1. People that purposely talk loud on their cell phone while standing in a crowd/line.

2. People that use the cell phone as an electronic leash to call their sweety as reminder to pick up milk at the grocery store or just to say “I Love You” during the middle of the work day (bored housewives are especially bad at this).

3. Parents who give their teenage/pre-teen kids cell phones. Why does a 6th grader need a cell phone???

4. Helicopter parents who give their college-age kids cell phones so that they can be in constant communication with mommy and daddy.

5. People who don’t turn off their cell phone in meetings,movies,concerts,classes, presentations, and other occasions where it’s not appropriate.

That being said, the cell phone can be a useful tool that eliminates the need for phone booths,tons of quarters, and calling cards-especially when your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere.

The Cell Phone Emergency Plague

Cell Phones At The Movies

Life On Planet Cellular

The only good thing about a cell phone is to have it sitting in the car in case you need to call a tow truck.

I loathe the silly public display of immeadiate importance for communication. Now I have seen them everywhere: Funerals, Weddings, Church, and the worse being strapped to the ear of an 8 yr old. The seed of all evil has taken root, and I can only see that wicked tree bearing more and more bitter fruit. One and only one thing of their irreversible immersion into our society has pleased me. That is, the identifiable variation of numbers. Recently decrypted my lady’s land line where I discovered the number of an old boyfriend in “DIALED CALLS.” Poor unfortunate ho’. It was a perfect situation, seeing how all cell phones make me want to slap a bitch, I had GOOD reason!!!

WHOOO PISHHHH!!!!

*crossposted to various “I hate cell phone” websites

As to the annoyance factor, I have one �pet peeve�. I can tolerate idiots with cell phones in cars because lets face it there are a lot of idiots on the road a few more isn�t that much of a bother. No, it�s people in grocery stores on these things. Grocery stores in America have big shopping carts and small isles. This encourages you to fill the cart with goods and allows the store to cram as much useless crap as possible into the store. I inevitably get stuck behind some moron on the phone, �Honey, are we out of cheez whiz�? While he blocks the way by moving along at a snails pace. Now I know it is vitally important to keep your pantry well supplied with junk food but make a freakin list why don�t you.

All my wife�s friends have cell phones and think I�m a cheap bastard for not getting her one. One of her friends has complained to my wife because her husband has gotten upset with $400 cell phone bills. What an unreasonable son of a bitch! This is the same woman who pulls up to our front door and calls us on her cell phone to announce her arrival before she gets out of the car. I�ve even been getting flack from my parents because I let my wife out in to the cold cruel world without the protection of a cell phone. O.K. I admit we own a cell phone which we keep charged in the glove compartment of our car. We don�t have a contract with a wireless carrier because you can call 911 for free on any working cell phone. They don�t advertise that very much though.

I agree with most of the comments, however. I think cellphones are an example of an extremely useful technology for certain situations, that should never have been widely adopted. Emergency workers, and anyone whose job requires them to be on call, definitely have a need for cellphones. Everyone else got along fine with landlines ten years ago.

For non-emergency situations, the dubious benefit is that people can talk on the phone much, much more than they used to. The costs are more automobile accidents, more noise polution, a general increase in rudeness, and its harder to meet new people since everyone is plugged into their existing networks 24/ 7. Also, its harder to walk around in cities, people on cell phones tend to walk either very slowly and not make way for other walkers, or to sway back and forth across the sidewalk. As the things get smaller, its harder to tell if someone is on the phone, deranged, or drunk.

Is there anything worse than trying to carry on a conversation with someone who keeps interrupting you and reaching for their cell? I swear to God I’m going to reach across and fucking choke the next one who does it. I have a cellphone, but nobody on earth can possibly hate them for what they’ve done to our society, more than me.

I hear the pro-cell phone retort, “they’re good in emergencies, like when your car stalls on a country road at 2 am.” I must agree, and I admire the technology behind cell phones, but having them in emergencies is not the reason cell phones were marketed. I don’t remember a single ad promoting the rancid little things as friends in emergencies. The appeal is always to the materialistic, status-enslaved ego. It’s a way of looking and feeling better than others around you, like hanging a multicolored sign on yourself that reads “I’m better than you because I have a cell phone and you don’t.” It’s the latest phony status symbol, as were BMWs and hot tubs until too many people had BMWs and hot tubs.

And the advertising blitz!! It’s relentless, it’s everywhere. Soon, even ghosts will be buying and using cell phones. Even they can’t escape the ad blitz for cell phones.

And a lot of sleazy, slimy profiteers are raking in frogskins by the truckload, having marketed yet another glittery gizmo that appeals to selfish, status-conscious egos.

I even got one of those “you have been pre-selected” type telemarketing calls the other day, this time for receiving my very own cell phone. Like, goody and cool — NOT. I told the voice on the nether end of my (ordinary, plug-in-the-wall) telephone, ” I don’t want a cell phone.”

The telemarketer’s voice quivered and quavered with shock and astonishment. “YOU DON’T WANT A CELL PHONE?????” it gasped.

“No, not at all,” I told the telemarketer, before she collapsed into some catatonic state. “I never wanted one, I don’t want one now, and I never will want one. If someone starts sending around a petition to ban the accursed things, I’ll be the first to sign.”

Now, where’s that petition, dammit?

KILL YOU CELL PHONES. The majority of cell phone users out there do not actually need to be attainable 24/7.

Now I would like to sum up what everyone, and what I have been saying in a few words “CELL phone users are Pussy, Big FUCKING FAT PUSSIES”. Not the genuine kind, but the kind that can not be alone for 5 mins because it makes them feel uncomfortable.
“Boo hoo, oh can stand being alone, your mom raised a pussy.” I hope at some point these pussies, would realize that it is time to fucking grow up, and put down their cells, and try some face to face communication skill. They might find out that there is a whole lot more enjoyment out of talking, seeing and interacting to someone face to face then over some fucking piece of electronics. Hell, they might even make some new friends or learn a useful piece of information from someone. Or maybe they should put the dam thing down, and then pick up a book, magazine or newspaper and learn something, and progress forward a little bit with their pathetic lives. Or they could watch some T.V and learn something about current events.

I am with everyone on this page, I hate CELL phones, they suck and so do the people that use them till their dam batteries run out.
All of your posts have inspired me to create a short 20 min film about the major downsides to cell phones. I am going to pull from the best, bad example of cell phone usages from the posts above. Then I am going to enter it in a film festival. Most likely it will be a serious comical film totally bashing cell phones and their pathetic users.

The other problem I see is that people with cell phone are failing to reach out and make new acquaintances and friends. Why should they? They have all the all the friends they need right at their finger tips. Why should they have to extend themselves to talk to someone new? Plus, talking to a stranger in person for the first time, for most people is uncomfortable and un-nerving. Most people in this situation are worried about the outward impression they will make in the conversion on the other person. Luckily for me I have no such problem; I am very friendly, and always open for conversation.

There are many other problems, many being extremely critical, caused from the constant use of cell phones in many extremely bad situations, such as driving. Thankfully, so many of these problems have been elaborated on in the lines of text listed above this post.

One, final problem, is that of isolation in the new cell phone culture. I find it hard to meet new people because everyone at my campus is walking and talking on their cell phones, or sitting alone talking to someone in the typical cell phone toting position. How are you supposed to have societal interaction if everyone is preoccupied talking to each other?
Maybe, I should dial up a random phone number and start talking. Maybe that would be the easiest way to introduce yourself to a new person.

Commandment #11:

“Thou shalt have nothing to do with cell phones, and utterly abhor them.”

I’m sure that’s what HE means by:

Proverbs 10:19 & 20 — The Living Bible:

“Don’t talk so much. You keep putting your foot in your mouth. Be sensible and turn off the flow.”

“When a good man speaks, he is worth listening to, but the words of fools are a dime a dozen.”

Matthew 12:36

“But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.”

Due to the traffic behind me, I was unable to back away from her, so it was obvious that after the train passed she was gonna step on her accelerator and crash right into me. Painfully I got out of my truck, grabbed my crutches from the bed and hobbled my crippled ass up to her window.

She didn’t even know I was there as she blissfully and ignorantly yakked away. I probably could have gone over to the passenger side and stolen her purse without her even knowing it.

I stood waiting for her to notice me for about 15 seconds, finally realized that it wasn’t going to happen, so rapped my knuckles sharply on the glass to get her attention. She jumped so hard, she almost hit her head on the ceiling! The look on her face was priceless. She must have thought Charles Manson had busted out of the joint and come to chop her up into tiny pieces.

I motioned for her to roll down the window which, after some hesitation, she did. Her eyes were still in a state of shock when I informed her that she should shift her transmission back into “drive” so she doesn’t crash into my truck after the train passes.

She mumbled a dumb, “Oh”, shifted the tranny, and rolled the window back up without so much as a “sorry” or “thank you” or anything else. Of course she was instantly back yakking on her stupid phone again…an inanimate object which I suspect had an IQ equal to its owner.

If I’d actually spotted Charles Manson anywhere in the vicinity, I’d have paid him to get in the car with her

I’m not so certain that cell phones represent an end to western civilization, but it does represent the advent of an intrusive new culture, a culture that doesn’t necessarily have its roots in the technology itself, but definitely uses such technology as cell phones as an ideal feeding and spawning ground for its own potent brand of idiocy and self-involvement. A gun is harmless until someone picks it up and uses it to end the life of another, the same could be said for any other tool. A syringe can either be used to deliver lifegiving medicine, or as a handy way to shoot up, get high, and possibly wind up in the hospital due to overdose or withdrawal symptoms. Cell phones are no different in this regard. They can be used to save lives in the hands of emergency service personnel, or in cases where contact with those who could provide immediate help…or at the very least they could be used to annoy, at most, especially whilst in traffic, cell phone use could needlessly endanger lives. It is a dichotomy shared by all forms of technology from a hammer to an automobile, and even to cell phones. The problem is not with the technology, but with the people who develop it, and the people who will use it. All the problems are human ones, the tech we’ve got now just makes it so in a more global sense. However, all is not lost, just as there is a culture of mindless consumerism, self-importance, and one-upmanship, so there is another culture of measured aquisitions, consideration for others, and most of all, a genuine form of communication developing under the radar. The internet is partly responsible for making this happen, but once again, take heed and be careful, it’s a tool, and like fire it can warm you to the thoughts and feelings of others, or it can burn you, this is especially true of you AOL users. Uuuuugh, don’t get me started on AOL. Anyway, just my own opinion, freely given, but not shoved in the faces of others whether or not they want it.

Take care, and remember…

That which does not kill you makes you stronger.

CELL PHONE HATERS UNITE!!

Your concerned citizen,
Angelikus
http://www.graffitiusa.com

I have always regarded cellphones as a product looking for a market. They provide a useful service for maybe ten percent of the people who use them, the other ninety per cent use them to swap imbecilities and other banal claptrap. They are an unnecessary pox on our society.

I find that the people who use them the most have nothing of value to say, and rarely spend any time in contemplation or any other kind of thinking. The don’t read and they can’t write, they know nothing of current events save what they see on television.

The have no sense of history, no manners, no commonly shared culture, nothing but a shallow fixation on immediate gratification.

I have telephones in my home, but I never answer them. When someone calls you, they have foreknowledge of the fact that they are going to be speaking to you momentarily, while you are always caught unawares. For that reason I always allow my calls to go to recording, and answer them later at my convenience when I have some inkling of what the conversation is going to be about.

My favorite mode of communication is email, because you can send it when you like, and the addressee can read it and either respond or not. I write a good deal of emails, but find that I receive very few in return. I think that this is because a.) most people have never taken the trouble to learn how to touch-type, and b.) because most people are incapable of stringing together enough words to make a coherent sentence.

Talking is something that every baby learns to do naturally in the course of childhood development, but higher skills such as writing, thinking, typing, etc., require much more rigor and intelligence.

Perhaps the most egregious cellphone offense I encountered was in the middle of a movie, when, on hearing someone talking behind me, I turned and saw a person lurking at the back of the theater bloviating into one of the accursed contraptions.

I really detest cellphones and the people who use them in a conspicuous and intrusive way.

Yours Sincerely, Nigel Boag.

Without trying to sound holier-than-thou, anytime I carry my phone, I have it on vibrate so that anytime it does go off I can escape the situation and engage in a meaningful conversation elsewhere that will not annoy others around me.

Cells and drivers are bad enough, but lately I’ve been observing (and sometimes swerving from) truck drivers (read: 18-wheeler!) with their phones stuck to their ears. Last time I checked, a semi is a manually shifted machine (automatics do exist but are rare). How is the guy who almost smoked me going around a corner yesterday able to shift that beast to regain speed with a phone to his head and steer at the same time moving 80,000 pounds of truck, trailer, and goods???!

I’ll be damned if I’ll be a cell-phone poser.

-Her mother would talk endlessly over the phone while driving, and both she and my ex would look at me in annoyance at my rather terrified reaction…

-There wasn’t a day when I wasn’t told I should get one….

-Her phone once went off FOUR TIMES during an hour and a half movie. I didn’t hear that many rings from the rest of the audience…

The list goes on. A month into my current relationship, Lauren told me that she hated cell phones and everything about them.

I think this one’s a keeper.

If I decide it’s a nice day, and I go to the park, why would I want to receive a telephone call? I leave my home to get away from that crap. I don’t understand who all these people are that like to be reachable all the fucking time.

I have tried to figure out a way do deal with this reality tv-based, spotlight-loving, one-upmanship society lately, but I just can’t. Visiting sites like this is comforting, just to know there are many out there like me.

If anyone knows of a website with bumperstickers or any other product that will allow me to proclaim my hatred for cell phones let me know.

I dread to see what we will be like 10 years from now. Normal conversation, occuring while actually looking directly at someone and acknowledging his/her comments will soon be a thing of the past. People already stick their phones to their head in order to avoid people, looking self-important all the while. People like to go on about how busy and chaotic their lives are these days – not enough time to do this or that, etc. Well, you cellphone users only have yourselves to blame, as you dial up a friend’s number, only to have meaningless conversation while on the crapper! I used to have a cell phone for a short while, but then I found myself constantly looking for it, and becoming more like the other cellphone-using idiots out there. It was at that moment I decided the good old-fashioned wall-mounted phone of yesteryear was good enough for me. Can’t get a hold of me because I don’t own one? Too bad – I guess I’ll just have to miss hearing about the boring details of your commute while your phone cuts in and out!

Cellphone Bashers Unite!

Before cell phones people in crowded cities just viewed passer-bys who they don’t know as part of the scenery. Giving them no more thought than say a streetlight,building,trash can – nameless faces.

So I think it’s more of an underlying psychological thing that bugs people about cell phones when they have to realize they are compacted together like cattle when they hear someone talking and realize there is an actual person/persons there. Kind of the same underlying principle with traffic jams or 15 plus people in your way in an aisle when you are trying to shop.

Simple solution: MOVE OUT OF THE CITY.

Plenty of people have them in rural areas. Only difference here is you have more SPACE!

Call it a hunch…

How about cell phone booths?

I found this chat list doing a Yahoo search interested to see if anyone or organization with a similar viewpoint in and/or out of the cell phone industry existed. I was pleasantly surprised to find this. It is reassuring to know I’m not the only person who feels that cell phones are a valuable but improperly used resource.

I’m wondering if anyone would be interested in investing in the project or if you know anyone who might be. We will be throwing the first of many fund raising parties on February 7th in NYC. Details are being finalized as I type. Any support, especially word of mouth, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.

I understand why people bring cellular phones with them when they travel by car. If the car breaks down or runs out of gas in the middle of nowhere or if the driver gets lost (the latter two mishaps of course being the result of a nincompoop driver, which most people are),
a cellular phone comes in handy to call a tow truck or AAA or to call someone for directions. These are emergency situations which, by the rule I have established (see above), allow for extended phone usage.

I do *not* understand why people bring cellular phones with them to the mall and while waiting in line at, say, Electronics Boutique, decide to call up three different friends and ask them
which Sony PlayStation game they should buy: Spice World or Flintstones Bowling? If you
encounter people like this (and I’m sure you do regularly…they’re everywhere), I give you three different ways to publicly point out their assery:

A) “I beg your pardon, but your Spice World-Flintstones Bowling dilemma is not even *close* to being an emergency, so stop tying up the satellite’s phone lines and annoying everyone in the store with your imbecilic babble.”

B) “Out of the thousands of video games here in Electronics Boutique, only a life-threateningly
gay dunce like you would find Spice World and Flitstones Bowling to be the two most appealing.”

C) “You sir (or ma’am), need a severe golf-club beating for not being able to formulate your own opinion about something as relatively inexpensive and ultimately inconsequential as video games.”

Harsh words, but true nonetheless. Of course, you’ll have to slightly modify my examples to suit the store whose line you’re waiting in. The phone abuser will feel stupid and, in turn, you will feel better.

Note: Reacting to a cellular phone abuser at the mall in this way *might* backfire. Chances are, the mall will be *filled* with ignorant, phone abusing human-asscracks who will react negatively to your rant because they all exhibit the same behavior as the original phone abuser. Use with
caution…although I bet if you are reading this web site, you already have enough common sense to use caution without me having to tell you.

1) very inecure. They feel a stupid electronic gadget is going to somehow make them ‘cool’ or ‘important’. I get crap all the time for not owning one of these things and I always just say, “I don’t need a cell phone to fell good about myself.”

2) in dire need of a life. If they had meaningful things in their lives to truly occupy their time and energy, they wouldn’t have time to gab about every minute, unmeaningful detail of their day.

I was hoping that when these things came out, the initial novelty of having one would wear off and people would get sick of them. But it hasn’t happened yet. Hopefully, some day it will be considered “un-hip” and not so cool to be carting one of these things around every step you take. When that happens, these insecure idiots won’t be able to get rid of them fast enough.

Last month, I went to a travel agency to book a place at a hotel for the holidays. They asked for all kinds of info to fill out on the computer. They asked for my cell phone and I told them I don’t have one. They did not believe me and explained to me that they would not contact me by the number, they just needed it for info. When I told them again I did not have one, the women behind the counter called the manager. He said “Okay then give us a friend’s cell phone number?” I told them that it did not make any sense to give a friend’s cell number. The woman once again told me that it’s just for info and they would not use it. “Just any number” she said. So, my reply was “Okay then, just enter there any number please. Make up a number.” And that’s exactly what she had to do.

The most disturbing sight for me at the moment (and its everywhere) is parents with their young children, but of course, not actually with them. I often see toddlers pulling on trouser legs and screaming for attention, and the parent actually reprimands them for interrupting their mobile phone conversation! How rude of the child to expect to have a proper, loving upbringing! I fear for future generations…

They destroy peoples’ minds. Turn them into babbling idiots. It’s a chatterbox’s dream come true: the ultimate toy to allow that mouth to go 24 hours a day if necessary anyplace anytime! People are no longer Reading (and by that I mean Books and newspapers) but instead are walking around gabbing mindless drivel (“I’m in front of the dolly dress shop now, it looks nearly empty, oh there’s a nice bird, and there’s a totally awesome BMW, and I think I’ll walk over Here now..”).

Wherever you go you SEE THESE FOOLS wearing out their vocal cords with the things. When they’re Eating they’re yapping. When they’re driving they’re yapping. When they’re crapping they’re yapping (go into a public rest room and see them talking in the stalls!).

And please don’t tell me they’re better and cheaper than traditional nailed-down telephones. The calling plans have Scam written all over them. They run on batteries which have to be recharged or replaced. They can be misplaced, lost, or damaged Easily.

If people want to yap, that’s their business–but when they Get In My Way, that’s something Else!
Good example: yapping while driving. I’ve seen a whole Convoy of cars crawling along because some yuppie yapping Bitch in the front of the line was making the traffic crawl because her precious conversation was more imporant than driving and paying attention to the speed limit (should be going 40 not 15 MPH!). And I won’t even get into safety issues, which are blindly apparent.

Bottom line: there’s no Need for this crap. If I want to make a phone call I’ll do it the old fashioned way. Right now I’m probably the only guy in NJ who’s never used nor owned one of those yuppie yapping boxes. Never have, never will!

Think back about ten years. Hmm. No mobile phones. Things seemed to work rather well, didn’t they? In fact, weren’t bus and train journies much more relaxing? No-one seemed to be crying out for some magical invention to save us all from imminent doom and disorganisation. In fact, the odd flashy businessman with a silly car and a silly phone got laughed at by, well, pretty much everyone.

What short memories we all have.

Other than that, they’re great.

at college everyone and their fucking brother has one. what the fuck is their so much to talk about. “im in the library now…dadadadada” all of you just shut the fuck up!!!!!!!!!!11

I hated the time when typewriters replaced pens; and hated the time when computers replaced typewriters; and I still miss my quill pen which is long gone because of fountain pens…moral?

But cell phones are good for some things.

I don’t have a land line so my cell phone is it.
When I walk anywhere alone, I dial a friends number or 911 and keep my thumb on the SEND button for those just in case moments.

There’s other good stuff but sometimes it gets a bit ridiculous.

Personally, I don’t find cell phones any more annoying than real phones, although they take the telephone’s intrusiveness to the next level. Maybe I’ll institute a time slot when I’ll accept phone calls, and otherwise, leave a message. I hate getting phone calls right in the middle of doing something. It’s just as bad if my phone interrupts me as if someone else’s phone interrupts me.

On a side note, James, I never thought I’d ever read a trite term like “fat cats” in your blog.

l8r

the phone hung around for a few months not being used. then we moved to TO where i activated it again and it became indispensible in the calling of landlords and supers for possible apts. i must have put $200 in long distance calling Mtl from TO and vice versa.

now it sits on the shelf again.

All your comments are valid, and could be heard in England a few years ago. However such complaints have diminished as mobile phones have completely taken over and are now an indispensible part of English life, it would be considered quite normal to send and receive anything up to 40 text messages a day. Indeed, the clincher of many network enticing deals is how many free text messages a deal offers each month (and it never costs to receive text messages or calls in England).

Andy