What
ever happened to ‘ring… ring … ring …’?
I don’t know but I wish it would come
back again.
I
love technology but there are many areas of it I
wish would go away. I used to feel that way about
cell phones, as I could never understand why
anyone has to be on the phone as they are walking
down the street, driving a car, or sitting on a
commode in a public toilet.
Well.
four or so years ago I came around got me a cell phone.
I have to admit, the fact that I travel often and with my
writing and photography
work taking me outdoors all the time, my cell
phone has become a necessary piece of my travel
equipment, just as my laptop computer has.
But,
as much as I understand how cell phones have
become a necessity as well as a ‘cool’
convenience, we have got to do something about
these ridiculous attention grabbing rings and
tones blaring out from them way too often.
I
started to write this little montage as I sit in
waiting area at Logan Airport in Boston. What in
the world keyed me off on this you ask
………..? Gilligan’s Island, that’s what! A
phone just went off playing that silly theme song
and it’s not just one or two bars, it the whole
freaking’ song. I bet you didn’t know there is
a second verse.
Now
it’s bad enough to hear this obnoxious song from
my childhood (yes I always watched the show and
still catch a rerun or two or seven now and
again.), but why does the guy whose phone is
spitting out this electronically beeping version
of it have to sing the lyrics prior to answering
the phone?
I
park a few miles outside the airport and on
the shuttle bus to the airport a woman executive had her
phone go off – REALLY LOUD SO AS TO MAKE US ALL
THINK SHE WAS HARD OF HEARING!! Does anybody have
phones that just vibrate anymore? Now as bad as it
was to have to listen to the loud ring, does she
really think it makes her more human or cool to
have her cell phone play “This Old Man, He
Played two . . . ?”
People
must think having a ‘distinctive’ ring make
them cool or unique or really with it. (Whatever
It is.) Maybe they think these rings make them stand out in a crowd.
Well, it does make you stand out in my mind but as
what I will not say. I am a polite and sensitive
writer. I made a New Year’s
Resolution back in January not to make such sly,
vulgar, and mean spirited comments about the
people I come across in my travels, most of whom
should not be allowed outside without a warning
label and legally responsible guardian.
The
same people who have these ridiculously disturbing
rings tend to be the same people who walk around
with the cell phone clipped to their belt or purse
or jammed into some pocket protector. They must
think it makes them look important or something. I
think it is these people who go into a public
place and have their friends call them so they
seem like they are special and indispensable
and that the world can’t go on spinning without them. Why anyone has to call home 30
seconds after getting in their car, and they
haven’t left the garage yet, is past
explanation.
A
few days ago I was in the supermarket. I watched
as a man called his wife to ask about what brand
of whatever he should buy. “It’s better to
check and be on the safe side,” he said to me as
he hung up (Um, do you really hang up a cell
phone?) He may have thought that his comment to
me, loud enough for the dead to hear, made me
think he was a considerate husband. I won’t tell
you what I thought (remember my New Year’s
Resolution), but the ‘gentleman’ had a list
with all the things he should buy, including
the brands, his wife wrote for him sticking out of his
shirt pocket. Maybe he'd prefer if she text
messaged the list to him.
Now
don’t get me wrong, cell phone have become a
nice little device to have and as I alluded to
above, they are almost a necessity. (Note the word
‘almost’.) I do think it neat to see kids call
home to let their parents know where they are and
who they’re with. And there is no doubt in my
mind that many family members and friends were put
at ease when you called and said you are fine,
just running a little late or you’re stuck in
traffic or the Alabama mud.
That,
however doesn’t justify the ridiculous and
obnoxious loud rings or the fact that people talk
about everything and anything no matter where they
are. People have become so nonchalant about using
them. You don't need to hire a private detective
to find out about people. Just listen to them when
they talk on their cell phone.
When
I get a call I try and find a quiet (and private)
place to talk. It is rare for me to talk in the
open or where I may disturb someone. Also, I talk in
almost a whisper. I don’t need the whole world
knowing my business.
My
phone rings loud enough for me to hear it but not
so much as it sounds like a parade coming down the
avenue. I always turn the phone off in a
restaurant and leave it in the car when I go to
the movies or theatre or church. At my church they
actually make an announcement before the service
begins asking people to turn or their cell phones
and pagers. It’s amazing that they even have to
make such an announcement.
This
makes . . . Oh, excuse me. I hear Dixie
playing. (All the southerners just stood up.) My
cell phone needs me. Caller ID tells me it’s an
editor in Virginia. I know what this is about and
if I don’t get my story to him real soon my cell
phone will be playing a different tune “Nobody
knows the trouble I’ve seen. . . “
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