People and cell phones

Scottwax said:
I think you are overgeneralizing here. Besides, how can something nearly every teenager has be a status symbol?
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I am one of the few students at my school that doesn't carry a cell phone around everywhere I go. I have one, but I just keep it in my car, in case of emergency or to warn someone that I'll be late or whatever.



I think the "status symbol" part really comes into play when everyone has to have the newest phone. My phone is a big box with no camera, no games, no nothing. I see people walking around with their phones in hand, or just pushing buttons to make some noise and attract attention to their "sweet" new phone. :rolleyes: It's sad when people can't have any self-confidence without having the newest phone, following the latest trends, etc...
 
White95Max said:
I think the "status symbol" part really comes into play when everyone has to have the newest phone.
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Completely agree. A lot of the technologically advanced phones have mediocre reception and signal strength so the people have them for no other reason than to have the "best." Granted, there are a few exceptions but when you walk into a cellular service store, so many of the phones have lost functionality (especially if you're older and can't see well, LOL). The useless features further prove my point of them being a status symbol.
 
I personally like cell phones because I like gadgets, and I change cell phones frequently. People just like gadgets.



Cell phones are definately a status symbol though.



We were just talking about this on the LOC board, there have been comparative studies done where people are asked to describe pictures of a man talking on a cell phone, and the same man dressed the same way not talking on a cell phone, people rated the man talking as more affluent, charismatic, more personable and friendly, more popular, more influential. Basic point is people rated the man on the cell phone more highly than the same man not on a cell phone.



As for people on phones in cars, you'd be surprised how many people need to be in constant contact to work. I'm self employed, the only contact my customers have with me is my cell phone. If I'm in the car and an important customer calls me I answer, you would too. In the age of cell phones people expect you to answer. For a lot of people in a lot of professions cell phones are a neccisary thing in 2005.
 
GoodnClean said:
As for people on phones in cars, you'd be surprised how many people need to be in constant contact to work. I'm self employed, the only contact my customers have with me is my cell phone. If I'm in the car and an important customer calls me I answer, you would too. In the age of cell phones people expect you to answer. For a lot of people in a lot of professions cell phones are a neccisary thing in 2005.
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Business is one thing, having a casual conversation while laughing is quite another. You can generally tell who is on the phone for business versus pleasure, and at least around here, pleasure is more rampant.
 
TW85 HHI said:
Business is one thing, having a casual conversation while laughing is quite another. You can generally tell who is on the phone for business versus pleasure, and at least around here, pleasure is more rampant.
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Does it matter? If I am paying the bill, I'll talk to whom ever I want. However, I don't talk while standing in a line or anywhere else it might disturb others and I don't talk in heavy traffic, even on my hands free.
 
Scottwax said:
Does it matter? If I am paying the bill, I'll talk to whom ever I want. However, I don't talk while standing in a line or anywhere else it might disturb others and I don't talk in heavy traffic, even on my hands free.
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LOL, I could care less about the purpose of your conversations as long as a) you're polite about it and b) the conversation poses no danger to myself or other people (i.e., talking while driving).
 
What *amuses* me most is when people use hand gestures while talking on the phone :rolleyes: Amusing isn't exactly the right word for it when it's somebody using a hand-held cell phone while driving...
 
TW85 HHI said:
Business is one thing, having a casual conversation while laughing is quite another. You can generally tell who is on the phone for business versus pleasure, and at least around here, pleasure is more rampant.
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Really? You can? When you deal with customers in a PR and sales context sometimes business is conducted and nobody outside would know it. You think golf outings or outings to strip clubs with customers are serious and businesslike? No, but LOTS of business gets conducted there and personal relationships are formed and forged. Thats what business is all about. When a sales executive is "working" people unfamiliar with sales would have no idea.



Did your father retire yet or is he still with the paper company?
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Oh no, he'll never retire I don't think he could. He's been travelling a lot, he's gone next week and the week after. They've expanded their company to a whole bunch of other cities all around the country and he moves around a lot now going from place to place. He was even in Korea for work a few months ago.



I'll tell him you said hi!
 
GoodnClean said:
Really? You can? When you deal with customers in a PR and sales context sometimes business is conducted and nobody outside would know it. You think golf outings or outings to strip clubs with customers are serious and businesslike? No, but LOTS of business gets conducted there and personal relationships are formed and forged. Thats what business is all about.
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We are not talking about PR and forming relationships with clients while in a strip bar (no offense, but just how easily can a professional image be maintained while in a strip bar?). We are talking about the over usage of cell phones by people that use/have them for the purpose of status or pleasure. Conducting business on a cell is understandable, even while driving and I applaud those that pull off or keep the conversations to a minimum until they come to a stop.
 
LOL You'd be surprised. Many MANY huge business deals have gone down in strip clubs (I personally don't do that, I'm just saying it does happen. I know my dad has entertained people in strip clubs before). What you've got to understand is a lot of these guys are close longtime friends as well as in a customer-friend relationship. Professionalism starts business relationships but personal enjoyment and friendship make them last 20 years. Thats why you can't be certain someone laughing on a cell phone in a car isn't conducting business.



As for pulling over and stopping, sometimes thats not possible. If you work enough on a cell phone you'd never get anywhere.
 
TW85 HHI said:
LOL, I could care less about the purpose of your conversations as long as a) you're polite about it and b) the conversation poses no danger to myself or other people (i.e., talking while driving).
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Your wording sounded as if you believe the only reason people should talk on cell phones is for business purposes. :nixweiss
 
Scottwax said:
Your wording sounded as if you believe the only reason people should talk on cell phones is for business purposes. :nixweiss
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I think that's what he's trying to get at, but that only applies to when people are driving. People shouldn't be taking their concentration off the road just to talk about who they saw at McDonalds or something trivial like that.
 
Honestly though, studies show that talking on a cell phone is no more distracting than eating, drinking, changing radio stations, or having a conversation with someone else in the car. Its LESS distracting then driving a car with a heads up display (cut down reaction times as much as alcohol in some trials) or driving with the windshield wipers on. Cell phones are not the huge danger that the media makes them out to be.
 
GoodnClean said:
Honestly though, studies show that talking on a cell phone is no more distracting than eating, drinking, changing radio stations, or having a conversation with someone else in the car... Cell phones are not the huge danger that the media makes them out to be.
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I agree, but then some people are dangerously distracted by most anything. I've dropped my cell so that I could immediately, and properly, deal with my driving, and it wasn't any different from any other case of getting both hands on the wheel. But I dunno if the "average driver" is gonna do that without a momentary pause that could make all the difference :nixweiss



Still, I just don't like the whole " :nono approach" where we tell people what they can/can't do because they can't be trusted to make their own decisions. I'd rather take my chances dealing with the dummies who make the wrong choices; after all, if I'm the driver it's my job to deal with anything that happens, including other drivers (or errant wildlife :o ). Life is dangerous, just gotta deal with it.
 
Maybe I just take driving more seriously than a lot of people. I avoid talking on the phone while driving, I do not drink until I'm stopped at a light or stop sign, and I avoid conversation if I am the driver. You never know when a situation will pop up that suddenly requires 100% of your concentration and effort. It already takes the average person around 1.5 seconds to react. Add having to get rid of a distraction first...:eek:
 
Accumulator said:
I agree, but then some people are dangerously distracted by most anything. I've dropped my cell so that I could immediately, and properly, deal with my driving, and it wasn't any different from any other case of getting both hands on the wheel. But I dunno if the "average driver" is gonna do that without a momentary pause that could make all the difference :nixweiss
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This is true, note though that this study looks at people using cell phones hands free. I can't think of any researchers who believe talking on a phone while holding it in your hand is not dangerous. This is why everyone supports the laws that require hands free but don't support laws to ban phones entirely (which are popping up all over the country).



Still, I just don't like the whole " approach" where we tell people what they can/can't do because they can't be trusted to make their own decisions. I'd rather take my chances dealing with the dummies who make the wrong choices; after all, if I'm the driver it's my job to deal with anything that happens, including other drivers (or errant wildlife ). Life is dangerous, just gotta deal with it.
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I agree 100%. What worries me the most is that its a "foot in the door" type issue. Once you ban cell phones, whats next? I already can't put a destination into my nav screen while moving, and niether can my passenger which requires me to pull off the road, which can be VERY dangerous in its own right. Whats next? Can't change radio stations when moving, I'm gonna get a ticket for eating a big mac, at what point am I no longer free to make my own decisions?



I remember one time, I was a kid...well a teenager I guess and I was riding with my dad on the beltway. He's in sales and he's always on the phone when he's in the car, to him its part of the workday. This was back when people had phones hard installed in their cars and he had a his phone installed next to his console (one of the tethered type phones). Usually he used the speakerphone but when people couldn't hear (which was common with the old analog phones) he would pick up the phone and talk on it. Well we were behind this pickup truck and its payload fell onto the road in front of us, I've never seen anyone react so quick, one second he was talking, and in a split second he dropped the phone and swerved around the obstruction. For him he'd been talking and driving for so long it was no longer a distraction.
 
GoodnClean said:
Honestly though, studies show that talking on a cell phone is no more distracting than eating, drinking, changing radio stations, or having a conversation with someone else in the car. Its LESS distracting then driving a car with a heads up display (cut down reaction times as much as alcohol in some trials) or driving with the windshield wipers on. Cell phones are not the huge danger that the media makes them out to be.
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Agreed. I see people shaving, putting on make-up, and even reading a book (it was laying on his steering wheel). The cops should pull over people driving erratically, slowly, etc no matter what they are or are not doing. Too bad they'd rather pick off speeders on lightly traveled roads when higher speeds are perfectly safe.
 
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