The Case Against Cell Phones
Sep. 26th, 2006 09:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackofallgeeksAside from generally sounding a touch crazy, I have a few problems with This Article on the evils of Cell Phones.
Starting at the top, cell phones need not be the electric leash that people often make them out to be: they're a convenience, and the only one who can leash you with them is yourself. Don't want to answer a call? Then don't. Doing something more important, like having dinner with friends or walking along the beach? Turn it off; it's not a crime. if it's really important they'll leave a message or call back anyways. It's no worse in the end than if you didn't have a cell phone and people could only catch you while you were home, but it's better because when you *do* have the time and motivation to use it, it's right there.
I'm not going to touch the health-hazard bit because I think it's so much bull. You get more (and higher-energy) bombardment from walking in the sun than you do from all the electronic gadgets we have around and in the end any stress you get from loud annoying people has more to do with you and them and very little to do with the presence of the cell phone.
Surveillance: He's a scary fact: certain 'secure phones' aside, this eaves-dropping bit is possible with landlines, too, at least in theory. If you're paranoid about the cell because it 'follows' you everywhere you take it, turn it off. As above, it's no worse than not having one, but it's still conveniently there when you need it. But really? Unless you have some reason to fear you're being Watched, this is just paranoia.
Private in public: what, you think they'd be talking to you if they didn't have their phone? or do you just like eaves-dropping on full conversations? I'm really not sure what kind of a point is being made here.
Flextime: this is a bad thing? No one is ever 100% punctual, life has hick-ups (and traffic), and being flexible and being able to communicate such upsets is a good thing. Passive-aggressives will mess with you anyways; if they didn't have a cell phone, they'd just stand you up and explain it away anyways. Once again, the article takes a positive aspect of cell phones and makes it seem negative by binding it to a negative human behavior. It's not the phone, people; it's the people.
Detached is much the same as the above. Phones aren't inconsiderate, people are. (Case in point, I will typically not answer my phone, let alone make calls, if I'm riding in a car with someone, having a meal with anyone, or simply hanging out and enjoying company.)
The Auction is just another loose association to detached. Personal flaws are not caused by cell phones, and if cell phones perpetuate such flaws it's simply the case that such flaws would be perpetuated by some other behavior anyways; how many people have you known in your life who listen attentively to criticisms just to let it roll off their back? In-one-ear-out-the-other isn't new.
Me and my friends:the worst text input device ever, I'll concede that. But a number of phone have full kybards these days, anyways. And while I hate AOL-speak more than most anyone else, it's called AOL-speak for a reason: it didn't originate with txt-msgs. It's a function of our culture of impatience, matched with a lack of skill in using any text input device. That's no excuse: I hunt-and-peck, but I do so in full sentences (let alone words!) and proper grammar, and I do it at a rate that's gotten, "wow, you type fast," more than a few times.
This is the most stimulating bit of my work-day so far. that makes me cry.
Starting at the top, cell phones need not be the electric leash that people often make them out to be: they're a convenience, and the only one who can leash you with them is yourself. Don't want to answer a call? Then don't. Doing something more important, like having dinner with friends or walking along the beach? Turn it off; it's not a crime. if it's really important they'll leave a message or call back anyways. It's no worse in the end than if you didn't have a cell phone and people could only catch you while you were home, but it's better because when you *do* have the time and motivation to use it, it's right there.
I'm not going to touch the health-hazard bit because I think it's so much bull. You get more (and higher-energy) bombardment from walking in the sun than you do from all the electronic gadgets we have around and in the end any stress you get from loud annoying people has more to do with you and them and very little to do with the presence of the cell phone.
Surveillance: He's a scary fact: certain 'secure phones' aside, this eaves-dropping bit is possible with landlines, too, at least in theory. If you're paranoid about the cell because it 'follows' you everywhere you take it, turn it off. As above, it's no worse than not having one, but it's still conveniently there when you need it. But really? Unless you have some reason to fear you're being Watched, this is just paranoia.
Private in public: what, you think they'd be talking to you if they didn't have their phone? or do you just like eaves-dropping on full conversations? I'm really not sure what kind of a point is being made here.
Flextime: this is a bad thing? No one is ever 100% punctual, life has hick-ups (and traffic), and being flexible and being able to communicate such upsets is a good thing. Passive-aggressives will mess with you anyways; if they didn't have a cell phone, they'd just stand you up and explain it away anyways. Once again, the article takes a positive aspect of cell phones and makes it seem negative by binding it to a negative human behavior. It's not the phone, people; it's the people.
Detached is much the same as the above. Phones aren't inconsiderate, people are. (Case in point, I will typically not answer my phone, let alone make calls, if I'm riding in a car with someone, having a meal with anyone, or simply hanging out and enjoying company.)
The Auction is just another loose association to detached. Personal flaws are not caused by cell phones, and if cell phones perpetuate such flaws it's simply the case that such flaws would be perpetuated by some other behavior anyways; how many people have you known in your life who listen attentively to criticisms just to let it roll off their back? In-one-ear-out-the-other isn't new.
Me and my friends:the worst text input device ever, I'll concede that. But a number of phone have full kybards these days, anyways. And while I hate AOL-speak more than most anyone else, it's called AOL-speak for a reason: it didn't originate with txt-msgs. It's a function of our culture of impatience, matched with a lack of skill in using any text input device. That's no excuse: I hunt-and-peck, but I do so in full sentences (let alone words!) and proper grammar, and I do it at a rate that's gotten, "wow, you type fast," more than a few times.
This is the most stimulating bit of my work-day so far. that makes me cry.
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