This is kindof a spin off from reading about all the people talking on their cell phones in the gym...

I was out to dinner the other night and every single table took at least one call (at one point, the table next to us had four people talking on their cells at once), I teach at the University and go to Grad School and when class is out everyone whips out their phones, at the grocery store, after a movie...
and I just want to know,

WHAT are people talking about so much?

I feel like everyone but me is on a Friends episode. How much do you have to say? How many people can you talk to daily? I mean, really, who has that much to say??? I thought only teenagers spent that much time on the phone!

Does anyone know the secret?

We are that family with all 4 people on the phone (we've been called a sit com family before anyway ). As you may have read on that gym thread, I work in retail "support" but it's a family business - mom, dad, sister & I all basically do the same thing - and we have about 15 locations. There have been times at dinner that we all ended up on the phone at the same time, sometimes even with chain calls (i.e. about the time you are done with one person, someone else calls and so you only take the phone away from your head in order to push the answer button again ). Ironically, I am a person who has always hated talking on the phone.

Other than business, the only time I'm on the phone is to tell someone I'm running late or to make some kind of plans. I very rarely call people -even when I am at home - just to chat. Unless its a long distance type relationship, I would much rather talk to friends in person.

See, the work thing makes sense...

When I was doing social work I had a cell phone for work but it was for work stuff because I was usually in the field and I worked with high risk communities so I needed to be available to my clients. So, that was out of necessity.

But, when I had a personal phone I mainly used it, as you said to say I was running late, or to confirm plans. Not to check in with people every couple of hours. I have one friend who is a cell phone junkie and I've seen her call people to talk about her socks! She gets upset because I don't have a cell phone and I don't do the "So, whatcha doin'?" calls. LOL

I went through this on a recent visit home. We're sitting in Bob Evans eating dinner when my brother gets a call from work. Then mom gets a call from the church where she leads choir and now took a job in the office there, dad gets a call from someone, don't recall who. Anyway, I felt so out of place that I took my phone out, put it to my ear with no one on it, and just started talking to be talking. They all the got the hint. LOL

I've done that too

Bella, I was laughing when I read your first post. I have also had the same thought--why do I feel like I am the ONLY person in the world who walks around WITHOUT a cell phone continuously pressed against their ear.

I do own a cell phone but I am not constantly on it. I notice people in stores cannot make even the smallest inexpensive purchase without first calling and consulting with someone on their cell phone.

I think future generations will totally lose their ability to make any decisions on their own.

And don't even get me started about the multitude of people who cause me to jam on my brakes when they walk right out in front of my moving car. They are so absorbed in their call they walk right into danger and they don't even notice they came close to being hit because they are still walking and talking!

And how about the folks who seem to SHOUT into their phones and now with the speakerphones we also have to listen to what the other person on the other end is shouting as well!

No kidding! Not to mention spending time on their own without having someone to call!!! What ever happened to self sufficiency? Now everything is determined and solved via cell phone.

I worked with kids for a while and it was really interesting to see that no longer is the traditional picture of a phone really recognizable to many little ones, nor the "ring ring" either. Now, they see mom's cell phones and talk on their toy cellphones. Not that that's a bad thing, just interesting to watch the shift occuring. Especially with all the different ring tones available so it's no longer the universal "ring ring" taking its place along with "bow wow" and other toddler faves.

One of my friends who is also a college prof has a rule in her classes: If your cell phone rings during class, you get to buy pizza for the whole class! I think I'm using that rule this semester as well! LOL Except one time her phone rang during class (( I was the one calling her and have yet to hear the end of it!!!)) so she had to treat!

Julia and AlmostHeaven: That is too funny!!!! Maybe I should buy a toy phone to do that with!

Wow, what timing. After this thread, I so seldom get cellphone calls, but got one today right in the middle of eating lunch at Ruby's. So my food sits there getting cold since the eye doctor chose that moment to call me back and answer some questions I had.

This made me think of my sister. I live in the town that she has a summer home in, right next to my mom and dad's summer home. So, they only come up a few weekends a year, but on Fourth of July weekend, my sister was up and had her, her husband, and three of her four kids here. Every single one of them was on their cell phone nearly ALL the time. Sometimes they were on the phone with EACH OTHER!! Or if one was looking for the other, they'd call each other and say, "Where are you?"..."I'm in the back bedroom."..."Okay...have you heard from so and so?" And I"m like, "You guys are, like, the weirdest family I've ever seen!! Why don't you all sit by the campfire and talk?!" I mean, I understand my 20-year-old neice to a degree talking to her boyfriend, but only to a point. I mean...sheesh...back in my day.... my brother and I spent ALL DAY in the river swimming and having a blast in the sunshine and eating macaroni and cheese for lunch and dinner and watching Get Smart re-runs because we had no cable....or we'd play Canasta (a card game) or Monopoly and we have really great memories of playing hard!! My sister has really great memories of talking on the cell phone!! Weird...

My mom is almost as bad with e-mailing. When they go to Florida for the summer, she'll tell me how she just e-mailed her next door neighbor and I know for a fact (because I've been there) that the park she's in in the summer has a gorgeous pool...so, I'm like..."Why don't you turn off your 'puter and go sit and gab with your next door neighbor by the POOL!!" That was the first winter she came back from Florida without a suntan!! Sad!!

Sounds like my family. If they're expected somewhere and someone calls them to see where they are, they'll say "Knocking on your front door", and continue talking and giggling as they enter.

I do have to admit I'm on my cell phone a lot. I just get so bored sometimes that I decide to call up a friend just to occupy time. I rarely answer my phone while I'm eating and usually put it on silent during that time and never take it with me into the gym (that's "me" time), but I am on it a lot.

Hi Haley,


It's fine that you use your cellphone a lot, just please be careful crossing the street

Good luck on getting to ONEderland. I'm trying to get there too -so close but yet so far

Wow Pookie, you are super close!!! Good luck to both of you! I've got a ways to go but I sure am looking forward to it

Haley: that's good that gym time is you time... plus you know everyone would tease you to death if you admitted to being on the treadmill with your cell!

I think I understand the cellphone craze. I didn't always...until I got one with Cingular which allows me to talk to my friends and family anytime anywhere without using minutes (cause they all have Cingular too...what an evil ploy, Cingular!)

Anyway, one of the consequences of the digital age is a drastic isolationism which has never existed before in any human society. In the past, human contact was necessary for survival. Consider the early colonization of America. People lived in tight-knit communities and depended on each other. Even as people spred across the country into more desolate areas, they weren't alone. People had large families...you would never see a string of houses where no one on the street knew each other... Even in the early 50's before tv was mainstream people were much more community-centric. These days though, you never have to have human interaction at all. You can have virtually everything delivered. Families spend time in front of the TV or computer instead of with each other. What interaction we do have is more and more disassociated. Humans are social creatures by nature, though. It's how we've managed to survive as long as we have despite our many frailties.

I think the reason people spend so much time on cell-phones is because in the sea of constant work and busy schedules and over-stimulation, it's one of the few ways left to maintain that ever thinning bond between self and others....and because it lacks the substance of real contact, much much more time is needed to invest in those bonds, and even then, the result is less than satisfying.

It's really quite sad and ironic. Technological advances has allowed us greater communication than has ever existed and yet, as a whole, we're more alone now than we ever have been.

Wow, Solus, very thought provoking. We recently implemented some new software which allows me to work from home (I used to drive 2.5 hrs each way and only was home on the weekends) and there was one period when I realized that I literally had not spoken to another human being in person in three days. I have seriously considered getting a 2nd 5-10 hr/week job in retail or something just to force me to get some human interaction. How sad is that?