I've read more than a few rants on how annoying some people think other people who talk to cell phones 'all the time' are. I'd say they're over-reacting a bit.

I'll put it this way. I live in a country where there are more cell phone contracts than regular phone lines. Of course, this doesn't really tell everything because the cell phone contracts are free and people might have several of them. You can get discounts by getting a new account with every phone you buy and people with multiple cell phones usually have more than one contract, and even if they did only have one phone, it's possible to have several contracts.

This is a fact: 63 people out of hunded had a cell phone account in October '99. More than 50% of the phone contracts (accounts, what is it called? (I'll change this the minute I bother to figure it out)) were cell phone accounts. I can't find the percentage of cell phone-owners anywhere but I'll tell you the minute I find out. It's likely to be something like the previous figures.
All of my (ex)friends have a cell phone. Most of my neighbours have a cell phone. My sister has a cell phone, her boyfriend has a cell phone. There's three people living in our household right now but there's four cell phones.

The costs are quite low. The contract is free, the calls cost only a little more than through a regular phoneline, the phones themselves are cheap. That's why everyone has them. And they've been more of a common household thing than a status symbol (which I believe it still is in some places) for years now. And eventually you just get used to it. There's cell phones everywhere, all the time. It stops bothering you that you constantly pass people who seem to be talking to themselves.

Which is why it kind of gets on me when people whine about them.
It's understandable though. But you people, just wait till the day you sit in a (small) car with your parents, your sister and her boyfriend and you're sitting there, listening to the radio. And suddenly you hear a phone ringing. And then everyone has to check their phone even if they know it's not theirs because the ringing tone is not theirs. And they all squirm and dig around in a car full of people and plants and god knows what (because you're moving your sister's stuff). And then the ringing stops. And then you realize it was the radio. So it was completely useless for all the people to smack each others accidentally and annoy everyone because it was an add. This is when you get pissed off if you're me. Not when you hear people talking (or yelling) to cell phones, but when you're in a bus so full of people you can't move and someone's phone rings. And 90% of the people panic because they think it's their phone.

And yes, I have a cell phone. It was a birthday present some years ago (which makes it hopelessly out of current trends) and I hardly ever call anyone on it. Sometimes I send messages with it because that's cheaper than calling (and easier in so many ways) but I think I haven't talked to anyone on it for months now. And because I never talk to anyone, it's hardly ever open or even around so that's why I don't check it the minute a phone rings.

Main. | Fallacies.