When I walk through a parking lot and some dude is arguing and yelling into his phone - I get irritated and upset. The same for restaurants, elevators, and other public places. Get your conversation out of my face! I tend to raise my voice in response, and my hubbie gets so embarassed! I loved the cartoon in which the one person takes a potatoe, puts it to his ear, then walks over to the offending cell phone user and says, "It's for you!"
Mind you, their parents are likely modeling the behaviour, as one young teen stated in an interview. Her mother does it, too. You live what you learn. The self-important people who cannot get in a vehicle and make it from here to there without going on their cell phones. They make the roads unsafe for all of us. What did we old f@rts do before we had cell phones? Oh yes. We waited until we arrived at our destination. We made plans. We thought ahead and thought of others. How important is it to text someone while driving, walking, or doing other things?
There is hope. There is a
- Distracted Driving Law that passed in Ontario
- Alberta law bans cell phones and texting in a car.
- B.C. Solicitor General details ban on cell phones...
But the manners of some who feel the need to take attention away from the people they are with, to text people they are NOT with. What does this say about their character? I'd walk away.
Speaking of walking...
Teen Girl Falls In Open Manhole While Texting - wcbstv.com
There is an increase of accidents, and some places have written laws forbidding talking on a cell phone while driving. Good thing, methinks. But TEXTING????? Is it just me?
Not only while walking, but while driving.
Imagine a Public Service Announcement to explain the hazards of texting while driving. What are they thinking?
Docs warn that texting could be hazardous to your health[PDF] -excerpt graph from this document.
Teen Driver Menace: Text-Messaging: Studies Show Texting While ...Nearly 50 percent of teens admit to text messaging while driving
I can imagine these young people out on the savannah in prehistoric times texting, while from behind arrives a sabre tooth tiger that checks them broadside and reduces the gene pool.
Perhaps this is what will happen. The dumb ones will self-destruct and will not procreate.
One can hope.
jenn i'm very supportive of the need for a stronger code of etiquette attached to the use of cell phones. i find it strange and siconcerting to be eating a meal with someone who i might see once in a blue moon and during the course of the meal their cell will go off once, twice, three times or more. it doesn't make me angry as much as devaluing the experience. it suggests a lack of focus, intent, and attention to the person, and to the food. graceless is the word i think of. thanks for bringing this one up. oh - and i don't own a cell!!!
ReplyDeletesteven
Well articulated, Steven.
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't 'do lunch' much (in cottage country we retirees BBQ on the deck!) the odd time we do go out it is to a restaurant with a chef.
I cannot believe that people tolerate it.
You nailed it.
The question is: who will teach this etiquette?
Jenn I do so agree. When we were going round Manhattan island on a cruise the man doing the commentary said - remember if you have a cellphone, it is not a megaphone! I thought that was very good.
ReplyDeleteWe have a low in UK against using the phone while driving, but as you say it is not easy to police and we often see people breaking the law. It is only when they kill somebody and get caught that they pay the price.