive of it. When it's down for repair, I keeping checking and checking it and don't feel right until I'm reconnected.
I thought about posting a blog on a different aspect of cell phone and how they can be used but I'll mention it here.
During the eclipse the other night, I had my cell phone as was watching the twitter feed (and contributing to it). There were a lot of people watching the eclipse and tweeting about it including about two dozen friends of mine scattered around the country. I was outside by myself but having a real time conversation with a lot of friends ranging from New York City to Seattle to LA to Florida and points between. People were posting observations, photos, jokes and random chit chat. There were of course many people I didn't know personally on there but that's okay. They are all interested in the same event.
I have always been an early adapter using the primitive chat style software (the phone and send on old Vax clusters) in the 80's. Now we can do that from anywhere and it made the experience of watching the eclipse richer.
I have to agree with orbs. I do have a cell phone, but I can almost count the number of times I have used it. I really hate it, and only rely on it when absolutely necessary.
I was at a family gathering recently, and I swear, the phone never left some of their hands. The attention span of my niece and nephew was zero. Their units were buzzing and ringing constantly. Made for a very unsocial visit. I really believe we've lost the art of face-to-face socialization and conversation.
While hale is correct, it can be neat.... knowing when to say when, and the addiction to them runs a fine line.
I am guilty of being addicted to the internet too. I love email. I love checking in here. I love reading everything out there. I do believe I am way smarter than I was before becoming attached to my monitor and keyboard, because information (and friendship) are just a google away.
I have a free cell phone for about 6-7 months and have used it 4 times...because I was lost and needed directions. I have never just talked. The internet gives me 'the rest of the story' on items I read in the paper. I like to look up something I have just thought about..like the meaning of a word, a map to someone's house, etc. The internet is a god-send to me. I am also looking up phone numbers instead of using the phone book. I like our little group of friends here. I need my dicionary for spelling cause I can't find that damn spell-check. If you all want to actually see the description of chaos...come to the bakery on Friday. It's great!!!!
We went to dinner one night and out of 6, four were texting almost the entire time. I'm showing my age here but I thought it was rather rude.
I can honestly say I could live without mine. Maybe... I do like to text.
I am 100% with Orbs. Cell phones are for big kids that never got a set of walkie talkies for Xmas. To make up for this, some talk nearly 24/7.
You need to remember that many people these days don't have home phones anymore, myself included. Just saw a story online that a majority of adults under 30 do not have land lines anymore so we are heading toward a wireless society like it or not.
I will give another example of how cell phones have been used in my field. A couple of years ago I was at a meeting in Baltimore. We were at a bar after the meeting and someone got a call from an amateur astronomer friend who thought he may have discovered a supernova but needed confirmation. What better place than a bar full of astronomers! Cell phones instantly popped out an people were messaging friends at observatories around the world. Within half an hour the discovery had been confirmed. Not only that, we had telescopes around the world lined up to take observations to track changes in brightness during this critical period...and a celebratory toast to the lucky discoverer as well!
Many messages of new discoveries and requests for follow up observations in astronomy go out via email blasts and twitter now, especially from satellites such as Swift (watching for gamma ray bursts which can fade to invisibility in minutes) where seconds count
I am giving examples from my field but I am sure it would not be difficult to find others.
Of course texting while having dinner with someone or while in a checkout line is rude. Talking while driving is something I always look out for when I am running. I see the hand to the ear and I assume that car is going to erratically swerve toward me. Pretty cautious, but I have had enough close calls with idiots and I prefer to live.
Huck, I had walkie talkies as a kid and I am one of the rare non-truckers who has a CB in my car!
There definitely are big advantages to cell phones. They, and other technology, can be used to stay in touch with friends and transmit information instantly. I've "met" many people online that I would not have met otherwise if not for the internet. The irony, though, is that while we stay connected with our gadgets, some of us never interact with our real life neighbors.
Okay, I do use my cell phone to call folks and have texted a few times. Abbey texts me from time to time and I reply and I have a niece in Atlanta who sends me a text or two...I have a 250 per month limit on text messages and I use about 4, on a busy month. LOL.
I am more likely to check facebook, JTI, or some other site than talk on it while in the doctor's office....I shut it off when in his presence.
I do not text and drive.
Hale, I can see where you are coming from with your comments and I have to agree that in your case, this would be the exception. The average person in a bank, grocery store, or post office is not checking out the stars or anything remotely like that.
I do believe we (ie, society) need an Emily Post course on cell phone etiquette!
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