<p>I’ve read the linked article in the original post twice now. The entire article is about the surreptitious (vigilante) use of the device by individuals. The gist of the article is that despite the fact that the are illegal, they are being imported and used, and a lot of people seem to think it is their right to use them because they don’t like someone else’s behavior. They are proving difficult to detect, and therefore the law is easily evaded.</p>
<p>There is nothing in the article about the use of the devices for legitimate purposes.</p>
<p>If the complainer wants to start a thread about that topic, go ahead, but that is not what this thread was about when it was started.</p>
<p>^^^ Exactly. This is a heads-up that dropped cell phone calls may not be the fault of your cell phone company, and they may not be your fault either, because your phone could be caught in the radio wave crossfire.</p>
<p>Imagine an arsonist with one, starts a fire and blocks cell phone use to make it more interesting</p>
<p>I can imagine very very very few real legitimate purposes that would trump the very very very real need for people to have access to their cell phones</p>
<p>As I said, if I knew a movie theater or a playhouse was blocking my cellphone use, I would not attend that theater- and that establishment would know why</p>
<p>DOes my life STOP when I go to the movies- is there less chance my mother will get hurt or fall just because I am in the theater</p>
<p>And IF I was in a theater some H got a call his wife went into early labor or his kid was in an accident, and his phone accidently rang because he forgot to turn it to vibrate, i would hope I wouldn’t have so little compassion that I wouldnt let that faux pas go</p>
<p>Yes, talkers in theaters make me nuts, phone cell or not, but I have on;y had a couple of circumstances where a phone talker went to long</p>
<p>Usually, its a hang up, or i call you back, or the person leaves the room</p>
<p>Most people are well mannered and I don’t want to take away the needs and wants of others because of the CHANCE that some idiot will use their phone, or take away use if there is a legitimate emergency</p>
<p>wonder how some would feel if they missed an emergency text because some business thought some one Might use a cellphone</p>
<p>In a private place, the owners have the right to do what they want. Would I agree with them blocking cell phones? No. I find cellphones going off in theaters and so forth as annoying as the next guy, but they serve a valuable purpose for a lot of people. But I would support the right of the owners of the establishment to block cellphones if they so wish.</p>
<p>However, in public, there is no legal or moral argument that would allow certain individuals to unilaterally cut off others’ communications. None. Yes, the people might be talking like a “Valley girl”, yes, they might be annoying, but that absolutely does not give another individual the right to cut them off.</p>
<p>If someone is being annoying, loud, or otherwise infringing on others, the ONLY moral action an individual can take is to politely ask them to stop, or at least quiet down. That’s it. It’s that simple. Sorry, but no matter how annoying a person is, chopping off their transmission is not, and will never be a legitimately moral action for individuals to take. It’s akin to ripping the phone out of someone’s hand and shutting it off manually, which would be criminal. This is no different, just without the physical assault.</p>
<p>I would support such devices being legalized, only under certain regulations, with extremely stiff penalties for breaking the law.</p>
<p>This writer suggests that, not only are we are becoming too dependent on our cell phones and other technological devices, but technology is interfering with our abilities to interact with others and to stay focused and pay attention:</p>
<p>What I find a little “scary” is how passively we have sat back and are accepting - as inevitable - drastic changes (and not all positive) in both society and human behavior that seem to be directly influenced by technological changes; we have let technology take over our lives, with little thought about the consequences or our future. And now it seems to be changing faster than we as a society can keep up. </p>
<p>Toffler’s “Future Shock” seems to have become a reality…</p>
<p>The use of ipods in public places is what has struck me the most. I was recently on a subway and looked around and everyone was “plugged in”–it was like sitting with a bunch of robots–really kinda creepy.</p>
<p>My h. is an ipod addict and has his earbuds in at home frequently. I have begged him to just put one in so that he can hear when someone addresses him.</p>
<p>I am reminded of the scene in “Annie Hall” where Alvy and Annie are waiting on line for a movie. A guy behind them is loudly pontificating on any number of subjects, including the writings of Marshall McLuhan. When Alvy complains about the guy and his comments, particularly in regards to MM, the guy states that he knows quite a bit about MM and that his comments are quite valid, in that he teaches a course at Columbia.</p>
<p>Excessive cell phone usage drives me crazy. I really don’t care to hear 1/2 of someone’s conversation, particularly in the middle of a movie in a theatre or dinner in a restaurant. NEWS FLASH - some people are incredibly inconsiderate, but what else is new, be it a loud conversation waiting on line or a cell phone.</p>
<p>Cant get the clip to play, UMDad. I think I have all the latest video stuff on my computer, but it just stops after the guy says he saw the latest Fellini film, and that it was not one of his best.</p>
<p>I doubt you are quite this omniscient. You don’t know how or why anyone uses their cell, or in which circumstances their use would be valuable. For one, when my kids were small, I was considerably more secure leaving the kids with a sitter and going on a date knowing WashMom and I could be reached. I would have boycotted any restaurant or theater that blocked my calls.</p>
<p>Also, if you haven’t looked around lately, phone booths are getting pretty rare and expensive. </p>
<p>Why should I turn off my cell phone in the hospital? Doctors don’t.</p>
<p>If it’s loud conversations that bother you, why are people allowed to carry on loud conversations with someone standing with them? Perhaps we could all carry foam-covered ball bats to hit anyone talking more loudly than we like. After all, the ultimate crime is to bother someone else, right? We could also use our bats to hit people with ugly hair, clothes that don’t fit, or hum to themselves. All of these have the potential for irritation.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I can think of dozens of reasons why cell phones should not be blocked. Does that mean I win the argument?</p>
<p>I can see your side of the argument. I just think it’s wrong.</p>
<p>Hearing only half of a conversation makes eavesdropping harder, that’s for sure. </p>
<p>Any conversation in a theater should result in a public lashing. There’s nothing special about the cell phone use. I have considerably less sympathy for the restaurant example. In large part, people go to restaurants to socialize. I really don’t care if someone chooses to use a phone instead of doing it in person.</p>
<p>Sorry, but it’s not eavesdropping if someone is carrying on a cell phone conversation so loudly you would think it is part of the dialogue in the movie.</p>
<p>I don’t want to hear any of the conversation - please take it outside of the movie or the restaurant. Why should my movie or meal be ruined by your cell phone call?</p>
<p>This ship sailed a long time ago. Up until the advent of the railroad and telegraph, communications hadn’t changed much since the Romans. Since the industrial revolution, technical change has been causing huge social change. Things like portable music devices (remember transistor radios with earphones in 1960?), cell phones, and PDAs are just the latest manifestations of these changes. It only seems like radical change because we grew up with telephones and cars. Someone born in 1885 would probably have complained bitterly that high speed transportation and the telephone ruined society the same way that some people now complain about email and MP3 players.</p>
<p>I agree with you about movies. See my post above. As for restaurants – people go to restaurants to talk. If you don’t like it, find a restaurant that bans phone use. Or, better yet, put your money where your opinion is and open an “no phone” restaurant. Let us know how popular that idea is. You weren’t complaining about loud diners, you were complaining about phone use. You want to campaign for softer speech in public places, I’m with you all the way. If you want to arbitrarily limit the means of my speech, that’s where I disagree.</p>
<p>Scansmom–I recently read a David Brooks column, someone who I don’t usually agree with, about the fact that we “outsource” our brains, and in the process lose a kind of awareness of how things fit together. For instance, following GPS instructions rather than looking at a map. It’s just a list of meaningless rights and lefts, rather than a route across a pictured space. Or buying tunes recommended off Itunes, rather than knowing genres and artists. Or googling rather than reading information embedded in its source.</p>
<p>I think this outsourced, digitalized world does change how we think. I’m not saying all these things are bad, but I do think they change the way we think, to some degree.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I agree with everything WashDad wrote, so I won’t bore everyone by repeating it. </p></li>
<li><p>Maybe it is just because I live in a less rushed, hurried place than the rest of you, but I find cell phone etiquette to be much better now than a few years ago. It has been a while since I heard a phone ring during a concert, and the few recent instances when a phone rang in a move theater, it was immediately switched off by the forgetful movie-goer. There were no ensuing conversations. Both of my kids and all of their friends leave their phones on silent or vibrate always; they think I’m weird because mine rings. They speak in low tones so they can’t be overheard (by nosy parents). I attribute the better manners of most users to the fact that now that cell phones are completely common, users do not feel compelled to show off that they have one.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Washdad–It’s my observation that most people on cell phones talk at a different decibel level than people talk to each other in person. They’re also, on the whole, less aware of their surroundings (similar to how cell phone use, with hands or not, contributes as much to bad driving as does alcohol use–it takes your attention from the car to somewhere else.)</p>
<p>I don’t believe anyone objects to people talking at the same level on cell phones as they would in person. but the observable fact is–no, they don’t talk the same way. That’s why they get noticed.</p>