JPL

I just can't understand the need to be soooo connected all the time. Cell phone mania, the providers have created a monster. When you see people walking down the street talking on their cell, and you hear the onesided conversation about nothing makes me wonder just how lonely are these people. I can understand it for business use that makes sense to me, emergency use is OK, but do we really need to be shooting the breeze while we are out to either do some shopping or go some place specifically?

Personally I had a mobile phone in 1972 through 1990 when I no longer needed it for business and don't have one today.

I'd be interested in your take on this.

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SINC

I had my first mobile phone in the early 80's when it was a rare thing to have and graduated to a cell in 1988.

I still have one since I retired and have a 100 anytime minute per month plan. The 100 minutes never get used.

I never use it while walking, or while driving without pulling over.

It does allow my family to reach me if necessary, or me to make a business call with a question, but that is about it.

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HowEver

I once went to an Apple user group meeting where afficianados gathered in a room to talk about computers. Man, we were connected then!

Of course, now I surf these online fora and can ask and occasionally answer all sorts of questions any time of day just like at that meeting.

Sometimes I tell this to people with cell phones when they are calling me asking for Mac advice and troubleshooting tips. They just shake their heads and long for those days of geeky meetings once every few months so they wouldn't have to call me whenever they felt like it.

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MacDoc

Because my cell is entirely hands and wireless free it's effortless for me to chat with friends and clients.
If those same friends and clients were walking with me and chatting you would give it no notice.

It's not the chatterers who have an issue or need to be pitied - it's those that can't understand a virtual community - be it here at ehMac or chatting with friends while shopping.

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MACSPECTRUM

except for "can you hear me now?"

MacDoc

Applies equally to non-virtual chatters walking near a construction site

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MLeh

It's funny, with all our 'connectedness', a recent survey showed that 25% of Canadians feel lonely, while the number years ago was 10%.

On one hand, people will talk to virtual strangers online, or talk to others on a cell phone. But day to day interaction with REAL people - on buses, airplanes, or just on the street? Let's all put on our iPods and block all that out.

Interesting dichotomy, don't you think?

All this connectedness via cell phone and internet is directly counteracted by an isolationist attitude and distrust of society in general. Very symptomatic of something, but not the disease itself.

Just a random philosophical thought.

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mazirion

I have had a cell phone for around 10 years now. First used mainly for emergencies, it is now my only phone. I divested myself of Bell and just use my cell now.

Dr.G.

My wife and son each have a cell phone, but I have never owned one, nor need/want to own one. My wife has a palm pilot, I don't. We all have computers, with LAN and wi-fi broadband connections. I enjoy my privacy, so when I am outside or on vacation, I am not wanting to be contacted.

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SoyMac

I had a cell phone in my car for a while. I never gave out the number, as it was just for emergencies.
Eventually the phone disappeared and I never bothered to replace it.

I don't mind the concept of connectedness. There's an element of choice intimated by the theory of electronic connectedness.
But I hate the imposition of one-sided conversations into my space. I find it no less obnoxious than a boom box being played by someone in front of me in a bank line-up. (except the rhythmic music would be less jarring to me than the inane cell-phone "conversations" I am subjected to.)
I miss the world's periods of silence - quiet moments that seem to be ever-diminishing.
Do public cell-phone users think those around them can choose to not listen? Like, umm, we could choose to not listen to a car horn being honked beside us?

Maybe one day in the near future, opinions like mine will be laughed at as out-dated and naive, when the connected population of the Earth won't believe that anyone ever read quietly in public without headphones and white noise stations playing on our iPods.

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