2005-04-14 - 6:54 p.m.
Once again today I was harassed for not having a cell phone. "Why don't you have a cell phone? When are you getting a cell phone? What if your car breaks down? What if you're not home?"
I love gadgets, anything with circuits, but I have serious problems with the cellular phone. A lot of people complain about the bad behaviour that surrounds the cell phone. The difference with me is that I believe the cons outweigh the pros.
Take, for example, an article out this week (I'll find the link later) that said 14% of people surveyed admitted to stopping in the middle of sex to answer their phone. Here's a little tip for you. Just because your phone rings, doesn't mean you are required to answer it. You're not even required to look and see who it is. Is your life so worthless? Are you so meaningless and unhappy that you must stop what you are doing because someone phoned you? I don't believe that I am. If I am home and my phone rings, I always ask myself the same question...am I happy doing what I am doing right now? If the answer is yes, I ignore the phone. Whatever they want can be dealt with when I am finished enjoying life.
Most of my friends hate this attitude, because in good months, that is when I am having a lot of fun, it can take me ten days just to check my voicemail. Sure I miss out on a lot of events this way. I hear, "we invited you but you never answer your phone" a lot. That's fine with me. You shouldn't live your whole life hoping something more interesting will happen.
But that's my relationship with telecommunications in general. Now for the portable phone that most people willingly tote around with them at all times. People always ask me, "how do you meet up with people when you're out?" My usual response is, "if I'm not already out with you I probably don't want to meet up with you anyway." It's not entirely true, but it shuts them up.
Still, I don't want to be reached wherever I go. They say I can turn the ringer off, but I don't even want to give the impression that I can be reached wherever I am. I don't want you to feel like you can call me whenever you feel like it. That is rude.
Have you ever seen people who reach for their phone when they get in a fight? I was out with a married couple just last week. They're young and they got married too quickly and they fight constantly. So they started nipping at each other and they both reached for their phones. I thought this was great, they would both go have a conversation with someone else and calm down and that would be that. But no! They continued to fight.
Here's a bit of advice. Unless you're getting the shit kicked out of you (Dale), it is never ever ok to call me just so I can listen to you bicker with your date. What is it that you imagine the person you are calling is doing? What could they possibly be doing that is so god awful that they would say "Oh thank god Joe's calling so I can listen to him argue."
Some people say, well that's what friends are for, to help you when you're upset. Sorry. That's you being an ass, trying to drag someone else down into your misery.
I think I'll leave it here, but I would like to mention one more piece of courtesy that I think has been lost in our culture. Never answer your phone when you're on a date. Even if the person is not as aware of phone rudeness as I am, they'll still get the subtle feeling that you think they're only there to occupy you until something better comes along. And really, that's not the path to getting laid.
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