Can You Hear Me Now?

or

The Expansion of Phone Culture and Contraction of Courtesy

It’s a sign of the times. When I was growing up in the 50s and 60s, we had a phone in the kitchen area and one in my parents' bedroom. That was it.

Looking around my place now shows how much things have changed since then. There are two adults here, each with a cell phone and separate landline. Just taking advantage of the technology, folks. It’s all about faster, bigger, brighter, better around here.

While I sometimes feel like John Wayne with a belt full of trouble (“PDAs on Three! Two! One! …”), I more often just feel like a middle aged man living in a world that changes faster and faster. I can accept that as a part of growing older, but the “bigger, brighter, better” part? I’m not so sure I see that.

Consider this: Until recently, you never asked anyone “Where are you?” while talking to them on the phone. What kind of a looney would ask a question like that before cell phones? You called places, not people – an office, a home or a place of business - hoping to reach someone at that location. There was usually a set of filters in place as well, between you and the person you wanted to speak with.

“Hi Mrs. Jones. Is Johnny at home?”
“He can’t come to the phone right now, Billy. He’s doing his homework.”

“Smith, Wesson and Oil.”
“Yes, could I speak with Mr. Wesson, please?”
“I’m sorry sir, he just slid into a meeting with the gun lobby. Can I take a message?”

Kinda laughable now, isn’t it? And why? Because we don’t call places anymore. Now, we call people.

When the phones hit the road, our phone culture hit the road with them. It’s a subtle shift that has changed not only our private lives but our public ones as well. Take a step back the next time you’re out and look around. How many people are walking in their porous Cone of Silence, talking to whomever on their cell, as though that person were walking with them? We talk on the phone while in the checkout line at Home Depot as though no one can hear us. I’ve heard one side of way too many of these “private conversations” over the past several years. And don’t get me started on those Nextel conversations, broadcast for all to hear. We not only don’t respect another’s privacy – it’s like we don’t recognize and respect our own.

While we’ve shifted the focus from places to people, most of our expectations have remained. When we place a call, we expect someone to pick up, and if it’s your phone that’s ringing, you think you should answer it. My reason was always that I was self-employed and the phone was my lifeline to work. I can’t use that one anymore, and yet I’ll still stop whatever I’m doing if either of my phones ring. While this can be a source of amusement and exasperation for my wife when we’re home, it can be annoying and downright dangerous when we’re out.

Inappropriate cell phone use is an example of the casual informality we talked about last week, bleeding from harmless, if annoying behavior into something unsafe. A cell phone abuser made an illegal left turn in front of my brother, and put he and his wife in the hospital a few months ago. You may not have a similar personal experience but I bet you’re not surprised to hear or read about such incidents. A 1997 article published in the New England Journal of Medicine linked the use of cell phones while driving to a quadrupled risk of collision. That means you’re four times as likely to hit someone or something if you’re phoning while driving.

Another study by the hilarious Mythbusters team in Episode 33 showed that you are more likely to drive impaired while talking on a cell phone than after drinking 2-3 beers. For real! There are plenty of blogs discussing the episode. One that simply describes the tests and results is here. In short, while you probably should not drink beer before getting behind the wheel, you definitely should not talk on your cell phone while driving.

I can probably learn to live with behavior that spreads across the Harmless to Annoying piece of the spectrum, but the Dangerous? Why should that even be allowable? Let’s talk about some alternatives.

In the Northeast, where commuter trains are often the sanest way to get to work, Amtrak has instituted cell phone-free Quiet Cars to combat the increasingly rowdy Tower of Babble that develops over the morning and evening commute. While not 100% effective – and it’s only attempting to deal with this “merely” irritating aspect of cell phone use and not the safety issue - it acknowledges that there is a problem and attempts to address it.

Why not take it a step further and make it impossible to place or receive a call while in a moving vehicle? The phones just go dead when the car starts, except for 911 calls. If you want to talk, pull over and shut off the engine. How many lives a year would that save? Or make it a ticketable offense, like driving without your seatbelt. Knowing that the radar cop is checking your speed, seatbelt and cell phone use should have a deterrent effect on at least some drivers.

While I think these are good ideas, I wonder why these suggestions are even necessary. Why do people ignore what’s in their best interest if it conflicts with something pleasurable and convenient? Well, duh, I guess I answered my own question there. But isn’t mindlessly following one’s Pleasure Principle something we’re supposed to outgrow at some point? If the difference between outgrowing and not outgrowing is the difference between adulthood and everything else, then maybe the Cell Phone Issues are “just” a sign of immaturity in the general populace. Somehow, I don’t find that very comforting.

Now, do I expect my opinion to influence your behavior? Not really. I don’t even expect facts and research to. Maybe all I’m trying to do is point out how quickly the norm changes and for little more reason than pleasure and convenience. How an accepted convention can mutate beyond recognition to some, and be completely normal to others. Cell phones and their use have changed what we’re comfortable doing publicly in a weird combination of Change or Die and Practicing a Consequence Free Lifestyle.

So that’s my Big Fat Opinion for this week. What’s yours? Did you ever try to convince someone about something that you have strong feelings about? Tell us about it on the message board or email me at mmtym@detroitbuzz.com. Or call Dave direct on his cell. He always picks up.