Cell phones: Is a day of reckoning coming?

I was out with some friends the other night. Had not seen them in a while. We were in a fun American city. In a fun bar. With fun people.

And at some point in the night, I became acutely aware that we were all spending an inordinate time with our iPhones. Checking Facebook. Checking email. Checking scores. Just generally checking, checking checking. And tapping, tapping, tapping. I'd be in the middle of a conversation with a friend, and suddenly he'd dive into his cell phone, mesmerized for a while. And I was doing the same thing.

On the drive home, I was in a highway oasis KFC line, and noticed that three of us were in the line (three strangers this time). All three of us were staring at our phones.

Anyway, just curious about people's thoughts on whether the pervasive cell phone culture that has developed bothers them at all, and whether you think that there might be a backlash at some point. Personally, I'm thinking about trying to impose some restraints, like no looking at it in front of other people. Discreetly leave the room if I really have to check, and do it alone.

Seems like cell phone technology just sucked us in before we had a chance to prepare ourselves, and now we've got ourselves in a social predicament.

 

Your post made me think of masturbation.

Some social structure that would make cell phone use in certain situations taboo, like masturbation, might help.

I don't see it happening though - our country is so free, people are going to do whatever they want. Laws or social structure be damned.

The automobile is a technology that has helped define what and who we are as a country - the car is a huge symbol of American freedom. We go places wherever and whenever we want.

This revolution of portable electronics has now reached well beyond the Walkman and iPods to the point of having instant access and instant gratification to the internet from practically any place at any time through these smartphones. This freedom ranks up their with the automobile.

And like cars, smartphones will turn some people into assholes.

VB

 

I do not have this problem. My phone is just a phone. No e-mail or social media or whatever. And that is intentional. I will remain smarter than my phone.

 

As the monthly cell phone bill approaches the payment on a decent new car you might be asking a very valid question.

 

Same here. There are definitely times I wish I had the capability to check movie times or an address or something, but I feel like if I could check Facebook or my email on my phone, I'd spend way too much time on it. I like feeling unplugged.

 

Great story in the recent Atlantic noted that Millennials aspire to own the latest smart phone, not the latest car, much less the latest house...and as a result, America's economy might be changed forever.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/09/the-cheapest-generation/309060/

 

Went to dinner last night with a couple of buddies. So we wouldn't be checking our phones, we stacked them on top of one another and then put a salt shaker on top of that.

The rule was you could check if you got a text, but only reply if it was your wife. Otherwise, if you grabbed your phone you had to buy dinner. Nobody touched their phone for almost two hours.

 

I do not have a smartphone, and it's for a reason. I'm tired of trying to interact with people who won't put their fucking phones away for a few seconds to give me their attention. Standing in line to order food: get off the damn phone and order, you're holding up the line! Practically parking the shopping cart in front of the bread I want to get: get off the damn phone and move your cart, you're blocking the aisle for everyone else!

I saw some show in which the owner set up cameras to see if employees were stealing from the till. Nope, but they wouldn't say off their smartphones. How much productivity is lost in a workday, especially if the phone isn't necessary to do the job?

 

So how do you guys without smart phones read SportsJournalists.com when you wives make you go out?


Seriously though, if I'm blocking where you want to go in the grocery store and staring at my phone I can tell you I'm not on facebook or the internet, I'm checking my shopping list. I'd be just as annoying if I had written it on paper.

 

Definitely true of Gen Y.

My richest friend drives a 1996 Buick.

 

Fuck buying a brand-new car. Sure, a Ford Fiesta may start at $14k, but look on a lot and you'll be lucky to find one for under $18k. No way am I financing that much for a shitty subcompact hatchback. I guess that makes me a bad consumer, not wanting to overpay for something that's going to spend most of its life in a driveway or garage.

 

yeah right. i don't own a land line and pay $140 a month for both my phone and my wife's phone for unlimited service.
enjoy your pay-by-the-minute phone with the oversized buttons.