Phonenomenon
Posted: Monday, February 21, 2011
by Dianne Lehmann
Artisan Jewelry from SyZyGy
Bernd sees this considerably more often than I do. He works full time with the public and I work mainly from home. It can happen at the drop of a hat. Without notice, they are whipped out and the frenzy begins. I'm talking about cell phones.
And it's not just the teenagers with their texting addictions. Adults do this too. Someone sees that someone else has the latest Droid or whatever and they are suddenly comparing features, colors, applications. I don't get it.
When mobile phones (boy were those big and boxy and you needed a stout shoulder strap and large case to carry one around, if you were so inclined) first came out, I thought for sure they were a passing fad. I mean, who wanted to be burdened with the thing. I was never an advocate of big purses either. A male friend of ours had one (the mobile phone, not the purse) and seemed to think it was estimable to be seen with it. And we all lived and worked in a small suburban town in the far eastern Los Angeles County. Who the heck was he trying to impress? I had to suppress a smile every time I saw him with it.
But then I've never been all that impressed with technology. As a tool, yes, it has its uses. But as something to ooh and ahh over, nope. Take the calculator as an example. When they first came out and became semi-affordable, I was at university. I had been getting by for a couple of years with my trusty slide rule (for those of you too young to know what that is, Google it sometime, you'll laugh), but my not-yet-but-soon-to-be husband had enough cash to get one. It cost about $100 (in 1973 that was worth a whole lot more than it is today) and it would add, subtract, multiply, divide and take square roots. It had a clear all and a clear entry and that was about it. Still, I did borrow it from him for physics, biochemistry, and cell and molecular biology finals. The rest of the time it was the slide rule for me.
These days you can go to the Dollar Store and get a calculator that will do everything Bernd's first "Smarty" (that's what we named it) did plus add and subtract percentages, switch from positive to negative, and it has a memory, all for about $2.00 (yes I know I said it was the dollar store … as I've learned, it's just a name). We have several in strategic locations all around the house (calculators, not the stores). After all, you never know when you will have to add something up, my brain having atrophied and all.
When computers first became small enough and inexpensive enough that the slightly wealthier than average person (or just the simply fanatical enough person) could own them, I was of the well-let's-just-wait-a-bit-and-see-where-this-goes persuasion. All I really knew about computers was from university. They were huge, taking up whole large rooms. There were spools and spools of tape spinning and spinning. It got hot and the whole shebang had to be cooled down to temps that made me shiver. The only way to "talk" to them was through punch cards and just learning to use a cardpunch machine should have been a major on its own … well at least a minor. Even then you weren't assured any kind of success in normalizing your experimental data from your physics lab. Everything hinged on getting all your cards in just the right order. And since it was first come first served and you needed to finish that lab a.s.a.p. … well let's just say there was a bit of pressure and errors were made. These are not fond memories. It's no fun being called and idiot in print by any kind of computer, primitive or not.
But in 2000, I dragged Bernd kicking and screaming into the PC (and I don't mean politically correct) Age. I've never looked back and I wonder how I got along without them … ever. I can still remember pasting up advertising for our business and running it to the printer and the hassle that all could be. Or running out of business cards and it was going to take a week and then some to get more. Yeesh!
We didn't get our first cell phones until 2006. I know, how backward is that? And … and we have not upgraded them. They are very basic phones and we only use them for emergencies. They are turned off until we need them. There is no IM, no text messaging, no voicemail, no caller ID or any of the rest, whatever that might be. I was in Costco recently and was looking at the books for sale and right next to that was a kiosk for cell phones and service. If that salesperson wasn't speaking a foreign language, then she sure should have been. How the elderly gentleman was making any sense of it, I will never know.
Phonenomenon is Bernd's word. I think it is a good one. For me, cell phones will simply remain a phenomenon. And I don't mean that as most people take the word "phenomenal." I mean that as in: an occurrence, circumstance or fact that is perceptible by the senses. How that word has come to mean something "astounding" is a mystery to me. But I hear them and I see them all the time, everywhere. Thank goodness I don't smell them or taste them as well. I'm sad to say that the cell phone phenomenon is here to stay. Drat.
This Article has been viewed 968 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)I sympathize with, and agree with much of what you say. However, I recently took a trip to Hawaii with my brother, sis in law and 2 of their friends. We had different agendas, even arrived at slightly different times. Cell phones were a lifesaver: Calling my brother to tell him what part of the airport I was in so he could find me, checking with him or the others as to where they were, what their time schedule was for re-connecting, etc. Plus, calling home on a cell is much cheaper than using the hotel phone. I have a diabetic, adult son, and the cell was a lifesaver one night when he had a very bad insulin reaction while out and about. He was just coherent enough to tell me where he was, so I could rush out with the sugar supplements he needed to maintain life at that moment.
Nope, I never use it for casual conversation, but they are really nice in some situations that couldn't technically be called "emergencies."Hi Joyce.
I guess I should have been clearer in my opinion of cells phone USERS. I totally agree that they are useful and sometimes life saving. It's just that all too often I see someone whip one out when it rings, right in the middle of some business transaction, only to make the front office help, cashier, salesperson or whomever wait, delaying all those in line behind them. This is done with little regard for those around them or the consequences. Then there is the person who has to talk loudly on their cell phone in the middle of a nice quiet restaurant.
I guess I'm just an old fuddy-duddy who prefers consideration to electronic connection. :)
Thanks for reading and presenting the other side of the story.
Hugs,
Dianne
Now you have just gone to meddlin' and steppin' on toes! haha
I am completely guilty of all you have charged! I send photos I took of my friend's cute kid to her cell phone while she stands next to me so she can in turn send it to her mom who lives out of state or she can post it to her Facebook page for her sister to see who lives across town.
Then sometimes since I live with 4 men, I just take the whole, if-you-can't-beat-'em-join-'em, attitude and brag that my phone has better apps and fun stuff then theirs. It's the modern version of one upping... hmmm, maybe it is pathetic....
Now I feel bad about myself... happy?? I've been shamed... Just ki- Oh, my phone is buzzing! Gotta go.Hi Jean.
Don't mind me, I just have to complain from time to time. It's the way I'm made. Just ask Bernd, poor man! Anyway, who am I to step on other people's fun? Lordy, maybe I shouldn't have submitted this one! :) Now look who's feeling bad. :)
Thanks for stopping by!
HUGS,
DianneLOL, I was completely tongue-in-cheek there!
Is this any different than anything else in the world? Your neighbor tells you he got a great deal on a new TV that has such and such features eg. high definition etc. You mention it to your family and start thinking how nice it would be to buy a new model of TV one more modern.
It never ends. If it is not the TV its the washer or dryer. It is simply put a keeping up with the Jones' People are never satisfied they want to be like someone else. Being content is just not something people have come to understand since the dawn of history starting with Adam and Eve who wanted the one tree they could not eat off of in Paradise instead of being satisfied with the other ninety nine trees they could not possibly have eaten every piece of fruit off of anyway.
Thus we come to the electronic age and the same rule of thumb applies. Let me make you want what you don't have. See I got it yesterday. Oh, well what you don't know is, I got the newer version which came out today. LOL. God bless.
Jesus VillalobosHi Jesus.
I guess it just might all boil down to just that. Thankfully, this is not something that I find I must indulge in.:) We had a refrigerator until December 2009 that we bought new in 1984. The only reason we replaced it was that it stopped working. Granted, the new one is prettier, but that wasn't the major consideration.
Thanks so much for reading and for leaving a comment. I always appreciate it.
Hugs,
Dianne
I love your title, Dianne! I don't understand the addiction to cell phones either. It shows what slaves so many people are to marketing. I also have my original one.I REALLY hate it when I'm with somebody and their cell rings all the time and they answer it. I must say, though, cell phones are awfully useful when it comes to peaceful revolution!Hi Jennifer.
Thank Bernd for the title. He's come up with some interesting words over the years. :)
Personally, I think the person who is physically in front of you should take precedence over the one on the phone. But that's just me. :)
And yes, that is most definitely a good use for them (I must say, though, cell phones are awfully useful when it comes to peaceful revolution!).
Thanks! And hugs,
Dianne
Hi Dianne. I just love your well put together rants - they have a fine blend of humor, they make me take a deep breath before moving on, and I always learn something - well kinda, what in the heck is a slide rule.... google, here I come! Hugs & love, TeresaHi Teresa.
So have you found out what a slide rule is yet? Did you laugh? When I was taking physics in university, the tests all had a certain amount of allowable error built in because, while slide rules as a computing tool were pretty darn clever, they weren't completely accurate. At least I'm not so old that I had to carry an abacus around. :)
Thanks for stopping by!
Hugs,
Dianne
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.