Cell phone rant

Maybe I am one of a kind, but I just do not understand our generation’s obsession with cell phones; and I am not talking about just the instrument, but also the amount of time people spend talking and messaging on it. I am convinced that some people do nothing else. Just the other day I was driving with my wife, headed into town for dinner. The lane was narrow and crowded and a girl on a scooter in front of me was swerving all over the place. She could not keep the bike steady because she was maneuvering it with one hand. As I overtook her, I looked over to she why she wasn’t using her right hand – no points for guessing- she was typing an SMS! Talk about multitasking. That must have been one important message that she was risking her life for. She was probably late in meeting her friends at Café Coffee Day.

I see a group of friends sitting together and half of them are either talking on the cell phone or messaging someone. People using the phone while driving and riding is a common sight. The wife on the pillion lovingly holding the cell phone to the husband’s face (the helmet skillfully balanced on the petrol tank) at 60 km/hour never ceases to amaze me. People are on the cell phone everywhere; while shopping, restaurants, morning/evening walks on the beach, in the movie halls, public bathrooms, airports, trains, buses, elevators, banks/ATMs. Events like weddings, funerals and even interviews are not immune. I’ve yet to find a place where a cell phone is not used. If there is a signal, people will talk. I’ve had people come to my house, only to spend time in the balcony talking to someone else. Downright rude!

One of the most annoying ones is the airplane cell phone conversation. “I’ve boarded the plane and the flight is about to take off’ and “We just landed, and I’m waiting to get off the plane.” I hear that from at least four or five people every time I take a flight. In the midst of all the benign information that follows, what these rude cell phone users don’t say is, “There is a short, fat, homicidal looking man standing next to me. I can tell that he is getting ready to beat me senseless for talking loudly about nothing on my phone.” People, please: if there is nowhere for the rest of us to go, think about whether you really need to have that conversation.

Don’t even get me started on ring tones. I’ve heard the worst in the most unlikely of places. We were in a meeting with a very senior executive at my previous job who was telling us the repercussions of the extremely bad financial year. There was pin drop silence and suddenly we heard a loud “Oh baby, baby”. Someone’s cell phone rang. “Oh baby, baby” kept repeating while this person scrambled to pull out the phone from his pocket and turn it off. No points for guessing his nick name from that point on.

It is very interesting and funny to observe behavior when someone is in a place where there is no network. They’ll shake the phone, walk around holding the phone high in desperation as if they will die if they don’t get a network soon. They have an expression of total dejection or impending gloom till then. And the delight to have a signal, the joy to be back in the network – life is normal again. A network is as important as air, food and water – the Reliance advertisement tells us. It is now one of the four basic necessities to sustain life on this planet.

Cell phones aren’t the problem here. Don’t get me wrong. I rate the cell phone as one of the greatest inventions of mankind. I think mobile phones rank up there with the invention of the wheel and the internal combustion engine. As we all know too well, mobiles can be critical in keeping us safe and connected. It has made communication easy, cheap and mobile. The keyword here is communication. Technology and its myriad benefits are not the issue. People are. I suppose functionality and ease-of-use of these devices lead us to become lazy and to lose awareness of ourselves, others and our surroundings.

Gartner Group predicts that one billion mobile phones will be sold worldwide in the year 2009. The decibel level is rising and there is no stopping this growth.

Blatant cell use/misuse isn't limited to social venues, either. It's corrupting the most basic of business courtesies. I am a part of the senior management/leadership team and I can tell you that they don’t care. Phones are answered in meetings, during presentations, important one on one interaction with demonstrating absolute unprofessional behavior and utter disregard and disrespect to others. It is not only at my office, but everywhere.

People don’t care anymore to talk publicly about their personal and private issues on the cell phone. I have too much detail about too many people I don’t know. People are defining new rules and behavior for what’s personal and what’s private. I understand that technological change leads to social change, but there's always a lag. True, but manners aren’t improving with increased use. Technology and manners are compatible. We need to switch off our cell phones once in a while and be here, in the present. We should pay attention to the friends we are having coffee with. We should learn to enjoy the here and the now. We need to pay attention to the business meeting or presentation at hand. We need to stop the cell phones from ruling our lives! We need to behave!

I want to own a bar/restaurant someday. When I do, there will be a message at every table – We’ll gladly serve you, once you finish your phone call!