Musings from the Ozone

Recently I read an article that stirred up a lot of recognizable agitations in our daily lives. The article highlighted the fact that we will have to learn to accept  many of the modern day changes in social norms . It is a fact that many of the social changes which have taken place in the past 7 years, were initiated by the terrorist attack on American soil. Much to public consternation, the fact of 9/11 has changed the way we have to perform a lot of our daily routines. There are long lines at the airports, handbag searches at such innocuous place such as a libraries, profiling and stereotyping on every hand, and a general consensus of suspicion and fear that we will get 'caught' again misreading the signs of a new terrorist attack. It seems that the price of having to live with the "terrorist" issue is one that we have to accept and most can accept  the legitimate precautions we have to take.

However, one of the new social norms that has been difficult to accept (and not at all related to the terrorist attacks), is the way the new technologies of cell-phone usage and text messaging has infiltrated our daily lives and has turned many of our here-to-fore polite folk into obnoxious and rude people.

Cell phone ugliness! One can immediately bring to mind many instances where one felt disgusted, revolted, agitated, annoyed, bothered and bewildered at the behavior of cell-phone addicts. One of the ugliest, if not down right rude behaviors is of  those who talk on cell phones while in the car with other passengers. Can you imagine 4 friends getting together on a vacation, in a car, supposedly on a sightseeing trip and to have fun, when 2 of the members yack away most of the trip with their friends and family back home? Even conducting business matters in the backseat, in duets of talking, did not strike them as being offensive. How they could speak such personal things in a tight little group was more than annoying....and to have any decent conversation interrupted every little bit with their folks back home who were wanting to know where they were, what was going on, etc., was just plain crazy.

Speaking personally, I also get agitated when I am shopping for clothes, lost in my little world or trying to remember what I have back home which might go with an outfit, when suddenly some loud mouthed cell phone user comes around the aisle and intrudes in my ear-space and thought processes; speaking in a volume so fuerte, to the world or at least everyone within earshot, all about her affairs, her business problems, kid problems, or whatever. My options? Scarcely none. I generally put the item back on the rack and rush off to a corner of the store which hopefully isn't so congested with talkers. Of course, we do cope. I suppose that most of us have adopted little ways to distance ourselves from that sort of stuff.

There are other cell-phone behaviors that are just as impolite; talking on a cell phone in a restaurant is near the epitome of rudeness. It is supposed to be bad manners to read at the table, but I would much rather have that than have to listen to someone talking about business while I am trying to eat. Lately ,and happily, I have noticed that particular behavior is going a little out of style. Perhaps it is because it is hard to talk and eat at the same time, or maybe it is that enough of us spoke up about that bad habit, until the said person changed their ways.

This article isn't a manners column, but it is a spotlight on irritable cell-phone usage. Truthfully, the public generally is hypocritical about their cell phone behavior. On one hand, we like our own personal space to remain that…..personal and we do not like to have people talking when we are trying to read in public places such as in airports, on the subway, in restaurants, or in doctor's offices. However, we have all received important calls in public places and the behavior we manifest divides the sheep from the goats. Good manners and politeness are shown when a person who receives an important call in a restaurant, will excuse themselves, and go outside, or into a private place to talk. In an airport, I always appreciate when a person who is talking on a cell phone will be mindful of others around them, and either keep their voice down to a low volume, or else they too, will go to another more private place to have their conversation. There are a few places where it is not totally offensive to talk on your cell phone. One place is in a public bathroom. No one in their right mind would spend an hour of good time staying in a bathroom, anyway. Bathrooms are generally get-in, get-out kinds of places. Standing off in a corner, talking to your beloved back home is also a lot more accepted than sitting next to a person who is trying to read their riveting book. Regardless of how riveting the book may be, if one does not use ear plugs, or is deaf, it is going to agitate them to have to hear someone blabbing away on a cell phone.

Text-messaging is much more acceptable than the noisy public cell phone. It is possible to reach someone in a huge auditorium rather than calling them; cell phone calling is generally prohibited in such places anyway. Text messaging is generally well received in many places where the phone chat would be a nuisance in not prohibited. Texting is so much more private, and is proving to be very acceptable as a means to get information. It still has its limits, however. Texting while driving is comparable to being half blind while driving. Most normal people would not think of trying it.

There are place where a cell phone should not be used at all. Think twice about getting on your cell phone in a doctor's office or in a hospital. There are signs being posted these days in places such as the doctor's offices, hospitals, auditoriums, libraries, schools and colleges. Few things are more annoying to a college professor than a cell phone going off during his or her lecture! The same goes for church. Put that cell phone on silent, or just turn it off. If it is important, the party will call back or leave a message.

Some of the ring tones today are absolutely radio-like sounding. Loud music of all types are being offered as ring tones, and when one of those kinds of ringers go off in the middle of an sermon, it can be more than distracting to hear it for a while until the person locates their phone; in my case it would probably be in the bottom of my purse. For that reason alone, I keep my ringtone volume lower than normal, just in case I forget to put it on vibrator.

It is a good thing that the public has finally gotten over their infatuations with cell phones. I will never forget my pride of having one of the first of the tiniest little cell phones. It was so tiny in fact, that it frequently did get lost in my purse. It was also very pretty, as it was a bright red color. I was so proud of that little phone that I carried it as a little badge of technical savvies, until one day my little 2 year old grandson threw it in the toilet. I suddenly lost all my contacts, and the pride bit went, as they say, down the toilet. It is almost laughable that I put so much pride in that phone when now I own a slightly older, out of style by a year only, I-phone, and I consider it a business tool.