cell phone hell

War, Murder, Rape... All for Your Cell Phone
By Stan Cox, AlterNet. Posted September 14, 2006.

Everyone's heard about the human rights abuses in African gold and diamond mines. But when it comes to their ultra-cool, razor-thin cell phones, American consumers won't get the message.

No Shit?

Way ahead of you, dudes. I don't own a cell phone. I'd like to say it's because I know about the human rights abuses, and in fact that may be part of it. Since I'm not giving up my computer, that's probably not it. One reason I don't want a cell phone is because I have a hard enough time driving without that distraction. I don't want to be one of those idiots that I scream at when they're not paying attention to the road because they are on the phone. I also see a lot of people foregoing what might have been real live face-to-face interactions with strangers. Sometimes those little interactions are learning experiences, or a shared laugh. I do not consider them an intrusion. I sometimes feel like I am intruding into someone's private life when they are having a conversation on their cell in a public place. Frankly, cell phones annoy me. It also annoys me that the pager I had for 10 years became obsolete when I discovered that it's nearly impossible to find a working pay phone. People are startled when I say I don't have a cell. I may end up getting one, but that doesn't mean I want one. I don't want to be in cell phone hell. I like walks on the beach with my friend. Neither one of us has a cell phone, and sometimes it's quiet, unless someone else is screaming "Can you hear me now?" When that happens my friend and I smirk and I know he's thinking the same thing I am: Oh fuck, you idiot, the whole fucking world can hear you now.

We ain't talking to the whole world, though, are we?