Cell phones, cell phones everywhere...

Woodmonkey · 03-23-2006, 19:43

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm tired of others' cell phones ringing when courtesy would dictate the damn things be turned off. The church my grandie was baptised at has that sacrament incorporated into Sunday Mass. During her baptism, someone's cell rang and he actually started to carry on a conversation. I think it was the look on my face that changed his mind.

Quote:

The scene is all too familiar to the modern moviegoer: The theater is pin-drop quiet as Ben and Jen are about to declare undying love for each other. Suddenly, the latest ring tone from Coldplay or 50 Cent blares from a teenager's purse, filling the darkened movie house. Not only is the moment lost, but so is the next, and the one after that, as patrons shush the naughty teen while she giggles her way through a phone chat with a friend. "I'm at a movie ... a movie! Right, where do you want to meet? Oh, it's really good, I'll tell you all about it. Later!"

This could all change. This past week the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO) pondered blocking cellphone signals as a way to improve the cinema experience. The idea was a hot topic in the nation's gambling capital this past week when theater owners from coast to coast met to preview the summer lineups from movie studios and trade tips on combating falling movie theater attendance. The 6,000-strong membership of NATO voted to authorize its board to look into changing federal laws that currently prevent them from using cellphone-jamming equipment in theaters.

"We have an issue with rude patron behavior," says John Fithian, president of NATO. "Cellphones going off in theaters is the most pronounced problem," he says, adding that a recent NATO survey of theatergoers showed that nearly 80 percent favored some form of cellphone jamming. "The overwhelming majority of our own members support the idea as well."

For the moment, cellphone-jamming equipment is illegal in the US, even for agencies such as local police or fire departments. However, other countries are beginning to crack down on rude cellphone users. France recently changed its laws to allow movie theaters to use the jamming technology. A number of Catholic churches in Mexico use Israeli military jamming gear to stop parishioners from interrupting services with their wireless chatting (presumably with mere mortals).

Not surprisingly, the cellular industry's national trade group, CTIA - The Wireless Association, is against the idea. "We're vehemently opposed for the simple reason that it's no one's right or prerogative to deny emergency communications to go through," says John Walls, CTIA vice president of public affairs. "That's why jamming is illegal. These are the public airwaves - they are for everyone, and everyone has a right to use them."

Companies that manufacture jamming equipment are also opposed, on similar grounds. "Jamming equipment should only be used by the government, such as the police and the bomb squads, not the general public," says Howard Melamed of CellAntenna, one such company. "Jamming is a weapon that should only be used against illegal activities."

Mr. Melamed and others point out that there are less severe measures theater owners could take, such as paint that blocks signals and a new technology his own company will be offering by summertime, which he dubs "cell calming" technology. It allows emergency calls to go through while stopping general-purpose calls without jamming the full spectrum of cell calls. (Melamed is tight-lipped about the technology, saying only that it has a "patent pending.")

However, others such as Bay Area moviegoer Peter Brown says the issue is one of basic manners. Mr. Brown, a marketing consultant, says he and "a good friend" have found that a lightweight water pistol will work wonders with chatty cellphone users. Though he does not recommend this technique to others, he notes with some satisfaction that they've never been caught. If the guilty party looks back to see who has nipped his neck with water, "we simply practice the quick whip-around and affronted look that insinuates that you, too, have been hit."

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las47032 · 03-24-2006, 01:43

Not only cell phones ringing during church service or a baptismal, but people talking on cell phones while they are driving.

There has been quite a few accidents and some have been fatal because people were talking on cell phones.

Scrappy · 03-24-2006, 02:41

Freaking cell phones. I see people talking on them at 0555, who the heck do you need to be talking to before 0900?

I don't have one (probably should have one) and, most likely, will eventually get one. Can people not go more than 3 hours without having to say something to someone who may or may not give a rats rear end? If you can't talk to the people around you, then stfu.

Nothing ruins my lunch more than someone sitting across the table from me running off at the mouth, but not speaking to me

This is what I'd like to do to the rude bastages who think a phone call is more important than the person they were speaking to

Even on a land line with my wife talking about finances, when something needs addressing (even a whiner) I just say "Got to go, see ya" and address the person there.

actually speak to the person with you rather than someone not with you...... imagine a world with no phones

JohnRN · 03-24-2006, 13:54

I don't vote for a ban or jamming of any kind. That's simply wrong.

I can afford either a landline or a cellphone - and I choose a cellphone, simply because the only time I am at home is either to sleep or cook food or to shower and shave. Having a landline is pointless.

During class or at the movies etc., I leave my phone on vibrate if I'm expecting an important call. It's pointless to speak in a theater anyways - you either have to talk too softly or too loudly (to be heard over the movie) - simpler to just walk out and finish off that one minute phone call. In class, I walk out the back exits and take the call before returning.

I've seen some jokers use their cellphones near our ICUs - just pisses me off! Signs clearly tell people NOT to use cellphones unless in a designated area!

What I DO vote for - is if it rings in a theater, church (or any other palce where signs especially tell you to turn them off) - to unceremoniously boot the offenders out and keep them out.

I've been known to cut short my meetings or "lunches" with people simply because their phone kept going off and they kept taking their calls - hey, if you have more important things to do, do so by all means. Just don't insult me in the process and waste my time, I have other things to do as well!

Point being? Courteous people are going to be nice about things - and most people are courteous. It's the minority few who act like complete idiots and ruin it for the rest of us. Bad examples make for bad cases make for bad law. You can't legislate courtesy, just as you can't legislate morality.

hughesjw · 03-24-2006, 15:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Woodmonkey

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm tired of others' cell phones ringing when courtesy would dictate the damn things be turned off. The church my grandie was baptised at has that sacrament incorporated into Sunday Mass. During her baptism, someone's cell rang and he actually started to carry on a conversation. I think it was the look on my face that changed his mind.

It really is getting ridiculous. Cell phones are everywhere now. People seem to think there is no inappropriate time to whip them out and talk.

While I am reluctanly becoming accustomed to the new level of discourtesy people display while using them, I am still amazed by the activities some people indulge in while on the phone.

I was both surprised and amused to see an entire line of yuppies blathering away on their cell phones while running on treadmills at the gym. Not one, not two, but a whole line of them. I'm all in favor of multitasking, but that is a bit much.

-jwh

Scrappy · 04-02-2006, 00:38

Imagine someone saying something to you, and you respond, and then they look at you strange

reveiling their wireless earpiece.

dude at least hold up a finger asking me to hold on

conlor · 04-02-2006, 15:35

Sometimes in line at the store, the person behind you is talking and you assume they're talking to you, but they're on their cell. At work, some people go outside on their breaks and are on their cells the entire time.

Most cells phones have the message feature, don't they? You can call the person back in a couple minutes, after you finish the conversation you're in, or leave church.