Mobile phone's have altered my perception

[Zak33]

20 years ago, if I'd seen this lady, stood stock still, for 7 minutes, near my house, going nowhere, .....stock still, looking down into her own hands.....I'd have worried for her mental health.
http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/5168/pict0001wf9.jpg

7 minutes is a long long time.

2 seconds is how long it took me to realise that she was texting. So I thought nothing more about it for over 5 minutes, then looked out...she was still there. Long text.

The thing is....... 20 years ago I really WOULD have had to go and see if she's alright. Now....it means nothing.

[Lee H]

20 years ago if you saw people walking down the road talking to themselves with either a blue light near their ear or a cable coming from their pocket to ear, this would have usually meant a trip in the padded van to the local mental health assessment unit.

Now it's the norm when you look down any high street of a city or town.

[Dareos]

10 years ago people walking down the street talking to themselves, sometimes loudly and argumentatively would have had you calling for the men in white coats. Now all you think is *oh, another rubbishrubbishrubbishrubbish with a bluetooth headset*

[Ferral]

Yeah, market is saturated at the min with mobiles. Everyone has got them from minors to older folks that have them for a backup in case something happens.

They are becoming so advanced, we can thank Nokia for that one using the symbian operating system. I have Doom 2 running on my 6110 Navigator using an emulator and pulling the wad files off the origional CD.

In most towns and cities you see people hanging around doing that moreso, even see kids swapping music with bluetooth. To think they are now part of everyday life, must admit I would be quite lost without mine. We don't use the landline anymore, it is completely mobile now all the way!

[Dareos]

LEE YOU ARE FREAKING ME OUT

(comp still not here yet )

[Brucelles]

If you have kids the world really has changed. I don't know if you remember not having a mobile, having to arrange ahead of time when and where to meet friends, being out of touch in emergencies and doing everything communicational the manual way.

I bought my daughter her first phone aged 7 and it was a godsend. I still get an occasional text saying "OK. In Studio A' so I know that she's well, safe and happy.

[Dareos]

yes, but people used to be self reliant, they used to be able to spell using all the letters in the alphabet and they used to be able to hold a conversation in a social environment without checking their phone for messages every 34 seconds.

I hate mobile phones for many a reason, yet i still carry one, which makes me a complete hypocrite as i am well aware. I cannot deny their usefulness, but i resent the negative effects they have had on society greatly.

[Lee H]

Mobiles have also eaten to the the basic common courtesy and manners of society today.

Take these "bluetooth" warriors, walking through towns, cities and streets everywhere. They are so wrapped up in their conversations half the time that their spacial awareness goes into the bin and they walk and barge into everyone without having the common decency to politely say sorry.

[Dareos]

Bluetooth Warriors, love that phrase

The one situation that really got me was when in a club, surrounded by people, i saw a bf/gf sitting together with identical phones out texting, for about half an hour.

why the hell would you ever pay money to get into a club to sit down and do that? Especially when you are with your other half. It would be like me taking a laptop on a date and sitting here chatting to you guys (i love you guys and all, but there are boundaries....)

[chicken]

checking their phone for messages every 34 seconds.

Not anymore, Facebook ate my text-life, I barely get any texts now!


It's amazing though how many people started out slating people with mobiles, claiming they'd never get one themselves, and now it's the norm.

Our TV hasn't worked for about a month (builders and their magic cable-finding digger to blame) and I've barely noticed. Forget my phone for a day and it's like my arm's missing!

[Steve]

My mobile phone is in for repair, so I'm using an XDA. It feels very wrong.

I was attached to that mobile, I was.

[IBM]

I don't use my bluetooth headset outside of the car, but got to say this hatred of people who wear bluetooths to make calls on foot is a little excessive. I hate holding my phone to my head for long conversations. It hurts my arm. I'd happily use a headset instead, and screw those lot who don't like it 'cause they have to do a double take as to why someone is talking to themselves. Am I talking to you? Do I know who you are? Then why am I expected to raise my hand to the side of my head to notify you of my ongoing conversation? Get used to it, and quit bitching.

[MadduckUK]

20 years ago, if I'd seen this lady, stood stock still, for 7 minutes, near my house, going nowhere, .....stock still, looking down into her own hands.....I'd have worried for her mental health.

[Dareos]

to paraphrase Stephen Fry

"the phone is incredibly rude, it is the equivalent of someone walking into your office and shouting HELLO TALK TO ME every 2 seconds until you pay attention to them"

Gotta love Mr Fry

[kickstart 1]

20 years ago if you had seen someone with a blue light near their ear .. you would have believed in Cybermen

[menthel]

I'm more worriesd about the person who watches people on their phones from 7 minutes and takes photos of them!

I think mobiles have changed our lives, especially texting. To be able to contact someone without having to actually speak to them is good for me and probably most men. It enables men to distill their phone skills round to a few presses on a keyboard.