posted
I resisted for a very long time. Jim pointed out, though, that if I got stranded going back and forth, I'd really have no way to reach him (since there's really not much between here and Indy). So we got one of the little pre-paid thingies. Eh. No one will have the number but him, if I can help it. Posts: 4077 | Registered: Jun 2003
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I have one and have used it in a few emergencies. It actually scares me when I don't have one on me. o_O
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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I too joined the masses ages ago. I used to hate cell phones. Now I like them. Good ol Vassily.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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My mom and i both wish we could get my dad to carry one, we'd pay for it, just a prepay type one, but still, he is so hard to reach and can be running around for hours at a time meeting different people and talking about cars. This wasn't really a problem till he "retired" when his factory shut down in December.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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I just don't get why people love/hate these things. I have one, use it a little, and have no strong feelings about it either way.
I think it is useful. And that's about it.
I, for the life of me, can not understand what makes some folk go ape when they see or hear someone talking on a cell phone in public. It's just talking. And most folk don't go ape when they overhear someone talking. But if they are talking on the cellphone! Oh my goodness gracious! Call the etiquette police! And if you are driving your car and doing a fine job of it, why is it such a criminal act to talk on that phone? Back in the day, they weren't called "cell phones" -- they were "car phones". But someone got a bug up his butt and pitched a fit that, for reasons beyond my comprehension, caught on.
Someone 'splain this to me.
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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I get mad when someone answers their phone in class, or something like that, but no worries just walking on the street. Or once I was at dinner with a friend and the guy answered his phone mid sentence, very annoying.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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For me, when I get behind someone driving and talking on a phone, nine times out of ten, they're not paying a darn bit of attention to what they're doing. They're wandering all over (and sometimes out of) their lane, and missing lights, and driving 15ish miles under the speed limit, or worse, 15 miles over and then suddenly slamming on their brakes and their turn signal.
As for the public thing...eh. As long as it isn't someplace where they shouldn't be (like the library), and they're not shouting into it (like about 75% of the population does), I don't care. The problem is, people talk on the phones in the library all the time, and people DO tend to talk much louder into their cell phones, carrying on VERY LOUD private conversations, and then looking at you as if you were rude, when you stare at them shouting about "the kickin' party last night where they got totally drunk and slept with some guy and I don't even know his name oh my GAAAAAAAAWWD!"
posted
Well of course there are situations when it is inappropriate to take calls. Phones ought to be turned off in school. So should whatever else might disrupt the lessons.
In a social situation, it is only polite to pay attention to the people you are with. If you must take a call, be polite enough to make your apologies and to keep it as short as possible.
I have interviewed applicants for jobs who took cell phone calls during the interview. Not cool.
But all these have less to do with the phone than with the politeness of the people with the phones.
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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Oh, undoubtedly. The device is not inherently evil.
People, however, are rude and stupid.
Hence the need for the etiquette police.
On the way into the main library at IU, there's a big marker board for people to leave messages on to meet groups, etc. One day, there was a large-ish message that said, "Cell phones should come with a mandatory etiquette course." I have to say, I agree; it's like they give people a free pass to be as rude as they like.
Posts: 4077 | Registered: Jun 2003
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I should add that my own personal resistance was more, "Everyone is doing this. I'm going to hold out as long as possible," than my desire to prevent my own rude behavior.
I do think people feel much freer to be rude when they have cell phones, though. It's a basic sense of entitlement that so many have now.
Posts: 4077 | Registered: Jun 2003
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I've never been without a cell phone since 1993 and I do not know a single person IRL who doesn't have one.
But then Australia has one of the highest mobile-phone uptakes in the world and it's been heavily subsidised by the government.
Posts: 2245 | Registered: Nov 1998
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My cell phone is my only phone. I love it. I can have it with me all the time, and if I'm studying or hiding, I can leave it in the car and turn my apartment into a cloister. I don't answer it at work usually, and I turn it off when I'm at parties or with people, so I'm not a slave to it.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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Troubs, how familiar are you with American cell phone plans? I'm half-tempted to dump mine, simply because I'm thoroughly disgusted with the cell-phone industry in this country.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Tom, how is the cell phone industry more disgusting than the other industries in this country?
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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I'm thoroughly obsessed with my cellphone. I've had the same number since 1995, and it was my only phone for the last five years, all through college.
I'm also addicted to text messaging, and I want to upgrade to a camera phone.
But I'm a total technophile, so no surprise.
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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For me it's not that I don't like phones - there's nothing *wrong* with them -, but I don't like TALKING on the phone. There are very few people with which I can have long discussions over the phone. I'll talk for hours on instant messenger programs, but don't ask me to fill in the silences over the phone.
But I *do* own a cell-phone, because I need one. When I was in Rouen I had no fixed phone in my room and no net either, so if my parents wanted to have a quick way to contact me there wasn't any. I've kept it since, but I'm rarely using it during the school year and never in class (I don't take it with me, or put it on silent and in my bag). I do use it quite a lot when I'm in an internship and I have to contact friends that are around here also in internships, when most of us aren't in the campus anymore, but that's it.
Oh, and I hate it how in Romania it's still a *fashion* to have a cell-phone, and the fact that parents will buy cell-phones for their children regardless of whether they have an actual need for them. And you'd think that people my age (24) would have shrugged off that attitude by now, but no! A couple of weeks ago when I met some of my high-school colleagues back there I saw them act just the same: "Look how cool my new phone is! Look what I can do with it!" Grow up, people! Sheesh...
Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote: A couple of weeks ago when I met some of my high-school colleagues back there I saw them act just the same: "Look how cool my new phone is! Look what I can do with it!"
I remember in high school when The Comet and his friend would come over to my house and spend an hour showing off their new calculators.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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I had a cell phone for a four-month period in late 2000. At that time it was my only phone. I do not wish to ever have one again, though I occasionally find myself wanting one when I need to make a long distance call from an airport.
Anyway, they're useful but I don't need one. I'd leave it turned off all the time anyway, and only activate it when I wanted to call someone. When I leave my apartment it generally means I'm doing something fun and do not wish to be reached.
I have to have one from work periodically because every few weeks I go on call for a weekend. That's more than enough cellphone for me. Thankfully it almost never rings.
Oh, and I despise custom ringtones. If I had one it would ring like a telephone.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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I have a "custom" ring-tone, but nothing very interesting. I just thought that the "natural" ring-tone was waaay too annoying to keep it like that. :shrug: And I keep the "message" ring-tone short; "I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME!"
What I really worry about is when all the phone will have a super-duper colored screen, with lots of functions I don't need, with cool games I don't want to play, etc. Give me my ringing brick with a screen large enough so I can see my messages and have an alright menu, and be done with it! And no camera, please, they're never as good as the real thing so if I want one I'll buy it separately! This isn't going to last, though... :sigh:
Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Yeah, custom ringtones will be punishable by electroshock in my city.
Other things that will incur this punishment: sitting at a green light for more than 3 seconds, riding with your blinker on, going 72 in the fast lane, giving yourself a nickname, popped collars, guys who highlight their hair, inability to merge and/or those who slow down before getting into the turning lane, and those who insist that pro football is better than college.
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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Yesterday I heard one that made R2D2 noises. It was surprisingly non-annoying. Any ringtones that are actually music inevitably get stuck in my head.
Jon Boy and I still don't have a cell phone. Once every three months or so we make a remark along the lines of "A cell phone would be handy right now." But since neither of us likes to talk on the phone and we don't want to pour all kinds of money down the toilet for something we wouldn't use much, we will continue to resist getting one for as long as we can.
Posts: 1903 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Firefly is hardly a mass phenomenon like cell phones and portable MP3 players, though. It's still very much a niche thing.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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quote: Jim pointed out, though, that if I got stranded going back and forth, I'd really have no way to reach him
Ah -- I remember the ole' days. When you broke down at the side of the road and cell phones weren't invented yet...
However, back then, people were nicer. They would stop and help, offer a ride or a can of gas or a twist with a wrench.
Now, when someone is broke down on the road, everyone zooms past thinking, "eh- they probably have a cell phone and have already called for help. They don't need me."
posted
I ran out of gas in my old neighborhood a few weeks ago. Four people in half a block and ten minutes stopped to help. Fortunately, the last one was a lady, who had been dropping someone off when she saw me but came back afterwards to help. She drove me to the gas station and insisted on paying for the two bucks worth of gas I needed.
People are still nice. Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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quote: Tom, how is the cell phone industry more disgusting than the other industries in this country?
Well, for one thing, it's built mainly on fraud, consumer ignorance, and quasi-monopolistic practices.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Mine plays the theme to the Exorcist. I spent five minutes of my friend's wedding very worried when I realized Nathan was holding my bag and I didn't know if the phone was turned off. Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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Texas is in hospitality mode. They've got company, so they're on their best behavior.
****
I like my cell phone but hate my husband's. I think he may be the first adopter when they come up with ones that are surgically implanted.
Posts: 5948 | Registered: Jun 2001
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*laugh* No cigar. This was a month ago, jeniwren. I moved in August, and this was several weeks before I moved.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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quote: Mine plays the theme to the Exorcist. I spent five minutes of my friend's wedding very worried when I realized Nathan was holding my bag and I didn't know if the phone was turned off. [Eek!]
posted
I got mine in '99 "just for emergencies", which worked well because for years I had a 30-minutes a month plan. Then in the last year I was paying overage fees almost every month, and went to a 100 minutes plan, and got a new camera phone. It's less than fabulous- I wish it were bigger.
Kat:
quote: Mine plays "So Long and Thanks for All the Fish." *grin
Where can I download that?
Posts: 2711 | Registered: Mar 2004
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quote: Texas is in hospitality mode. They've got company, so they're on their best behavior.
About a year ago, my car broke down at a busy intersection (75 and 635 for those who know the Dallas area). Fortunately, I had a cell phone and a tow truck got there within an hour. During that time, at least 15 people pulled over to ask if they could help. The hospitality in this area is not transient. Posts: 1947 | Registered: Aug 2002
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