Isn’t the mobile phone a wonderful invention? It has had so many benefits, tapping into our need to communicate, giving parents a degree of reassurance about where their offspring are, enabling us to tell the world the minutiae of our daily lives whilst we are on the move via social networking sites.
There is no doubt that mobile telephony, along with the contraceptive pill, the world wide web and the motor car, will stand as one of the great inventions of the 20th century. It is something that has benefited the masses and, unless you want a luxury model with hundreds of web minutes and one which makes the tea as well, is affordable to the vast majority.
The downside is that the mobile phone has bought out the worst side of human beings in terms of manners and behaviour, and has placed more stresses and pressures on our every day lives as well. Below are just a few of the irritating traits and annoying habits which I see every day:-
· The obvious one – people talking too loudly whilst in the company of others or at length in a public place such as a restaurant. Shut up - it’s RUDE!
· People talking about incredibly personal things such as their health, their financial circumstances or their relationships in a similar way. I don’t want to know and it’s embarrassing, but I can’t help hearing.
· People that walk along in a busy environment (such as Victoria Station) whilst trying to text. Look where you are bloody well going and get a move on!
· Irritating ring tones, often of rap music, played at top volume. This may be a surprise to you, but not all of us think it’s cool. Most of us think you’re a w****r!
· ‘Personal’ music stored on phones and played too loud through inadequate headphones, or played through the speaker somewhere like the beach or the park. The clue is in the old fashioned name – it’s a PERSONAL music player!
· People breaking off from speaking to someone to engage in a phone call when it rings, and totally ignoring the person they were talking to for an extended length of time. Would you do that if someone came up to you face to face? No, you would ask them to wait!
· Children with their phones at the dinner table, even on special occasion, continually checking them just in case someone has rung/texted. Listen up guys, you’re not that important!
· (My) children who are constantly on their phone to their mates and then don’t pick up when I need to get hold of them.
· Rampant commercialism with encouragement from greedy technology companies for us to spend our hard earned cash on an up to date model even though the one we have is only a few months old. Why not try saving the planet and making sustainable phones or just selling us a new battery? Oh, and make all the chargers the same, will you?
· Shocking waste. We are a throw away culture and mobiles sadly are a disposable product. I wonder how many old handsets and lithium batteries there are knocking around in our homes and in municipal waste dumps?
Don’t get me wrong, I like my mobile (I have a blackberry) and the sheer convenience of it is something which I would desperately miss if I had to do without it. But I can do without it and sometimes consciously do so – when I am at home, for instance it is switched off. If you need me when I’m at home, and you are someone I want to talk to, you will have my landline number so ring me on that. When I’m on holiday, I don’t carry my mobile with me, I just check it twice a day, and the sense of freedom that gives is fantastic. Occasionally, after a busy week, I will unplug the landline, switch off the mobile, disconnect the doorbell and shut myself and The Hubby away from the world for the evening with a bottle of wine, a nice dinner and some candles and I cannot tell you how therapeutic that is. Try it – you’ll see.
On balance, mobile phones probably are a good thing, it’s just that most of us need educating in how to use them for the good of ourselves and others. Is there an opening there I wonder? It might be worth a try…..
Yeah, I pretty much agree with your comments on this. I would like to see some enforceable code of conduct when using cell phones so that we don't get plagued with selfish users and loud mouths! Kids who use them should be taught when and where it is acceptable to carry on conversations or texting. Manners are still important, they just need updating for our modern world. My main problem (I have a Blackberry too) is that you are always in touch and can never really escape. Turning it off or leaving it at home is only a short term solution. Emails, texts, voicemails are always going to catch up with you at some stage. More and more pressure is put on the individual as a result of the instant expectations of employers and friends. I get peeved if someone does not return my call within the hour or fails to respond to my email quickly enough. Generally though, I'm with you. Our lives have been revolutionised by the cell phone making us safer and more productive as well as being able to keep in touch with anyone, anywhere and at anytime. Hang on, I've just got to take this call....
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