Cell phone as drug

[question everything]

Wednesday, June 1, 2005

Cell phone as drug

Devices may be the latest addiction, as people find they can't live without them.

BY CYNTHIA HUBERT
McClatchy News Service

SACRAMENTO – Sergio Chaparro's information-technology students had more than just a healthy attachment to their cell phones.

When he asked them to shut them off for three days, they panicked.

"They were afraid. They were truly afraid," Chaparro, then an instructor at Rutgers University in New Jersey, recalled of the assignment last year. "They thought it was going to be a painful experience, and they were right."

Only three of about 220 students managed to complete the assignment.

(snip)

Business executives. Soccer moms. Travelers. Teenagers. All of them adore their cell phones. But when does love turn into addiction?

(snip)

Here in America, research on emotional attachment to cell phones has been sparse. But Joseph Tecce, an associate professor of psychology at Boston College, said it is a rich field to be mined. Like substance abuse, Tecce said, excessive use of cell phones can lead to personal problems. "People who instantly reach for the cell phone every time they feel uneasy or anxious about a problem are relying too much on it," he said.

(snip)

http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2005/06/01/sections/life/lf_popular_culture/article_541278.php

[theboss]

1. I hate how much I use mine

I rely on it far far too much.

[Shoeempress]

2. God I hate my cell. Only use it for work and at 5 it is shut off.

[FreedomAngel82]

4. With me I have one

but I don't use it that much. I don't even know the number. Heh.

[Zerex71]

3. Empty people with nothing in their lives and even less to talk about.

[ComerPerro]

5. What about emergencies?

Lets say I am doing that assignment. I'd turn the phone off, no problem. But I would keep it with me, off, in the car. Because, if I break down in the middle of nowhere (its happened to me before) I'm not gonna walk to the nearest farmhouse to get a tow truck.

But that would be my only real objection.

[question everything]

8. Yes, emergencies. I carry it with me when we are out

but most of the time it is off. One of the problem is that the more people use cell phones the less maintenance for regular pay phones. Some years back we were going to meet family members, we were late, a lot of traffic problems in LA and we were switching from on freeway to the next. At some point we actually left the freeway in search of a working pay phone... no such luck.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. When I was your age

we had to walk ten miles - uphill both ways - to that nearest farm house to call for a tow.

Hey Comer, sorry, couldn't resist. :)

[tridim]

6. Cell phones suck, except for emergencies

I've had one for about a year and used it maybe 20 times.

Now take away the Internets and I'd freak. I'm completely addicted to information.

[question everything]

9. And this is why I use the prepaid option

cots about $10 a month and when it is time to renew the unused time is rolled over.

[tridim]

12. I'm getting that after my contract runs out.

I'm getting ripped off big time.

[Morose]

7. Someone needs to do an undercover investigation

about how many cell phone calls are actually important.

People talking in the movies, in the grocery store, in public bathrooms....and I strongly suspect 95% of those conversations simply don't need to happen, esp. right then.

I'd also like to see if marital problems go down when couples have their cell phones taken away so they aren't screaming at each other all the time, while driving in the car and whatnot.

Face it, we're creating technology that we're not mature enough to manage in a healthy way.

[question everything]

10. A security blanket. They call someone, or someone calls them

this means that they matter to at least one person. Most rude is people on the phone while in the checkout line, can barely say hi to the cashier..

[BuelahWitch]

15. Why do people talk when they're on the toilet???

I can't believe people NEED to be flapping their yaps when they're in the john!
I won't be getting a cell again unless I have to drive a long distance to work. There's no one that needs to reach me at all hours of the day...

[UdoKier]

11. Geez, and I thought I was bad with DU.

At least DUing doesn't cost more and more the more you do it...

Besides, at least we're talking about SOMETHING.

I always see these idiots on the phone going "Yeah, I'm at the supermarket. Yeah, I'm walking in now. Can you hear me now? Yeah. I don't know, what do you want to eat? No, I don't want to watch Idol tonight. Let's rent a DVD. Hey,, do you want the vanilla or the neapolitan? Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Dude, you should go. We went there last year. St. Kitts is way better than the Bahamas. Yeah we went on the stingray encounter there it was awesome. No, she's never been....." and on and on and on and on......


CAN'T THIS TRIVIAL POINTLESS-ASS CONVERSATION WAIT TIL YOU GET HOME AND COSTS NOTHING?

I don't know why but I hate the sight of money being pissed away, even if it's not mine...

[Wheaty]

14. I hate mine but I need it

My line of work as an independent contractor requires it. If a vendor I work with can't get a hold of me they'll usually leave a message and wait about 15 minutes or so for me to return the call then try to find another contractor. If they find someone else, I miss the job and the money.

I just bought a new motorcycle so I can save gas money and the cell phone ringing in my jacket is a problem. I can't answer it on the bike, but have to find a safe place to pull off to see if it's a lucrative job for me.

But the upside of the bike is that I know the vendors really wants my services if they leave a message on my voice mail and wait for me to call back. I find that the lower payers will not even leave a message or move on to the next contractor immediately.

I hate the dang cell phone, but without it I'd be strapped to the land line phone in my house 24/7 and that would make me very cranky :-)

[in_cog_ni_to]

16. I almost NEVER use my cell phone. I HATE the damn thing.

I refuse to answer a damn phone while I'm grocery shopping, eating in a restaurant or doing "whatever" outside the home. I will answer it in the car....hands-free, but that's it. I only occasionally keep it on me. I use it mostly for emergencies.

A few weeks ago we were in a restaurant and my husband says to me, "You have got to see this!" I turned around and here's a couple, maybe 20-25 years old and they were BOTH sitting in a booth carrying on conversations with other people on their cell phones! They talked through their entire meal to OTHER PEOPLE ON THE PHONE. It was one of the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. IMCPO.

[NinetySix]

17. The most telling cell-phone conversation I've ever witnessed

I was driving in the car through a downpour. I stopped at a light and noticed someone walking in the rain some distance ahead of me. When the light turned green and I began to get closer, I saw that the guy was talking on a CELL PHONE. It brought to mind the old expression, "doesn't have sense enough to get out of the rain". Who could he have been talking to?! If he'd had half a brain, shouldn't he have been standing under an awning telling his friend where he could be picked up, or at least telling a dispatcher for the taxi company?

To hell with cell phones. Never owned one, never will.