View From
The Middle

By Charles Rogers

Cell Phones: They’re A Boon, But It’s Time To Put Them Just Where They Belong!

I hate cell phones. I couldn’t have been happier when I heard the state legislature is working on a plan to ban use of the hand-held monsters in cars under penalty of lots and lots of fines.

I happily join some 87 percent of New Yorkers who answered a poll recently favoring a ban on them, which is widely seen as contributing to the rise in car accidents.

But I’m going a step further and hoping there will be a ban on cell phones — FOR WALKERS!

Yeah. Those idiots who (especially on a pedestrian-congested sidewalk) hold that black instrument to their ear and walk blindly into the crowd coming in the opposite direction.

Have you seen them too? They’re like zombies tromping along like no one else in the world exists except him (or her) and the person to whom they’re talking. They bump into people, and things, walk into traffic, ignore comments — even requests — to "put the damn phone down!" by friends (or, perhaps, former friends) and have no sense of consideration.

Another step further on the "ban wagon" regarding cell phones is that same lack of consideration when you’re in a relatively closed room, like a waiting room or waiting in a line, such as at the post office, and the person in front of you pulls a phone out of his pocket and starts talking — loudly — practically in your face.

Now, come on. I don’t even do that without the phone. In essence, this guy is invading my world with his world. I don’t need that.

The scenario goes:

Obnoxious phoner: "Hi, honey. What’s for dinner?"

He waits for the answer

"Do we have to have that again? We had it three nights in a row."

He looked at me, furrowed his brow, winked, as if I know him and his family intimately, and says into the mouthpiece (loudly, mind you), "Wow, you were great last night," and proceeds to tell everyone within earshot what she was great at.

Now, I don’t mind hearing about these things while I’m sitting at a bar with the guys, or even at a would-be-groom’s bachelor party, but to hear it from a stranger in the middle of a crowd, even if it was a one-sided conversation, is downright embarrassing. I’m sure the others in line didn’t think too much of it either, except for one pimply-face 15-year-old, who was mesmerized at the whole story.

While I must logically say cell phones are obviously a boon, and soon most folks won’t leave home without ’em, they, like anything else used improperly, can be a pain. Once again, it’s not exactly the fault of the cell phone, it’s the fault of the inconsiderate cell phone user.