Cell Phone Mentality, Part II

Cell phones are both a blessing and a curse.  People who own them are so totally reliant on them that the phones have become their lifeline to social interaction, even though they don't come face-to-face with the people they are talking to.  Why?  They aren't talking!  They are "texting".  Sending a text message is apparently cheaper than actually talking on the phone, so a whole generation of people (kids) do that rather than talk to the folks they are trying to connect with.  In fact, the whole obsession with texting has become an issue, for even with people who do it.  More and more states are banning texting while driving and even cell phone use while on the road.  And why not?  It is impossible to watch the road and the phone screen at the same time. 

More than once, I have been in the company of people who are either trying to show me something they've saved on their phones or are so engrossed in a text sequence with someone that I might as well not be there.  They ignore their spouses and their kids for whatever they deem is so important coming in on their phone.  Sometimes it IS important.  Most of the time, it isn't.  What I take from that is disrespect.  The person is essentially saying "You do not mean as much to me as what is happening on my phone." 

People have been dying on the roadways because they lose control of their vehicles while texting.  But now the inevitable has happened.  In a theater in Florida, a man was supposedly texting his young child at home during the movie previews when a retired cop behind him asked him to stop. Things escalated.  Some popcorn was thrown, and the retired cop felt that his life was in danger, so he pulled out a weapon and shot the guy, dead. 

Interestingly, in reading comments at the end of the article I read online about it, one person said, "I should be allowed to text wherever and whenever I want!"  I guess it is now considered a freedom of speech issue.  Sad, really.  Americans with a chip on their shoulders can stand by their rights to free speech, etc., but don't want to deal with the ramifications of that.  Yup, you are an American, but if you stand in the midst of a crowd of Muslims and declare that they are Devil spawn, not even the government can save you!  Freedom of speech, you know.  Time to understand that there are consequences for everything. 

I don't have a lot of sympathy for people who choose to shoot off their mouths but don't want to deal with the aftermath.  The dude in the theater should probably have shut off his cell phone, but since the main feature hadn't started yet, he probably didn't think that he had to.  The guy that shot him was reacting more to the disrespect than to any threat to his safety.  There is no doubt about that.  Two lives are forever changed...over what?????

I won't live long enough to see how the whole cell phone thing plays out in society.  I know that it is a fragile technology in a disaster situation.  And now, what happens when there is no disaster except the ones we create?  Life is too short.  If your phone or your interpretation of your right to freedom of speech gets in the way of connecting with the real world and real people, it's time to put it down. 

And may God have mercy on us all!