Fashions have a way of coming full-circle. A craze passes and is replaced by its near-opposite. Will this happen with cell phones?
These rapidly proliferating devices represent a major technological advance, no question. Without a doubt, they provide convenience.
But let's face it, aside from those emergency calls, the way they're used is determined mainly by the dictates of fashion. And for those out of their teens, flashin' the phone is no longer in fashion.
It's already been written up in the business section of the paper. Allowing a ring tone to be heard or answering a cell call at a business lunch is very uncool. "Do turn off your mobile phone," states Darah Hansen in a recent article on dos and don'ts for business lunches in The Vancouver Sun.
The evolution in cell phone manners reminds me of the situation with televisions, when they first came out and everyone was glued to them. Well, not quite everyone. The more forward-looking, the less enslaved by fashion made up a joke that went like this:
"Do you have a television?"
"Of course. But we keep it out of sight, in a closed room."
The same could soon be said of cell phones. Have them, by all means. But except when needed, they should be kept in the purse or pocket, decently out of sight and mind.
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