Much like a walkie-talkie of old,
these devices are not tethered to the kitchen or living room wall thereby
limiting one’s roaming range.
These things are everywhere and
used by everyone. Children who are in
elementary school have them so that they can keep Mom and Dad advised as to
where the police are booking them, Mom and Dad have them so that they are able
to surreptitiously chat with their illicit lovers, and drug dealers have them
to better serve the public.
The guvment feels so strongly
about people having cell phones that people too destitute to buy and pay for
their own plan can get one from Uncle Sam for nothing.
Illegal aliens all have them,
homeless folks have them, and even senior citizens have them, although those
are equipped with buttons the size of drink coasters.
Such technology affords much
portability, sometimes too much. Times
were when people needed to stay home to await a return phone call or bide time
until a business opened.
Today, those same folks are on the
road clogging traffic and generally annoying the rest of society.
Once, I was shopping for
groceries when I caught the middle of a monologue-conversation. A lone female voice was yammering-on about
her previous night’s sexual escapades with a guy she found at a nightclub.
Evidently this guy was pretty
proficient between the sheets and did his best to prove it last evening. Oblivious to her surroundings, this athletic
participant really didn’t need a phone to broadcast her dreamy feelings for her
new Romeo.
Of course I followed her to get
as much of the story as possible. After
passing the artichoke hearts, she turned to see me totally engaged in her tale.
“This is a PRIVATE conversation!”
she announced with a sneer of which Snidely Whiplash would be jealous.
Smugly I announced, “No, it
isn’t.”
And, I was right.
If you want to talk about your
personal affairs to everyone, everywhere, you should not be surprised if anyone
listens.
I dare say a protocol should be
established for cell phone use in “unnatural” places.
Those are areas in which corded
phones were not typically used when they were popular. Such places are stores, while driving in your
vehicle, on mass transit, an airplane, and especially a bathroom.
If hear you talking to me with a
serious echo in the background, I’m now listening for the “splash.”
I’m just saying.
