Building on top of an earlier rant – (link here ) – I noticed something else about cell phone usage that drives me crazy. This one is easy to spot and you can check it out pretty much anywhere you go any more.
I think we may have gone just a little too far with cell phone usage and common manners. Go to any local Mall and you’ll see what I mean for this first one. This is one of my favorites because I usually only see it with teenagers. What makes it all the more fun to watch is how teenagers typically think they are way to cool for anything and know absolutely everything. Don’t argue with me here on this one – I was a teenager once and I’m sure I was the exact same way. They hit the Mall in groups. Let’s say there is a group of 7 teens walking together through the Mall. Look closely. At least 2 of them will be on cell phones to other people. Usually more. I’m being generous here. They are so cool and bored with everything and everyone that they can’t even stand talking to each other.
Another peeve about cell usage is public places – like restaurants. It’s going to happen. Your cell phone is going to ring while at dinner eventually. Is it really such a big deal to excuse yourself and get up and leave the table to take the call in the lobby or outside? Do you have to sit at your table so that we can all hear your conversation? What about the poor person sitting with you that you are now ignoring? Rude.
Since I was traveling this week I got to see a lot of usage on the plane. Yes, the plane. It seems to be a big deal to walk on to a plane using your cell and then you need to make sure to stay on it until the last possible minute when they tell you to turn off all portable electronics and cell phones. It’s the same thing when the wheels of the plane touch the ground. What’s the deal with that? Why do the rest of us have to hear your conversation? Don’t people realize how loud they are when they are on their cell phones? Rude.
We’ve lost our common decency and ability to be polite anymore. I blame a lot of it on the convenience of technology. But just because you can do something doesn’t always mean you should.
Val and I walked the 5k for the Race For The Cure again this year. I took a bunch of pictures while we were walking and they came out better than I expected. This year there were 33,000 people there and it made the walk pretty slow, but it was all for a good cause. One thing that really was troubling to me was the fact that while this could barely be considered exercise because of the pace, people were just struggling to make it. Let’s face it Pittsburgh, too many of us are way too fat. It’s disgusting. I’m disgusting. Time to do something about it. All of us. When you can’t walk 3 miles at an extremely slow pace without gasping for air and continually stopping, it’s time to reevaluate things.