Do Mobile Phones have to rule our lives?

There's a potentially incendiary notion that we have become slaves to our cell-phones. That what once was a brick of gold - equal in weight, dimension and value - with wireless communication technology, which was used rarely and only for essential, important conversations, has evolved into the dreaded tangled mess of a phone that is glued to the ear of every typical suburban teenager. Meaning, the expensive "mobile" phones of the past have been replaced with the affordable, pocket-able cellular phones of the present, giving everyone the ability to chat wherever the hell they please.

Now, isn't that convenient?

Until, of course, the phone in your pocket goes off in the middle of the movie theater, prompting the half-head-turn from the row in front. Or worse yet, the full-turn-dirty-look.

And then, there are the times at dinner when the person you're with, their phone goes off, and all three parties, you, your friend and the caller, must play a bastardized version of the call-waiting-face-off game (coined by Dan Arey, I believe). In this game, contestant number one, your friend, is called upon to choose between you, in the flesh and blood, and the caller, who was too busy to come to dinner, but nonetheless had a few minutes to chat.

You know how this ends. Because faced with you - you're not going anywhere soon - and someone calling - hey, who knows when they'll call again? - the choice is obvious. If it were purely for the novelty of "talking wireless", you'd think it would eventually wear off.

You'll find there are those rare occasions when the calling party is an intruder on dinner. But those times the caller won't even make it past the caller-ID tryouts. Sorry, you don't even qualify to be a contestant.

Then there is the Number One Most Embarrassing Situation Known to Japanese Girls Today. Which is having their friend's cell-phone go off and not having theirs ring also. Because really, they've played this game before and they know that that is the only possible counter move. If pulled off correctly? Deuce.

You'd be surprised how often the score is tied up, even when more contestants are playing. I'll never forget driving down La Cienega, looking in my rear view mirror, and seeing four people -- looking buttoned-down yet hip, a perfect Benetton cross-section -- cruising in a late-model SUV, all talking simultaneously, but in separate worlds. All of them were talking on cell-phones.

Of course, I don't really know if they all got calls.

Making a call while your friends are already on their phones is a feeble maneuver that garners exactly zero points. Shame on you.

Returning to the Los Angeles cellular phone community after a six month hiatus, danchan signed up with AT&T yesterday in Monterey Park, home of the best cellular deals in L.A.

In an increasingly wired (or now, wireless, I suppose) world, we are inundated with so many options to keep in touch... the cell-phone being the most convenient and the most immediate.

Do you really want to be permanently reachable? Sure. That's not a bad thing, especially in emergencies. Being connected does offer its advantages. But do you really want to always be available for casual conversation? There is something to be said for wanting something you can't have. And taking for granted what you can.

Where I'm coming from? I say, bring those shiny new Nokias out, because you may be running late. Or maybe "something suddenly came up." Or maybe we're both lost, driving in circles. Catching up, chewing the fat, shooting the breeze? That can wait until we're face to face. Or at the very least, it can wait until we're talking one on one.

Danchan gets wired!?!

It nearly brings a tear to my eye to see that danchan has finally joined the rest of the connected world.

Out here in Asia, your mobile phone defines who you are. You are identified by what you "wear" and what you "wear" today is a mobile phone. We have hundreds of models in every conceivable color. theVooner of course has had nearly EVERY mobile phone made since 1995. However, living in Asia, we use a different standard which means my phones can't be used in the US. That's why there has been no reviews done here on danchan though I've changed my phone three times in the past two months. Nokia though has been doing a pretty good job of porting over the phones we have to an "American" model sometime later. So maybe I'll just have to review my new Nokia 8250, the replacement to the model that danchan got above.

In Asia, we love our phones. We can't do without them. We have specialized ringing tones, silly graphics, and lots of accessories like Hello Kitty, South Park, and Ultraman handstraps. We can't imagine life without a phone; we feel naked without one. In Hong Kong, we have over 60% mobile penetration, which means that nearly every adult has a handphone. To put it in perspective, my maid has her own mobile phone.

If you are bothered by phones, come to Asia and we will help define a whole new level of irritation. Movies here are a joke: "Wai! Lei da chor le!" (You dialled the wrong number!) Concerts, funerals, Sunday mass -- all the same. A friend told me that one Sunday, a Reverend was interrupted by a phone call during his sermon. Not uncommon, except that the phone was his own, and he actually went to answer the call! We have a doctor being sued because he was on his phone during surgery trying to sell his car. The list of "issues" go on and on. When will the madness stop! Never I hope. :)

Phooey!

The number one item on my wishlist is a cellular scrambling device built into my car ala Knight Rider.

Scrambler

If you are asking if you can send out a signal to "restrict" phone calls, there is such a device. It is marketed for exactly the problems we talked about -- theatres, hospitals, etc.

I saw it in a catalog from this place in the UK that also sells Mobile Phone Spectrum analyzers. A friend of mine has one (yes, it's Illegal in the US but it's legal in the UK) and says you can actually "intercept" phone calls and eavesdrop on phone calls. Interesting. I'm not a super-spy yet so I have no need for one.

manaa (maw naaaaw)

Here in Japan some of those problems go away as you are expected to press your "manaa" (Manner button for those that can't read English loan words in Japanese.) The manaa button makes it so your phone doesn't ring, it vibrates (if you turned vibration on)

Press it again to go back to normal operating mode. Every cell phone has a manaa button.

As for the scrambler it sounds fun until somebody sues you because they couldn't didn't get the call that would have saved their child's life because you scrambled it.

RE: manaa

Not all problems go away with just a touch of a button (even if you did have the good manaas to hit the manaa button). It's not just the ringing that's bad etiquette, IMHO.

Why did that girl....

gimme a pager number when she has a cell phone?

Sociopath

Reeeeallly! I didn't know such a scrambling device existed! Sounds fun. How much do they cost?

Maybe my problem with cell phones stems from the fact that I don't have a life or enough friends. I just can't justify paying for one. Maybe I'm just bitter that the main purpose a cell phone would serve in my existence would be as a way for my boss to find me.

Oh well, just a thought. Now back to my binge drinking... ;)