A perspective

[Swerd]

What a great topic. I had no idea so many others shared my pet peeves about cell phones. It makes me feel so much less like a curmudgeon. If we all dislike them so much, why do so many of us have them? Perhaps we have no choice.

Remember in Star Trek the 2nd Generation when they encountered the Borg: half man - half machine - networked central nervous systems - strange metallic electronic stuff all over their faces - collective consciousness - ant colony-like society? The other day I was in a grocery store, where I saw a guy wearing one of the latest cell phone hands-free attachments. It was the kind with the short pointy oval shaped earpiece/mouthpiece thing attached to the side of his face. While he looked over the broccoli and yakked, all I could think was "We are Sprint/Cingular/Verizon. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated."

[MomurdA]

all I could think was "We are Sprint/Cingular/Verizon. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated."

Nice one swerd. Im still laughing.

[Resident Loser]

Have you considered getting a cell phone jammer?

...but with my luck, I'm the one who'd get busted...

Here's an added problem: cell phones seem to be the method of choice in triggering terrorist devices...so NYC, killed the transponders in the Hudson river tunnels. Now, in it's infinite wisdom(and despite the recent London atrocity) they have re-activated it...go figure!!!

The call quality sucks with a capital suck compared to a land line...and unlike regular POTS lines, the secrecy of communications simply doesn't exist...it's easier to eavesdrop on cell calls than it is to hard-wire a tap on a plain old telephone.

But, like everything else it's M-O-N-E-Y...other than the central office facilities and the cell sites there is simply no real expense; simply revenue...no poles, no cable failures, no squirrels chewin' on your drop and no crews to install or maintain the outside plant...and of course people, the blinkered sheep that they are, love it...can't live without it...and should you happen to complain about the real sh!tbird behavior you are subjected to...well, like everything else that lowers the bar, it's YOU, you're the problem...

jimHJJ(...I'd like to get the guys who invented them and those infernal beep,beep...blat, blat..honk, honk car alarms and put 'em up against a wall and...)

[FLZapped]

The cellphone thing is a no-brainer. Although personally I've never understood why talking on a phone distracts a driver so much more than talking to a passenger in the car

Or ....
Shaving
Putting on make-up
Combing hair
Reading (books, newspaper)
Grading School Papers
Reviewing legal briefs
Paying attention to the kid in the car seat(instead of where the car is going)

I have seen all these things and more in my commute to and from work over the years.

Some people are capable of driving and talking on a celphone without any problem....there are also people on the road who shouldn't be even when they devote their entire attention to it!

-Bruce

[mystic]

I want to thank all the members who participated in this discussion. Both driving and cell phone use bring out rude and inconsiderate behavior in people, and combining the two has caused more deaths, injuries, and destruction on the roadways. But these are costs a large part of the public seems willing to accept for the convience of talking on the phone while driving. Hopefully, laws and/or other solutions will lessen the harm. After reading the article in the following link, however, I am not sure headsets will help:http://www.drivenowchatlater.com/


Turning to the subject of traffic fatalities in general, the public has long accepted the loss of lives from driving as a "cost of doing business." So far our losses from terrorism have been minuscule in comparison. Terrorism is not likely to go away. Will deaths and injuries from terrorism eventually be accepted as a cost of doing business?