I've been reading in USA Today this morning about how this
generation of teenagers can't live without their cell phones. My
almost-15-year-old doesn't have one yet but I can see it coming.
Actually it would be good for her to have one when she's out with
her friends and needs to call. So far we've just armed her with
phone cards but she has to find a phone.
Cell phones certainly do make business travel easier. I no
longer have to queue up for a pay phone at a crowded convention. I
can find a quiet spot somewhere in a hotel lobby and make all the
calls I want.
I also can call from a rental car or a taxi although I prefer
not to call when I'm driving. I do it occasionally if I'm
bumper-to-bumper on the New Jersey Turnpike but otherwise I like to
devote my full attention to the road.
The use of cell phones has exploded to the point where it seems
as if half the people walking the street are on the phone. I've
seen people crossing Fifth Avenue in New York City while talking on
the phone. I think that's really nuts. Get to the other side at
least, will ya?
Yesterday I was on a Newark-Chicago flight where a number of
passengers were on their cell phones right up to the moment when
the door closed and the announcement was made about turning them
off.
Because of cell phones, I've heard more about other people's
lives than I want to know. People seem to have no problem engaging
in intense discussions on their cell phones while others are within
earshot. Sometimes I want to talk to a person who's just finished
an argument on his cell phone. I want to say how sorry I am that
they're having this problem.
One day in London I saw two people walking together down
Piccadilly, both on their cell phones. I had a feeling that they
were calling each other.
There are times when people should turn off their phones. At a
meeting I attended last week, a man's cell phone rang while he was
sitting in a large meeting room listening to a speech.
He was far enough away from the speaker so that it didn't
interrupt him and he ran right out of the room to take the call but
I think he should have turned off his phone.
Once a phone rang in the third row in a large meeting room while
a speaker was talking.
The speaker heard the phone, stopped and said to the man with
the phone:
"Why don't you take that? I can wait."