Hey you! With the cell phone! – Put that damned thing down in public. I don’t want to sound old, but…. I think the more ‘I’ and ‘me’ we become, the ruder and more disrespectful we become. We’re so full of ourselves that there isn’t much space left for consideration for others.
The bottom line is that unless someone is giving out their credit card information (in which case I need them to speak slowly and enunciate clearly so I can write it down), I don’t want to hear their phone conversations when I’m in a public place.
A person should be able to sit with themselves quietly for a few minutes, without having a phone. You might be surprised at how satisfying it is to be silent, or to be mindful of yourself. There are few enough phone-free zones left in the world – saunas, bathrooms, airplanes. With all the sonic and electronic pollution today, I think that we should work at creating more bubbles of silence – blessed silence.
I know I’m hopelessly old fashioned and not a big believer in multi-tasking, but I still feel that when a person is driving a car, that is all they should actually be doing: driving the car. They should not be texting, putting on eye-liner, eating their dinner, or stirring their coffee. Yes, all of those things can be important, but they aren’t important enough to risk someone’s life in a car accident – theirs, or mine. They just aren’t.
And at the risk of stating the obvious, I firmly believe that personal business should actually be kept personal. I don’t believe that social media is the appropriate setting for family conflicts, neighborhood feuds, failing marriages, or imploding friendships. We all tend to say (or write) things that we shouldn’t in those situations, so why make it worse by doing so in front of the whole world? These days, privacy seems to be little more than a quaint idea, but I truly believe that not every single detail of our lives needs to be shared. 👿
Archon's Den 
Perfectly stated! Silence in today’s world is a blessing, and a rare treasure to be found. It now sits in the same category as face to face friends, conversation without technology, teenagers going on 1st dates, boys calling a girl, or better yet asking for her number. Oh the good old days. 🙂
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I would shout, “Hear, hear.” but that’s the whole point! We don’t want to hear, hear. 😦 Your visit and comment were quietly welcome. 🙂
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It’s hard to even remember a time we weren’t sharing everything digitally. Yes, there were actually days I didn’t know what you had for dinner…. and I survived.
Go figure.
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With the stories of Wikileaks, hacking and data-mining, I’m content that this site is as digitally sharing as I get. No noisy, interrupting smart phones for me. We still have a landline, though I wonder how much longer Bell Canada will support it.
The father of the son’s co-worker had the last DIAL telephone in his exchange. Bell actually paid him to go to touch-tone, so that they didn’t have to keep servicing the antiquated system. 😯
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I love my cell phone… but we also kept our landline as well. Not rotary dial though!!
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iPhones have a function that, if you choose it, automatically senses when you are driving and advises callers that you can’t answer. An option is provided for the caller to indicate if it is urgent so you can pull over and answer. Works great.
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I read just yesterday, about some apps that fight back against robocallers. Most just sieve them out, providing silence and privacy. At least one actually “talks back” to the caller, tying up their phone line, and wasting their time. 😳
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I miss not being able to be found unless I was home. 🙂
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The wife carries a primitive cell phone, ‘just in case’, car accidents, etc. I refuse to be on call for every duct cleaner and scammer. 😛
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I like this post. So people today are on the phone a lot. And some people (like you mentioned) are driving while on there phone, which is risking many people’s lives. But, talking about manners in general, do you think it’s necessary to show manners? (Like opening the door for people, helping an older person, picking up something off the floor for somebody)
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I don’t think that it is necessary, but it is still nice to do. The problems arise with modern society’s sensitivities, and people taking offense, when none is offered. Feminazis don’t want ‘a man’ to do anything for them. Old people…. oops – “Senior Citizens” don’t want to admit, and be thought of as old. If challenged, I will claim that something dropped on the floor is a safety, footing hazard.
I do all the above and more, and still say ‘Please’ and ‘Thank You.’ – not No problem. 🙂
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