Center of Attention
Extra attention to a few Centrist blogs:
Western Democrat: Democrats investing in the future.
Justin Gardner at Donklephant: Rehnquist was a junky?
Michael Linn Jones at Gun Toting Liberal is “beginning to have doubts about” the value / importance of cell phones. I’m not: I detest them. They are perhaps – in my humble opinion – mankind’s worst invention. Young children have cell phones these days. I see them walking around with them. Who the hell are they calling? Mama and papa?
And in the train: extremely obnoxious people shout in their cell phones, disturbing everyone else, reading has become impossible…
And worse, people are shocked if one says that one does not own a cell phone. “But how can people reach you?????” As if, before the era of the cell phone people could not be reached! We have to be “reachable” all the time! If not through the Internet, than by phone. And what’s the use in all of it? Does the mere existence of the cell phone make people happier? I don’t think so. It makes people more stressed! I don’t want to be reachable all the time. When I’m in the train, I want to read. If you want to talk to me you can visit me (something people did back in the day).
I have an e-mail address. People can reach me there and I will read the e-mails when it’s convenient for me. That’s the beauty of having an e-mail address.
Cell phones.
Bah.
Anyway, the last link is to Michael J. Totten at Winds of Change: “It’s Like a Phish Concert for Terrorists”.
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8 Responses to “Center of Attention”
lol, sorry for the rant, I could not control myself
Yes, those that don’t have cellphones are usually very rant-prone, probably because they feel they have to DEFEND the act of not owning a cellphone
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I am the happy owner of a cellphone and I find them VERY useful. In my work, where I do need to be reachable but am not always in my lab. In social situations there are many circumstances where a cellphone is useful, not the least of which is “damn, the bus is in traffic, go ahead without me I’ll meet you there” or “I’m lost! I’m in front of a big Cocacola sign and the signpost says High street, where are you?”.
Yes people lived before cellphones, and before internet and landline phones and cars and any number of things. Cellphones are not THE revolutionary invention of the century, but they ARE useful.
I will give you this though Michael, nothing more annoying than being stuck in public transportation (or a bar) with someone sharing his life on the phone for all to hear. Madrid wants to make cellphones reachable in our Metro, most people are opposed.
Well, I am afraid to admit that I have given in to pressure several times now. I own one now as well, be it for a time without a card in it (so it didn’t work which made me very happy). However people nagged, so I now have a new card in it.
They now complain that I never switch my cell phone on.
I tell them that, when I need to use it, I turn it on.
Anyway, yes exactly Lynx. It’s extremely annoying.
MvdG–
I completely agree with you about cell phones. They encourage the rude, the self-absorbed, the indecisive, and the procrastinator to be more ill-mannered, less attentive, completely infantile and utterly irresponsible.
BYG: you said so much better than I did, and I completely agree!
Exactly!
My only phone now is a cell – no land-line at all – but I like to keep it on silent almost always. I didn’t get one for years exactly because I didn’t always want to be reachable. Later I found one useful for a job where I was in the car a lot, and I keep it around now because I want to be reachable for my daycare provider. But if it’s not my wife or daycare calling, I hit “decline” when it buzzes in my pocket and then call back later when I’m in the mood.
For rudeness, trying going to a school event like a concert or a play. The cell phones combined with digital video recorders, digital cameras, and everything else lead to such a level of “electronic rudeness” that is hard to enjoys your childrens performance.
I’ve relied upon my cell phone as my sole source of telephony for the past five years, and suggest to others to try the same. Given that, I still follow the simpler rules of conversational etiquette which most tend to forget:
- If it is of a private nature, and you cannot whisper, you need to wait for another opportunity to talk of it;
- If you already are in a conversation with someone in front of you, interrupting said conversation should be for good reason;
- There are times for speaking, and times for silence. It’s beneficial in life to know which has priority.