Gary Weaver · Dec 13, 2005 09:58 PM
#0 sourceI copy and pasted this from the, I hate Cell Phone Forum. Some of these are very funny. I have not laughed this hard in a very long time. I have not read them all yet.
Posted by: freddie on August 28, 2002 02:45 PM
Everyone who says cell phones are a blessing deserve to be shot. They are useless and impractical if you are not a person of any real importance. Like policepeople and medical staff ON CALL ONLY. It's so frustrating seeing all those self-important morons on their cell phones while they drive, swerving and slowing down, and sporatically slamming on their brakes. There was a study that showed that people who talk for long lengths of times on their phones had the reaction time of a druck driver. Do you believe it? I do. I wish I could just ram everyone off the road when I see them driving with a cell phone pasted to their ear, and hopefully flip over their impractical SUV's they almost always drive. I hope all those ##### clowns get brain tumors.
Posted by: Jessica on November 8, 2002 10:36 AM
I ####in' hate 'em too!!!!!!!!1
at college everyone and their ####ing brother has one. what the ##### is their so much to talk about. "im in the library now...dadadadada" all of you just shut the ##### up!!!!!!!!!!11
Posted by: mark on November 13, 2002 09:13 PM
I think their toys for adults and status symbols for kids and losers. GROW UP
Posted by: jim on December 26, 2002 11:58 PM
I HATE cell phones. I agree with everything you said. It's just another huge way for people to be inconsiderate and annoy everyone around them. Cell phones have transformed the world into a louder, more obnoxious, more annoying place. I hate cell phones. If you do too, check out http://phonebashing.com a site where they smash cell phones, or http://thecobs.com a band that hates cell phones and smashes them at concerts.
Posted by: Keith Muck on February 27, 2003 05:46 PM
Seriously, I've never talked to anyone who feels the same as me about those things. I commute to school in Chicago and I can't go somewhere for 2 senconds without hearing some a##hole blabbing loud as #####. Then on the train, it's even worse, because you're stuck in there, and in every single car there's at least 2 or 3 jerks having that exact same stupid cell phone conversation. Everywhere I go, I can't escape those things, it's impossible!!! And those annoying ring tones, everytime I hear one of those go off it makes me cringe! If anybody else feels the same as me let me know.
Posted by: Keith Muck on February 27, 2003 05:50 PM
I hate them too but I don't think we are going to do anything about it. They everywhere now, the movies, the golf course, the beach, dinner, there is no escape. It is definately a technology that I would love to give back if I could. They have made on already stupid society worse. My only hope is that some sort of rule or law is started to govern when and where they can be used. Who knows how long that will take. These things really have changed my quality of life. I Hate them!
Posted by: David on March 18, 2003 11:59 AM
Cell phone users are the epitome of rudeness these days. I was at a wedding where right in the middle of the vows, the groom's cell phone rang in his pocket. He ANSWERED THE CALL IN THE MIDDLE OF HIS WEDDING.....what the ##### kind of idiocy is this? He didn't care that he held up his own wedding for some stupid call where he relayed everything that was going on. If I was the bride there I'd leave the ##### at the altar!
Posted by: Bo on May 3, 2003 07:14 PM
Its not the cell phones themselves that bother me, its the idiots who own them. Yeah there are those rare moments when it would be good to have a cell phone but i mean come on people do you really need it attached to your hip every five seconds? I have friends whos "cell covers" change to match what they are wearing. How sick is that? An than there is the wide selection of Keytones and rings you can have, So that everywhere you go you hear bethoven's nineth being screamed at you octives higher than it was ever intended to be played at. Every where you go you hear it. "im out hit the cell" Sometimes i wish i could take those suggestions literally and smash the meaningless wad of plastic into tiny peices.
Posted by: Kel on May 4, 2003 05:38 PM
First I want to say that I am Dutch, so excuses for my mistakes in English. In the Netherlands I think I am the only person without a mobile. (As we call cellphones in Holland) I really hate those things. People talking everywhere, anytime the most irritating bull###t to one another. And those horrible ring-tones. What's wrong with using your phone at home???
Posted by: Frans Leliveld on May 4, 2003 10:26 PM
I largely agree with the anti-mobile phone comments posted by my learned colleges previously. My problem with mobile phones goes a little deeper than the obvious frustration with those who are without adequate phone etiquette, however. I have problems with how mobiles make the individual accountable to everyone who has their number (friends, co-workers, parents) and how the individual is expected to be in constant contact if they have a mobile. This is why I do not own a mobile phone.
Posted by: Chris Prunty on May 12, 2003 08:29 AM
IT IS a waste of money!!
Posted by: MOODY on May 12, 2003 10:38 PM
Cell phones can be a practical tool if used properly and in moderation. Otherwise, there's no reason to be on the phone as much as people are. It's almost as if people tell everyone they know exactly what they're doing and where they are. This must save a lot of time later in the evening when one would tell another about their day in its entirety. Also, there's a subtle kind of beauty that goes with leaving your house and knowing that no one can get in touch with you. Sometimes it's better not to talk.
Posted by: Ben on June 2, 2003 12:51 PM
I think cell phones were invented so people could have yet another excuse to be obnoxious and rude. I particularly think women are the worst offenders...any excuse to talk about nothing is a good one. Having a cell allows them to talk all day, while shopping, on the toilet, in line at the bank, at the gym on a machine, or driving their huge hunk of SUV across 3 lanes on the expressway...without looking. I'm so ##### sick of having to get out of the way of some idiot talking on their phone...man or woman, driving or walking. They don't look, they are unaware, and they enjoy being clueless as they show the whole world how important they are. I swear some folks just walk around with them on their ears even if not talking to anyone. Just the need to have that ##### thing on their ear must be like some sort of comfort, like a drug. They probably sleep with them like teddy bears.
Other than that, they're great.
Posted by: kris on July 14, 2003 11:21 AM
The real crux of the mobile phone issue (I'm a 20 year-old ex-user) is the bubble effect. It's the final nail in the coffin of community. If the man on the bus starts talking to you, you can now avoid the intellectual challenge of directing his attention away from you (if he's annoying) or the prospect of an interesting human-to-human conversation (if he's nice). Either way, you never need find out, as you can simply hide yourself in your phone, and that is his indication to sod off: you are no longer there - you are somewhere else. Which brings me to another crucial point: the culture of discontent. We are far less happy to be where we are any more (our complsive neo-imperial holidaying habit also tells us this). If we come out of a meeting and have a walk to get to the bus stop, how many of us will switch on our phones and spend that walk communicating with someone somewhere else, instead of looking at the trees or noticing an old friend over the road (who hasn't seen you cos he's got his head in a text message...)?
There is this fantastic feeling of liberation (I felt it often when I owned a phone) when you come out of a meeting, a concert, a show, and you are allowed to open up two hundred potential lines of communication - or however many numbers you have in your phone'book'. You feel that you have returned to the world, when actually you have regained the ability to escape from the world or the place you are in. We like that feeling now. That is what I mean by discontent. A lack of focus, a restlessness.
Apart from putting us all into bubbles, and encouraging discontent and short attention spans, these things have radically transformed etiquette in most parts of life. If you really think about it, it is phenominally rude to be in someone's company while your phone is on. You are then potentially in the company of hundreds more, who could interrupt you at any point. There is no way that you can engage with your companion to the same degree as if you were disconnected from your mobile 'community'. Nowadays, if you arrange to meet a friend for a drink, you are arranging to meet not only them, but everyone they know; the chances of you getting their undivided attention for an evening are minimal. Even if their phone is off, they will wonder in the back of their mind who might have tried to contact them.
One quick point: they are the ultimate consumer accessory. Think about it: who introduced and encouraged us all to get mobile phones (and still do)? People who want to make money, that's who. Are O2 and T-Mobile public services? British Telecom certainly was, but then that was in a public-spirited age, so perhaps we are all content now to be private, privatised, best-deal-obsessed quick-fix-freaks.
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.
Posted by: Mike on July 20, 2003 03:35 PM
I hate them. I'm sitting in a public library right now and some a##hole is using his cell phone. Despite signs on the doors pleading for people NOT to use cell phones here. Amazing.
Posted by: Matt on July 22, 2003 08:54 PM
The thing is, there's no ###### Need to walk around yakking away on a phone all day. I really don't so much care about how rude people can be, it's the whole PRINCIPLE of the thing that drives me nuts. Originally they were for businessmen and yuppies but in order to make big bucks the current trend's to sell them to any and all assholes, even children. You should've seen my aunt after she got hers (she's a natural chatterbox bimbette) Everywhere she'd go she'd be flaunting this frigging box like she was Someone Special because she had a portable phone!
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 #####. 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!
Posted by: James Dixon on July 27, 2003 06:53 PM
CELL PHONES ARE EVIL!
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.
Posted by: JD on July 27, 2003 07:08 PM
Here is a good one for you. i was in a little mom and pop store. there was like a pre teen using food stamps. when all of a sudden you hear a cell phone ring and low and behold out he pulls a cell phone.
I work my ##### off but make to much for food stamps but can not afford a cell phone.
ahhh there is something wrong here
Posted by: km on July 29, 2003 04:13 PM
I think it would be interesting for some comic genius to to think of some kind of remark to noisy mobile users that we can all use to protect ourselves from this invidiuous invasion of our privacy that is the mobile phone. The comment should be not be aggressive (cos that would just make the phone user ####ty and ignore you) but should be kinda wryly funny, acknowledging that the phone user is human and deserving of respect (appealing to their better side, hey, everyone has one!), but that at this point in time, while using their phone, they are pissing off everyone around them. And then send this comment round the world so it becomes available to everyone. In the western world now we've got many smokers apologetic for their vile habit, lets work out some way to do the same to mobile phone users.
Posted by: chris on July 29, 2003 07:31 PM
NOt 5 minutes ago I'm in the men's room, standing at the urinal enjoying some nice quiet relief. In comes one of these self-involved so&so's, he stands in the next stall, wazoo in one hand cell phone in the other - I shoulda peed on his leg!
Posted by: Rick on July 30, 2003 01:08 PM
Sorry about the last essay - I got a bit carried away, but then this issue does trouble me more than anything at the moment. I have recently taken up smoking again, after going a whole year fag-free, however my mother is more pleased that I have also relinquished my mobile phone than she is distressed by my smoking again. This way round, at least my mind is safe from zombification, even if my lungs take a bit of a battering. I think I was partly driven back into smoking by how much mobile phones were depressing me, and also because the ignorant, moralising New Labour Government, whose National Health Service funding comes almost entirely from cigarette taxation while they portray the smoker as some sort of mutated social recluse, in contrast treats the mobile phone user as an upstanding citizen who is wise to be embracing these wonderfully modern times (and lining the pockets of Blair's business buddies, no doubt). Mobiles have certainly quickly become more of a widespread public irritant than smoking did in its early years (not that I speak as a witness, of course...). Some people, as many used to, still like the scent of various tobaccos (although we are given a much more artificial, flavourless crop these days). How many can say that they like the noise of somebody else's phone ringing?
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...
Posted by: Mike on August 11, 2003 11:47 AM
I live in Turkey where people are obsessed about cell phones. I am the only exception.
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.
Posted by: Hakan on August 22, 2003 04:44 AM
And, let's not forget their use for cheating on your spouse/significant other. Hide the bill, and it's hard for the spouse to find out with whom you've been talking. The same goes for e-mail, IM, etc.
They can be a great convenience, but they can also be used for PURE EVIL!
Posted by: Jay on August 29, 2003 02:21 PM
For the life of me, I don't get the whole cell phone thing. Somebody needs to explain what the big deal is about a ####ING PHONE! They've been around for alomst a century. Is it a big freaking deal because you can take it to a ballgame or to the gym or to a mall? I could see people getting excited about the internet, it was a new thing and a pretty cool one at that. But cell phones? If there is a corner of the planet where these things don't exist, let me know. And build me a house because I'm moving there. Permanently! I'm so glad to read these posts because I hate them so much. People who yak on these things all day are:
1) very inecure. They feel a stupid electronic gadget is going to somehow make them 'cool' or 'important'. I get ##### 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.
Posted by: Ted on August 29, 2003 02:39 PM
Alexander Graham Bell is the Antichrist.
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.
Posted by: Rob on September 6, 2003 09:20 AM
I hate cell phones also and agree with everyone who does. I had one for a while it was suppose to be for emergency use only like in a life or death situation or if I was stranded out in my car in a bad area and didnt want to get mugged. But no it turned in to this annoying nag. Every where I was people would call me mainly my parents and nag me to do something. Why dont people understand that when you leave that means you want to be left alone not getting contacted on a cell phone and then your expected to always be there. Not to mention if you cant make it to the cell phone and your at home you barely get to one and just because you didnt get there in time someone calls the other one and if its your parents they gripe you out over it. I suggest anyone that has this problem as I did and feel the same way buy a trac phone there in expensive and buy only a few minutes enough that you could use if you had car trouble and then dont give anyone the number. Thank you. ANTI CELL PHONE USER.
Posted by: Anti Cell Phone on October 17, 2003 02:52 PM
I hate cell-phones because I get very painful headaches whenever I am around someone using one, for more than a few minutes. I take medication now, to relieve this pain, but -because of the rise in cellphones- my headaches are increasing. -I have no idea what causes it; something in the technology, I'm betting. Does anyone else have this problem?
Posted by: Patrick on December 8, 2003 01:53 PM
My film company, Don’t Call Me Productions, is in pre-production for a short film I wrote entitled, Conversationally Challenged. The shoot is scheduled for late May. It is a ten minute short about two people who literally can not live without their cell phones. I wrote is as a darkly humorous statement against the frivolous use of cellular technology.
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.
Posted by: Tara Meehan on January 14, 2004 10:06 AM
Cell phones have ruined New York! You hear twice as much yakking now that solitary people are conversing -- loudly -- too. I had no idea, B.C., that people were such lonely idiots. And the ##### with anyone who wants to read in a park, a train station, on a ferry, or any public space except subways -- and they're next! We really should have thought twice about these things. Just because we can bring our telephones out in the street with us doesn't mean we should.
How about cell phone booths?
Posted by: Jeff on March 15, 2004 03:28 PM
I think people who hate cell phones so much actually hate the fact that they have to acknowledge that there is actually so many people around them.
(Not withstanding cell use in theaters, while driving etc. That's understandable)
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...
Posted by: Just an observation on April 11, 2004 04:22 AM
Ahhhh.....I have been feeling somewhat like a minority in today's society, what with my loathing of cell phones, SUV's and the like. But tonight I did some surfing and here I am! As I am reading through everyone's comments I feel better and better.
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!
Posted by: Monte on June 30, 2004 09:54 PM
Cell phone customer service is also ranked 2nd WORST in the nation behind car dealers. It was actually 1st last year, hey, they ARE improving. Right. Best thing I ever did was get rid of my cell phone 3 years ago. I consider myself a very social person, and if you need to get a hold of me call my house, and I'll check my messages. Simple. I don't miss it. It has become an addiction to many people, and what the ##### do 10 year olds need with a cell phone? The truly uneducated apparently don't know what a cell phone is for? Screaming at the top of their lungs, in the back of the bus, you know who I'm talking about. Just another reason to be annoying.
Posted by: jedibratt on July 9, 2004 05:37 AM
Monte, I'm with you. But the biggest reason I hate cell phones is the sheer numbness of it all. No one has to think anymore. Bored on the bus? Whip out your cell phone and blather on.
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 #####. I don't understand who all these people are that like to be reachable all the ####ing time.
Posted by: Eric on September 13, 2004 01:52 AM
You know, in hindsight, I think I may have dumped my last girlfriend in large part over cell phones.
-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.
Posted by: William on September 22, 2004 10:46 AM
i hate fucking cell phones and all the people who use them!
Posted by: john on September 26, 2004 03:43 AM
Good topic! Bad cell-phone using people! Cell phones are tools for mini-self-resolved-celebrities in public places. Where I'm from, any time a cell phone goes off, in a group of ten, at least seven will turn their heads. DON'T!!! I scream to myself DO THAT! The cell-phone users LOVE the attention!!! Once they've established a 2/3rds audience, they are further encouraged to "entertain" us with their worldy experiences and plans by talking at a higher than normal tone of voice usually in a most arrogant and narcissistic way. Obnoxious!! IGNORE THEM!! The lack of attention will bore them enough to make them want to sell the things.
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 ##### if I'll be a cell-phone poser.
Posted by: Ian on September 28, 2004 09:38 PM
Dear Monte:
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.
Posted by: Nigel Boag on October 11, 2004 07:18 AM
Because of everything that has been said, I think the ##### things should be outlawed! I've never owned one and never will. This girl at work was so mad that she was called into work on her day off, and she was even out of town! I just turned to her and asked: You own a cell phone, hm? Of course she did. I just smiled at her. Oh the pleasure of not owning one! I have nothing that important to say at all times of day and night. If I have something important to say to someone over a phone, I have a home where it's privite where I have phone and other people don't have a chance to hear my conversation. Remember the good ol' days when there weren't any cell phones? Everbody could live without cell phones back then! Cell phones are ingnorant. I love to be at peace. Cell phones interupt. If any of you out there think that there needs to be a movement to ban these useless things, well hellfire, lets get together and make one! THE END.
Posted by: catwoman on October 19, 2004 01:06 PM
When I was at the airport, I saw a woman talking to a vending machine. "Hey! I havent talked to you forever! how you been!" for about five minutes until I saw she had a headset. ##### creeps me out. I admit, I use my cell phone in public, but not often.
Posted by: Technu on November 7, 2004 11:14 AM
For over a year now this girl at work has been harassing me with her cell phone. There is even a private button on her phone so I can't hear any background noise. It even has an ID blocker so you can't tell who it is. These things were made just for harassment. How can I get her cell records for free without having to go to court?
Posted by: jeff wells on November 13, 2004 04:19 PM
I am glad to see that I am not the only one with such hatred for cell phones. They are nothing but an interuption. People who whip out their cell phones constantly or carry on conversations during dinner are unbelievably lame and rude. My husband and I were always content not having a cell phone 1) b/c it is just a waste of money 2) b/c we don't need one 3) b/c cell phone users in general are obsessed with their phones and are just plain annoying and rude. I hate listening to cell phones ringing in the middle of the library, during the movies, or anytime I am outside trying to get some peace. Recently, however, my husband bought a cell phone and totally caught me offguard. Of course he bought it without asking, and since I pay for all the bills, I am stuck paying for this ##### thing. Aye! Everytime I hear that thing ring or see it laying around I cringe. I hope he loses it!
Posted by: Ad on December 10, 2004 03:30 PM
If you want to do something useful to stop cell phone abuse, here is a website that sells posters, t-shirts and buttons with anti cell phone abuse slogans. Some T-Shirts are polite others are more direct, like the one that says: :"Shut up!" lol.
Go check it out, you may like it.
http://www.cafepress.com/00ps/455257
Your concerned citizen,
Angelikus
www.graffitiusa.com
Posted by: ANGELIKUS on January 5, 2005 12:10 PM
When I open up my Samsung cell phone, it displays a picture of my smiling boyfriend; next, the screen runs through a series of natural photographs—a polar bear with its baby on its back, a yellow sunflower, a bed of red tulips, a mountainous landscape, a hawk, an white stucco church against a backdrop of blue sky. Ironically, this 4" by 1.5" by .75" dead technology purports to soothe me with pictures of the living.
Posted by: Numanuma on January 10, 2005 10:09 PM
And those stupid musical ringers! They sound like the old Atari game sound effects from 25 years ago. There are so many cell phones ringing here at work that it sounds like a video arcade.
The other day I was in the supermarket picking up my weekly food order along with this nit wit who was consulting with his wife via cell phone about each item he was getting. “Well” he says to her “ they have six different kinds of spaghetti sauce…Ragu, Prego, ect” . This went on through the whole store. I wanted to grab the phone, throw it on he floor and crush it with my boot and say “ What the ##### is the matter with you man? Are you really that fucking hen-pecked and brain-dead that you can’t pick up a lousy food order without consulting the wife about every item? Ever hear of a grocery note ya moron?” What idiots!
And what the ##### is so important that they need to talk right this minute anyway? I was discussing a problem at work with a fellow worker when his cell phone rang and he told me to hold on a minute, answers his phone and begins to gab. I walked away and , quite frankly, couldn’t have cared less if the problem got resolved or not. I made him come looking for me to find out what was wrong.
When somebody interrupts my conversation to answer a phone I always walk away and I will never finish what I was talking about. When they ask what we were talking about I tell them ‘nothing’.
And I’m really sick of the addiction everyone seems to have of checking the ##### thing every few minutes to see if anyone called.
Recently I was in a group of five other people and at one point every one of them was on a cell phone call at the same time but me.
It’s another way for people to be inconsiderate and obnoxious just like they do with boom cars, whistle exhausts, loud stereos, and those god-forsaken home theatre systems with bass shaking plaster loose from the walls in the house next door. I don’t see any end in sight.
Posted by: Dean on January 11, 2005 11:05 AM
THANK GOD FOR THIS "SUPPORT GROUP"!!! this morning i'm sitting having my coffee when what do i hear?????? a cell phone conversation right outside my window! blah, blah, blah. and loud no less!! so i stick my head in the window and ask him nicely to "please not talk on his phone outside my window" his response: "it's a free country i can talk wherever i want, babe!" AAAHHHH!!
please help. thank god you all feel the same way. the decline of civilization! it's so depressing and frustrating. i feel absolutely powerless! and i'm never afraid to speak my mind to people! cellphones, reality tv, tv in general, consumerism. when does it stop? it has turned people into horrifying caricatures of themselves. making them loudly and outwordly rude, inconsiderate, offensive, abrasive, self-important, etc. it makes me really sad. why are people such sheep? no one thinks for themselves anymore. don't these people need peace and quiet? no one can be by themselves anymore. constant connection 24 hours a day. strapped to that umbilical cord earpiece. are they the aliens or are we? it's nice to know that so many of you feel the same way. because i can't take it!! and my husband wonders why i'm so anti-social!
CELL PHONE HATERS UNITE!!
Posted by: mary on January 20, 2005 02:04 PM
##### STUPID CELL PHONE MOTHER ####ERS!!! I truly believe that cell phones themselves are a useful invention. They are necessary, but not to the extent that they are used. I hate the stupid mother fuckers that use them at the most inappropriate times. The horribly unnecessary calls that begin like "oh, I'm on the train, or Oh, I'm at the store..." It's just show off communication. The worst, though, is stupid fucking 4th and 5th graders that have them. Why, you're 11! If you ask them how they could possibly necessitate a cell phone, the response they give you is "to talk to my friends." What! ##### you, you're 11, you only know your parents. Then you have the people that get arrogant with you if you politely ask them to tone down their pointless conversation. ##### you! Most of the time, this happens to me in a class room, sit your ##### down and learn something. Cell phones are the downfall of my generation. People need to just chill with their cell phones.
Posted by: Mike on January 24, 2005 12:55 AM
Cell phone bashers...nice!!!
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.
Posted by: Gare on January 24, 2005 09:41 PM
Haha, the gun analogy is a good one, for a few reasons. The mental image of people holding these things to their heads makes me laugh. But also the thought of a new group of cellphone-control advocates, like gun control. Can't we get these things out of the hands of children, or make people take a course before they're allowed to use them? How about background checks and a 24-hour "cooling off" period. Yukyukyuk!!
Posted by: James on January 24, 2005 10:40 PM
My name is seth and i too am fed up with cell phones. It seems as if everything about the use of cell phones irritates me. From people's mindless babble while waiting in line to the love sick puppy constantly checking his phone to see if anyone called or not. My solution to the problem of cell phone use, is to simply leave the ##### thing turned off and use it only when there is a pertinent message on it. This takes some discipline but it is well worth it. In the time u save having gay conversation, one could read a book or even learn a new language, it also saves a ##### ton of money too. I postulate that if everyone minimized there cell phone use there would be much more valued face to face conversations and alot less brain tumors haha...
Posted by: seth on February 7, 2005 04:14 PM
the first comment happened years ago, all of you should really just let it go! it's over you lost get a mobile and fry your brain out already!, none of you mind me taking your comments and using them in an essay do ye, thanks!
Posted by: aidan on February 9, 2005 05:59 AM
I was driving home from a physical rehab session, due to a crushed left leg, when the lady driving the car in front of me had to stop at a railroad track. She had stopped too close to the track, so put her car in reverse and backed up, nearly to my truck. Then, being totally engrossed in a cell phone conversation, she forgot to shift out of "reverse".
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 ##### 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
Posted by: Crip on February 14, 2005 11:30 AM
Great blog. I own a cell phone and have one for work. However, I only use my cell phone for emergencies and use my company phone only when absolutely necessary. I have witnessed many close calls when idiots felt that they had the special ability to talk with a cell phone plastered to their head and drive at the same time. I've had to listen to them yacking mindlessly about the most inane things you can imagine (and to think that they pay for airtime to do this). The dumbest one yet, was when a girl answered her phone in the bathroom stall during a Coldplay concert. Apparently they asked what she was doing and she said "Going pee at a Coldplay concert". Unfortunately, the phones are here to stay.
Posted by: Karen on February 21, 2005 03:39 PM
Cant stand them. They drive me nuts. I just want to smash those little!@#$%^&*('s.
And the population of youngers who's unfortunate parents are paying for them; their delusional world of self entitelment. I know a dose of reality right across their ungratefull faces. Slap the ##### out of some of them. With a fresh can of whoop-##### of my steel toe boots. #####, some boot camp! Their driving the market which is driving me crazy!!!!!
Posted by: Den on February 28, 2005 08:04 PM
What a wonderful site! There is a God, and He led me to this place. So great to hear others voice, articulately & humorously, all the things I've been feeling, thinking about cell phone misuse!
Posted by: Brenda on March 14, 2005 01:26 AM
Even God agrees with us:
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."
Posted by: Brenda on March 16, 2005 02:41 AM
I would like to thank everyone for their great, humorous, and insightful cell phone bashing posts. I have spent about 30 mins reading over all of the previous posts, which I have enjoyed thoroughly. I totally acknowledge the fact that the technology is not to blame the people are, and oh boy, there are a lot of them, we better get started. The obvious problems with cell phones have been mentioned in great detail in these awesomely fun, and amusing posts. Although, I feel there are some major underline problems that have failed to come out of these posts. Actually one person “Mike” does notice it by mentioning this “intrusive new cell phone culture.” The problem that I am talking about is that of people losing basic human social interaction skills to a digitized piece of electronics. I really miss the good old fashion person to person communication. You can see the smile on the other person’s face when you say something that enlightens their soul and a smirk when they understand the pain of a bad situation that you just went through. Most of our basic interactions, facial expressions, body gestures and so on, are being completely lost over the digital signals of a cell phone, and for that I am sad. I feel we are moving away from the things that make it so enjoyable to be in the presents of someone else.
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.
Posted by: Brian on March 25, 2005 03:22 AM
I am sorry the nice Brian has just left; the angry Brian has just entered
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 ####ING FAT ####IES”. 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. #####, 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.
Posted by: Brian on March 26, 2005 11:32 AM
MY name is Brian not Brenda
Hey, what happen I posted "I would like to thank everyone for their great.." on on March 16, 2005 02:41 AM. And someone elses name is on my post?? What is the deal with that?? MY name is Brian not Brenda! and my e-mail is [email protected]
Posted by: Brian MAD on March 27, 2005 08:27 PM
Your name will appear UNDER your comment, Brian.
Posted by: james on March 27, 2005 09:38 PM
OH RUDE ONES!Your status is not!
ONLY PEASANTS USE CELLS!
To reach me, leave a message with my secretary.
Thanks!
Posted by: Robert on March 29, 2005 06:58 PM
I absolutley loathe cell phones. They are the most annoying piece of sh*t on the face of the earth. The ##### ringers with all the new ringtones, and even worse are the default ringtones that are everywhere.
KILL YOU CELL PHONES. The majority of cell phone users out there do not actually need to be attainable 24/7.
Posted by: Thorgrimnr on April 14, 2005 01:32 AM
WANTED: Cell Phone Blocker. Don't care if they are illegal here in the US! So is driving reckless. Chris
Posted by: Chris on April 22, 2005 05:27 PM
To me these are the single most irritating devices made by man. They are designed more for children than adults. They are so obtrusive and invasive. Kids love all the calls and ease to contact friends. But my work bought me one and my life has never been so depressing. I'd work 13 hour days and have my bosses calling acting surprised I was at home. I will never in my lifetime pay for a cellphone plan. It's like the nail in the coffin of privacy. Can't I just be out and about town without being found? Is it just me, or do others not want to be found 24 hours a day?????
Posted by: Robbie Buckingham on May 5, 2005 06:05 PM
I hate people that go buy cell phones that have functions that they have never used and cannot understand the concept of opening thier manual and call tech support wanting to spend the next hour trying to learn how to use the cell phone
Posted by: disgruntled on June 1, 2005 09:27 AM
My private name for cell phones is "yuppie eggs." Yuppies may be extinct, but their attitudes aren't. The two, yuppies and cell phones, were made for each other. Thank God that yuppies went out of fashion before cell phones crawled onto the market.
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?
Posted by: kevin fitzgerald on June 21, 2005 10:31 PM
I hate cellphones because they are distracting, intrusive, and rude. I like the way the world (friendships) used to be before people were constantly talking on, answering, monitoring, text messaging, and whatever the ##### else those goddamn things do to interrupt MY VALUABLE TIME with a person.
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 ####ing 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.
Posted by: F-cellphones on June 22, 2005 10:43 AM
Cellphones are evil.
The landfills are full of discarded ones.
They are probably sterilizing more men than Chernobyl.
Text messaging is vaguely above Morse code, technologically, and each one costs a telco something like $0.000001.
The photos taken on them look like vague shapes seen through a sheet of glass dipped in Vaseline.
Why would anyone want to be contactable all of the time? Was life so bad when you had time to yourself?
Why would you want a life that was tied to your cellphone?
People who have cellphones don't know how to enjoy life.
I still have a cellular-free life, thank God. And I run a business in 11 countries. If I can live without them, anyone can. You're not that important.
Posted by: Jack Yan on August 3, 2005 07:12 AM
Remember the movie 'the matrix'? All humans on earth laying sided by side, while living in a virtual world. Go to any gym and you'll see people hooked up to machines and ignoring the person right next to them. Good? Bad? Inevtiable? I dunno, let me call my friend and ask them.
Posted by: kenstauffer on August 16, 2005 09:49 PM
Cell phones are the worst technology ever created.They were never meant for emergencie,the wireless industry created them only as a product to sell and for people to gab on.One only need look at cell phone commercials and see that people hold the phone in a certain way,talk a certain way and dress a certain way,then look at people on the street or other public places and you will see that many people act the same way.What the cell phone industry is marketing is rudeness,they want everyone to act the same so they can sell more of those ##### phones.There are people out there who are so desperate for one of those phones that they will go to any lengths to get one.I know one such person and he coned me into buying a cell phone for him.He said we could both use it but I never saw the stupid thing again and am stuck with a eight hundred dollar bill I cant pay back and if I ever see that phone again I'll take a sledge hammer to it and send it back in it's original box to T-Mobile as brand new.I hate this piece of technology and the world would be a better place without them.The thing I hate most is that the fucking wireless companies will make it hard to drop their service which means they make more money.
Posted by: Issac on August 16, 2005 09:50 PM
TV news said there are 2 times more traffic accidents caused by cell phones than drunk drivers. Stand on the corner and watch people drive by 1 out of 6 people have a cell phone stuck to their ear. I took my children to a movie theater some womans cell phone kept ringing, every time she answered it she talked loud. After the 3rd call people in the theater started yelling, shut up, be quite, go out side and talk on that, I can't hear the movie. The 6th time the cell phone rang the person behind the woman grabbed it from her ear and stuck the cell phone down in their soft drink cup the liquid shorted out the cell phone. The woman went off and it turned into a YELLing contest the manager and security came and removed the woman from the theater and everyone in the theater cheered. I bought a police whistle every time someone next to me in a restaurant talks loud on a cell phone I blow the whistle as hard as I can and it really pisses them off several times people have given me a dirty look and told me to shut up they are trying to talk on the cell phone.
Posted by: Diane on Sept 22, 2005 05:17 PM
My sons math teacher spends the entire class period talking on his cell phone. He puts the assignment on the board and expects the students to be quiet and ask no questions while he talks on his cell phone. My son didn't understand how to do the math so he asked the teacher for help. The teacher got mad told my son to go back to his seat and leave him along. This made so mad I went to the school and complained but nothing happened so I complained again and again and finally got my son moved to another math class. I contacted all the parents of all the students in the class and most of them went to the school and complained too. The school finally moved all the students into other math classes and did nothing to the teacher. The teacher is the football coach which makes him a valuable person he is too valueable to fire him. Sports has nothing to do with education so why on earth does every school in the entire country spend so much money or sports.
'
Steve