Mobile Civility

Earlier this week, USA TODAY reported the results of a poll to determine what annoys Americans the most. The answer: Cellphones.

The only surprising thing about this is that I am so in-synch with mainstream opinion.

Do you remember what it was like in the old days? People called you at the office or at home and left a message with your secretary or on your answering machine, You called them back when you were available. Unless you were a physician on call or a bookie, you didn't need to answer every incoming call - especially when you were out in a restaurant or other public place. If it was really important to talk with someone and you were away from your phone, you used a phone booth. It was all very civil, private and effective.

Then came these infernal gadgets that allowed your calls to follow you around. It started with simple pagers which merely beeped or buzzed to notify the carrier of an attempted call. The beepee had an option to find a phone and return the call, or wait for a more convenient time. These once benevolent gadgets, like the Mokwai in the movie "Critters" have evolved into the most diabolically annoying piece of technology since the invention of the Radar Gun.

Today, you can walk into any shopping mall and for a few hundred dollars you can walk out with a fully functioning mobile instant messaging custom ringtone speaker cell phone camera. This small device can reach out and annoy anyone within earshot while you cluelessly yammer with your peeps.

What is it about this bit of technology that irritates the living shit out of people like me? Are we curmugeons or are you thoughtless buffoons to blame?
It seems like some of you consider it as your license to be rude. Nowadays you cannot go to a bar or restaurant or stand in a line without someone conducting a half-witted phone conversation at a decibel level that cannot be simply ignored. Try and drive down to Starbucks and you will most likely be cut-off by some young blonde babe in a black beamer who is not paying attention because she has a cell phone pressed against her ear. Then when you get to the coffee shop everyone there is yakking to business contacts or gabbing about
people you don't know. The whole mobile phone thing is terribly annoying, distracting and rude.
What happened to civility?