Cell Phones Are Here to Stay, But . . .

Most of my friends and family members had cell phones well before the end of the last century. I wasn’t convinced that I needed a cell phone until the middle of September 2001. While I think that I someday might trade up to a much smarter phone, I currently have a slightly upgraded pay-as-you-go phone for convenience and security reasons.

Very few people have my cell phone number, and those who do seldom call it because I also have a landline that I’m not ready to give up. When people do call the cell, it's generally because I'm not home, and they're trying to track me down to meet for breakfast or get together later in the day.


When I answer my cell phone in a public place, I keep the conversations short and discreet. If I should ever need to discuss an urgent personal issue on the cell, I'll go to a place where I think the fewest number of people will be able to hear my side of the conversation.


I don't understand why so many people seem to think it's okay to loudly discuss very personal issues on their cell phones while they are shopping, traveling on public transportation, or having lunch at a restaurant. I'm sorry about the crappy way their lives seem to be going, but I really don’t want to listen to what should be private phone conversations about their problems with work, finances, family members, the legal system, or the next door neighbor's cat.


 
And if I should, perchance, make eye contact with the gabbers, they shoot me a look that would kill a zombie. Hey, if they’re loudly yakking about it in public, it's not private.

 
And if their conversations are that interesting, I might take notes.

 

[I actually did take notes while listening to a bus passenger’s very loud cell phone conversation a couple of years ago. I later wrote a mini-post about her, um, lack of discretion and published it on Blogger on March 30, 2012.]