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Technology

Cell Phone Is The Most Hated Invention 704

Posted by timothy from the seattle-police-car-572-hates-turn-signals dept.
Romeo Elias Cabrera writes "The most hated invention in America -although also one of the most used- is the cell phone, according a recent survey. The Lemelson-MIT Invention Index, an annual survey by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, found that among adults asked what invention they hate most but can't live without, 30 percent said the cell phone."
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Cell Phone Is The Most Hated Invention More

Cell Phone Is The Most Hated Invention

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  • What about... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by inertia187 ( 156602 ) * on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @08:28PM (#8038138) Homepage Journal
    Cell Phone Is The Most Hated Invention

    My, how short our collective memories are. Have we already forgotten about astroturf? How about the rubber-chicken-with-the-pully-in-the-middle? Michael Jackson's nose? Umkay?

    • Re:What about... (Score:5, Informative)

      by Acidic_Diarrhea ( 641390 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @08:30PM (#8038173) Homepage Journal
      The survey was asking about inventions that the respondants could not live without. I think that all the things you listed clearly fall into the category of being items everyone can live without.
    • or the talking bass fish?

      the dancing santa?

      or anything build around the dancing santa skeleton?

      the dancing baby?

    • My, how short our collective memories are...

      I totally agree. I mean, how could you forget all of - shit, hold on real quick. Call coming in..

    • Oh, sweet irony (Score:3, Insightful)

      by rs79 ( 71822 )
      We have a cell phone, or rather my wife does. It sits in the kitchen in its cradle 99% of the time. We'll use it if we're going more than into town (we live way out in the country) and is really for emergancies.

      The only person it annoyes is me when the bill comes ("golly aren't roaming charges large").

      So, I RTFA and what do I see? Blinky blinky flashy flash flash flash blink blink ads strewn all over the page with wild abondon.

      I can live with annoying cell phones; granted I don't live in those bastions o

  • Further down... (Score:3, Funny)

    by MarsCtrl ( 255543 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @08:30PM (#8038163) Homepage Journal
    Second on the list: "Marriage"

  • Well duh... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @08:30PM (#8038165)
    What other invention can disrupt virtually any event, almost always at the worst time? (Besides CmdrTaco bringing out nude Natalie Portman pictures...)

    Speaking of which, I welcome our new Annoying Cellphone Overlords.

    • Re:Well duh... (Score:5, Funny)

      by minion ( 162631 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @08:50PM (#8038421)
      What other invention can disrupt virtually any event, almost always at the worst time? (Besides CmdrTaco bringing out nude Natalie Portman pictures...)

      There is never a "worst time" for nude Natalie Portman pictures.


      • There is never a "worst time" for nude Natalie Portman pictures.

        I was just about to score with Natalie Portman, when she found my stash of nude Natalie Portman pictures......

      • Re:Well duh... (Score:3, Informative)

        by Larry David ( 738420 )
        I love the way that was modded up 'Insightful.'

        Actually, I really like Natalie Portman, but when I saw those (real) topless pics of her.. man, she's just normal, nothing going on there.

        Check it out [google.com].. pictures 1, 3, 4, and the first and second ones on the second row are real. All of rest are fake or clothed.

    • Re:Well duh... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Geek of Tech ( 678002 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @09:10PM (#8038617) Homepage Journal
      >> What other invention can disrupt virtually any event, almost always at the worst time? (Besides CmdrTaco bringing out nude Natalie Portman pictures...)

      That's simple. Natalie Portman bringing out nude pictures of CmdrTaco...

      (Just kiddin' CmdrTaco!)

      Oh, am I the only one who is still waiting on the next edition of "Geeks in Space"?

    • Re:Well duh... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Lord Ender ( 156273 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @09:21PM (#8038739) Homepage
      "What other invention can disrupt virtually any event, almost always at the worst time?"

      It's not always at the worst time. Sometimes it is at the best time. I was at a dinner at church and we were being led in prayer before we ate, so the room was completely quiet except for the pastor. Just as the pastor said "Lord, help us to hear your call," his cell phone rang. It was the funniest shit that's happened at church in a while. Perfect timing...

      • Re:Well duh... (Score:5, Funny)

        by Just Some Guy ( 3352 ) <kirk+slashdot@strauser.com> on Wednesday January 21, 2004 @12:21AM (#8040013) Homepage Journal
        A similarly humorous event:

        Easter Sunday. Southern Baptist church in a small town in the American Midwest. Quiet, reverent, and intent on the pastor's words.

        Goth chick who'd been dragged to church by her normal looking dad gets a call. Answers it. On the third row. In a conservative church on Easter Sunday.

        Dad smacks the girl on the back of the head, grabs the phone, and breaks it in half - then silently turns back to the pastor to hear the rest of the sermon as if nothing had happened.

        Small church breaks out in spontaneous applause and everyone leaves in a good mood, with one exception.

        I wanted to shake that guy's hand.

        • Re:Well duh... (Score:5, Insightful)

          by 0x0d0a ( 568518 ) on Wednesday January 21, 2004 @02:44AM (#8040798) Journal
          Of course, now she has zero chance of willingly going to said church again. She was humiliated in front of everyone, a presumably expensive piece of hardware was broken, and she was whacked.

          The easiest solution, methinks, would have been not dragging her to church if she didn't want to go. Trying to force church on the actively disliking is a waste of time and effort.

          • Re:Well duh... (Score:3, Insightful)

            by Just Some Guy ( 3352 )
            She was humiliated in front of everyone

            No. She humiliated herself in front of everyone. There are some occasions in life that deserve respect whether or not you go along with them. Frankly, if I were taking my kids to visit a mosque, temple, or synagogue, I would hold them to the same level of behavior as in their own church.

            There's such a thing as knowing your surroundings. The girl found herself in a room full of people who were very serious about being there. Even if she wasn't, she should've be

    • My ex wife? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by rs79 ( 71822 )
      Know why divorce is so expensive?

      Because it's WORTH IT.

  • It's obvious really... (Score:3, Funny)

    by fred87 ( 720738 ) <mail@fredemmot[ ]o.uk ['t.c' in gap]> on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @08:30PM (#8038167) Homepage
    Most hated invention: SCO Unixware

  • method bias? (Score:5, Funny)

    by ScottSpeaks! ( 707844 ) * on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @08:31PM (#8038185) Homepage Journal
    The random telephone survey of 1,023 adults and 500 teenagers ...

    Maybe cell phones wouldn't have gotten such a bad rap in this survey if they hadn't done it by y'know... calling people on the phone. :)

    • Re:method bias? (Score:2, Informative)

      by rhetoric ( 735114 )
      Those numbers do seem a little skewed.. I work part-time on a project basis with an opinion research firm, and I know that sampling is done very carefully in order to get accurate results. I also know that if the people doing the research are biased, the results can follow.

  • Anything that beeps.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by rhetoric ( 735114 ) <`moc.rr.submuloc' `ta' `cirotehr'> on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @08:32PM (#8038187)
    ..must annoy

    From the article, " Alarm clocks were a close second..."

    You need it, but damn do you want to break it sometimes.

    • Re:Anything that beeps.. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by ricochet81 ( 707864 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @08:43PM (#8038349)
      seconding that...who's idea was it to make virtually all cell phones "Beep" while turning them to the "silent" position.
    • "Alarm clocks were a close second..."
      You need it, but damn do you want to break it sometimes.

      When I read this at first, I thought it went along with SargeZT's comment, "I thought it would of been the condom."

    • Alarm Clock UI sucks (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Ilan Volow ( 539597 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @09:00PM (#8038523) Homepage
      It's not only the beeping of alarm clocks, or the fact that they wake you up in the middle of your threesome with Brittney Spears and Christina Aguilera.

      Alarm clocks have some of the worst human interfaces around. Many make it far too easy to set the wrong time (the AM/PM dot hell), and many are a true pain in the ass to set, forcing one to take up to a minute just to cycle to the time you want.

      Given that your typical alarm clock possesses a fraction of the technology of a simple PDA and designing the technology of one shouldn't be that complex, it's kind of pathetic that after all these years the design of your typical alarm lock user interface still sucks.

      Sure, some people will probably laugh and blow off this criticism mere nitpicking, but I wouldn't be surprised if employees' difficulty setting alarm clocks has cost businesses as much per year as the common cold .

  • Really... (Score:2, Funny)

    by SargeZT ( 609463 ) *
    I thought it would of been the condom.

  • Still don't have a cell phone... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by VistaBoy ( 570995 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @08:32PM (#8038198)
    ...and I still don't want one.

    Did you ever notice that things have gotten way more stressful in the past few decades? We're getting all this advanced technology, and for what? So that we can get in touch with anyone anywhere? So that we can have our bosses bother us at any time with useless BS work that "can't wait until tomorrow?" I say the cell phone is the biggest stress-causer ever, and anyone who has one should eliminate it from their lives.

    • Ok, wait until you need it when you have a flat tire but no spare, then tell me that it causes stress.

    • Re:Still don't have a cell phone... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @08:39PM (#8038306) Homepage
      I understand what you say. I have a cell phone, but I keep it off, ALL THE TIME. I don't tell other people the number. I can use it if I get into a wreck (and I have), or if something else very important comes up. But I refuse to keep it on all the time. I can't even go one class in college now (even 45 minute ones with only a handfull of people) without a cell phone going off. And in my largest class (~1000 people) you could hear 3 or 4 if you listened every day. If people would just stop leaving the damn things on and answering every call even when they don't feel like it, they might not hate 'em so much.

      • Re:Still don't have a cell phone... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by FreemanPatrickHenry ( 317847 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @09:03PM (#8038558)
        Indeed. The vast majority of all cellphone ringers are horrendously annoying. Every time I sit in a room and one of these dumb MIDI ringtones plays (and, mind you, they play loudly), I want to strangle someone.

        What's wrong with keeping your phone on vibrate? If I'm having a conversation with you, I don't need to stop and wait for you to answer your phone and chit-chat for several minutes and say "I need to go, I'll call you back later." That's what voicemail is for. Keep it on vibrate, let it forward callers to voicemail.

        Seriously, we need to enforce some cell phone etiquette. And they call us not socially adjusted.
    • Pffft. I've had a cell phone for something like 7 or 8 years. It doesn't give me any stress. It's not a leash for my boss to keep track of me, it's not a 24/7 contact device and it causes me absolutely no stress. It's a tool...just like a hammer. It's great for calling my wife at home when I'm at the grocery store because I found something tasty that might be good for dinner. It's handy for traveling because the people who have my number can find me in an emergency. And speaking of emergencies, well,

  • The SUV (Score:5, Funny)

    by bartash ( 93498 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @08:32PM (#8038201)
    I hate the SUV [salon.com].

    • Re:The SUV (Score:3, Insightful)

      by HardCase ( 14757 )
      I hate the SUV.

      It's chic to hate the SUV, but I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the number of times that my Ford Explorer has gotten me (or, better put, others) out of trouble, mostly from people driving their front wheel drive econoboxes in the snow like it was the Indy 500. I know that I'm in the minority, but a small resort town in the mountains requires some sort of four wheel drive vehicle with a little bit of oomph. There's no way that a small passenger car is going to get through th

      • Re:The SUV (Score:4, Insightful)

        by RevMike ( 632002 ) <revMikeNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @09:28PM (#8038788) Journal
        It's chic to hate the SUV, but I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the number of times that my Ford Explorer has gotten me (or, better put, others) out of trouble, mostly from people driving their front wheel drive econoboxes in the snow like it was the Indy 500. I know that I'm in the minority, but a small resort town in the mountains requires some sort of four wheel drive vehicle with a little bit of oomph. There's no way that a small passenger car is going to get through the roads after an overnight, two foot snowstorm. And even after the roads are plowed, they're still incredibly treacherous. And don't get me started on how in the world I'll get up to service a microwave link at the top of the mountain in a Subaru Justy.

        Like most tools, don't hate the tool, hate the person who missuses it. The SUV problem isn't a problem with SUVs, but is a problem with SUV owners. Take, for example, the extreme case of the Hummer. A few years ago they started popping up on roads around here (metro NYC) like crazy because they became a status symbol for the stock broker to drive out to the Hamptons. Most of them never got off pavement, and most of the drivers would have been a dangerous menace in a snowstorm. SUVs are not "good citizens" on the roads, and so it is incumbant that their drivers be good citizens. In too many cases that is not true.

        Personally, this is the list of people who should have SUVs...

        • People who work in construction and the like and need to haul tools and material.
        • People who need to tow a boat or trailer.
        • People who actually pursue off road driving as a hobby/sport.
        • People who have vital jobs (police/fire/nurses/utility crews) in areas that frequently suffer severe snowfalls.
        • People who farm, ranch, or travel on unimproved roads very often.

        ...and this is the list of people who shouldn't have SUVs...

        • Soccer moms - get a minivan instead.
        • People who have vital jobs (police/fire/nurses/utility crews) in areas that don't suffer severe snowfalls - a Subaru is going to do just as well.
        • People who want a status symbol - get a BMW instead.

        • Re:The SUV (Score:3, Insightful)

          by La Fortezza ( 690838 )
          What about tall people?

          I'm 6'4" and I cannot comfortably fit into a small SUV let alone a car. The only choice for me is a full size truck or a Suburban/Excursion/etc. I had a 1989 Toyota Camry in college and it was painful on the knees. It's pretty much the same type of pain as sitting in a movie theatre seat or amusement park ride; they were made for Joe Sixpack not the Jolly Green Giant.

          Some people have suggested I get the new Mini Cooper, tear out the driver seat and sit in the back. =)

        • Re:The SUV (Score:3, Insightful)

          by tmortn ( 630092 )
          I don't get yoru argument against the ( admittedly annoying ) SUV soccer mom. You know if the MPG is essentially the same in minivans and an SUV.. whats the big deal ?

          Most people are not bitching about the platform of a Minivan vrs an SUV. What it seems to me they are really bitching about is the common option of a big powerful V-8 in SUV's. Case in point the Dodge Durango with its 5.7 litre HEMI getting a cool 14mpg. But its not like minivans do so much beter. Town and Countries get about 18mpg. Most all
      • I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the number of times that my Ford Explorer has gotten me (or, better put, others) out of trouble, mostly from people driving their front wheel drive econoboxes in the snow like it was the Indy 500.

        Heh. Where I live (Baltimore,) there are plenty of coffee-canned-for-performance econoboxes and SUVs to go around. What's more, we get enough snow that it hits a few times every winter, but not enough snow to for the city to qualify as "a city that gets snow". An i

      • Re:The SUV (Score:5, Interesting)

        by nordicfrost ( 118437 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @09:45PM (#8038925)
        There's no way that a small passenger car is going to get through the roads after an overnight, two foot snowstorm.

        Tell that to the Jeep I pulled out of the snow with my 1987 Golf (1) GL. SUVs are worthless on snow. American SUVs are worthless in general. I can honestly say that I have not ever seen a double-bogey Explorer (or whatever it was) more pitiful than last week at Tryvann ski center [tryvann.no]. 25 cm with snow at it was stuck and had to be pulled out and to asphalt with a tractor.

  • I'm amazed that television didn't rank higher (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Eric Smith ( 4379 ) * on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @08:32PM (#8038204) Homepage Journal
    I've long thought that television was both the best and worst invention of the twentieth century.

    • Re:I'm amazed that television didn't rank higher (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Syncdata ( 596941 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @09:28PM (#8038792) Journal
      Pet theory: Televisions have been around for a long enough period of time, and have been so successful, that even those who were born before it's advent have become completely used to them.
      As for people (such as myself) who have always known television, we don't tend to think of them very much. A small cell phone is still rather novel. The television is so omni-present, that the mind filters it out subconsciously, much like it would a bad odor.
      So when a survey like this comes up, the likelyhood of someone saying television is low, because the mind doesn't even consider it as something that was invented, just something that is.
      And I agree with your analysis, btw

  • How about? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by atari2600 ( 545988 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @08:33PM (#8038214)


    Email?
    Television?

    Oops people do hate TVs and computers. I sometimes hate computers but the article says people hate razors? Dang - i love my Gillette Mach III. The only thing i would really hate is the battery - i need it really bad but hate the short life and the need to keep hunting for an electrical socket after a few hours - this thing called the battery is present in everything i kinda hate - cellphone, mp3 player, gameboy, laptop - a good part of the hate being that the battery life isn't great.

    Just my 0.02$

  • The cell phone doesn't have to be this way. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Faust7 ( 314817 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @08:33PM (#8038215) Homepage
    "The interconnectedness you get from the cell phone is a very positive thing, ... The downside of that is that you sometimes want to be alone," said Lemelson Center Director Merton C. Flemings.

    So turn it off.

  • Guns don't kill people.... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MuckSavage ( 658302 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @08:33PM (#8038224)
    It's not the cell phone itself, it's the asshole who is too busy talking on it to realize there is a world going on around them that is hated.

  • Are people really this stupid? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by doomdog ( 541990 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @08:34PM (#8038232)
    The cell phone is nothing but a tool... When you need one, they're very handy. When you don't want to be bothered by it, you use the OFF button. Have people forgotten that these things can be turned off? Or that the ringer can be silenced?

    The total inability to properly use a piece of technology shouldn't make it a "bad" piece of technology...
  • I hate cell phones!! I hate people who use them while driving, while around lots of people in public places, and especially in...

    Wait, I've got to take this call...

    <Bows>

  • More precisely.... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by BWJones ( 18351 ) * on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @08:36PM (#8038266) Homepage Journal
    Perhaps the questions should have been a little more precise. To my mind, I hate other peoples cell phones. My cell phone (when it is on), I like.

    This is all really social engineering to some extent. Devices that are engineered to minimize their effects on others will not impinge on the "space" of others. For instance, boom boxes were commonly reviled in the 80's, but when Apple designed the iPod, there was no internal speaker to annoy others with personal choices in music. The audio was left to headphones. With cell phones now, we have people's damned MIDI tones broadcasting all sorts of loud invasive tones in theaters, bistros and lectures. What's worse it the social engineering that has not had negative feedback like getting smacked for actually answering said MIDI-toned cell phone call.

  • None. They are convenient (at least when they work, but that's a limit of radio tech).

    What I DO hate is how incredibly inconsiderate people are with them. How fucking hard is it to hit 'silence' and wait until the elevator ride is done???

  • I hate:

    - super-annoying ring tones that people always seem to leave on, and at their loudest.
    - people who don't turn off their cell phones (and actually answer them!) in lectures, movies, libraries, ...
    - people who feel compelled to have conversations on their phones no matter the place: meetings, conservations, packed public places. Extra hate points for LOUD cell phone conversations.
    - people who walk around talking on cell phones just because they think they look "cool". I've eavesdropped on some of thes

  • cell phone was a godsend... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Exantrius ( 43176 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @08:38PM (#8038279)
    When I got my cell phone, I was a year into college, and I couldn't find housing-- I ended up couch surfing for six months, followed by living in places for between 1 and 6 months at a time for another two years. If I didn't have a cell phone, I would have had no phone number.

    Now that I'm no longer in college, and I live 300 miles away from that area code, it's the number that everyone knows, and so I don't want to give it up.

    Just because a lot of people are annoying on them (hang up and drive, and turn it off at dinner/movies/visiting with people), doesn't mean I hate the invention-- I hate it's uses...

    Kinda like video games and dance dance revolution. /ex

  • A better bad category (Score:2, Insightful)

    by shawkin ( 165588 )
    The least popular invention: bills.

  • 800.285.7772 (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Graymalkin ( 13732 ) * on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @08:38PM (#8038285)
    I think cell phones are the most abused technology and are thus the most hated. I think some people associate telephones with being at home and as such act on a cell phone as they do at home. People talk loudly, stop paying attention to the world around them, and generally shut off the parts of their brain that don't involve chattering. If people using cell phones weren't jerks there'd be little reason to hate them as they're pretty damn useful.

  • PTT (Score:5, Insightful)

    by egburr ( 141740 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @08:39PM (#8038299) Homepage
    It's not the cell phone I mind so much as Push To Talk. You're in a public place, you shouldn't be broadcasting your personal business to the whole area! Hole the damned thing up to your ear and don't force the rest of us to listen to it! also, keep your voice down, the person on the other end can hear you fine without your shouting.

    • Re:PTT (Score:4, Insightful)

      by cowscows ( 103644 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @09:10PM (#8038612) Journal
      Ah, speakerphone is the most horrid evolution of the phone. My mom has a portable phone that she always uses on speakerphone, even though she's walking all over the house and holding the receiver up to her ear anyways. I only spend a couple of weeks per year visiting her, but that drives me insane within a couple of days every time.

  • The computer is the worse invention (Score:5, Funny)

    by ad0gg ( 594412 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @08:40PM (#8038312)
    Now our kids stay home and play video games all day. Our daily socialization is now just emails. Instead of regular postcards we get ecards. Instead of going to flea market or yard sales, we use ebay. Instead of waiting every month for our playboy, we download images off usenet. Instead of phone sex, we have webcams and instant messenger. Those pictures of your mom at mardi gras no longer are confined to some guys wallet but are now for everyone in the world to see. That video of you pretending be a jedi master sword fighting is no longer local joke but a worldwise joke.

  • Coincidentally (Score:3, Funny)

    by serutan ( 259622 ) <snoopdoug@geekaz ... minus physicist> on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @08:46PM (#8038380) Homepage
    The cell phone was also voted most likely to get shoved up someone's ass in arguments following minor traffic accidents.

    Who would have imagined?

  • Most Hated Invention (Score:5, Insightful)

    by forkboy ( 8644 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @08:47PM (#8038390) Homepage
    OTHER PEOPLE'S cell phones.

  • Off switch (Score:5, Interesting)

    by raider_red ( 156642 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @08:51PM (#8038433) Journal
    You can always turn it off. Of course, you can't make the dumbass in the movie theater turn his off.

  • I love my cell phone... (Score:4, Funny)

    by dnahelix ( 598670 ) <slashdotispieceofshit@shithome.com> on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @09:01PM (#8038534)
    I just hate the bill.

  • people are kinda short sighted (Score:3, Insightful)

    by autopr0n ( 534291 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @09:08PM (#8038593) Homepage Journal
    Dosn't SPAM count as an invention?

    And what about Nuclear weapons? The machine gun? Bio-weapons? VX-gas? Surely there have been greater technological catastrophies then people yacking in the theater

  • This is idiotic... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ainsoph ( 2216 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @09:10PM (#8038618) Homepage
    Cellphones suck?

    I'll believe it when you shut the fuck up on the bus, the train, and every other fuckin public space you invade while yammering on and on about your pitiful life.

  • luddite americans (Score:5, Insightful)

    by fiddlesticks ( 457600 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @09:14PM (#8038657) Homepage
    god, you still dont get it at all...

    will burn karma, really, but all the mentions about 'you know, when you pay per SMS received' and 'who needs a cell', etc etc, read to the rest of (the world) Europe like 'no-one needs any more than 64k RAM' or 'who needs a PC on yr desktop.' etc, etc

    It's just pure luddism and anger that you have, what, how many un-inter-operable providers? When roaming means 'roam from LA to SF!!!!' whilst the rest of us have > 1000 mins/ month outgoing (at least per territory and sometimes per (EMEA) region), , really, really nice terminals, free WAP, free incoming minutes (!), free 3G video calls, free SMTP/ SMS push, blah, blah, for, like what 15USD/ month (http://www.o2.co.uk)

    Should bother to look up urls for the above quotes, but hey - *you* don't 'get' cells, just like Iraq didn't 'get' a free Internet.

  • Etiquette (Score:3, Insightful)

    by P-Nuts ( 592605 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @09:21PM (#8038734)

    Amongst my friends, when we're in the pub, the only permitted uses of a mobile phone are:

    • To ask other people to come to the pub
    • To give an excuse to your S.O. as to why you'll be late home

  • history and evil ringtones (Score:5, Insightful)

    by fermion ( 181285 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @09:51PM (#8038978) Homepage Journal
    Those who do not read history...

    Really, the cell phone is just a continuation of other communication technology. I remember reading how bad even the telegraph was. People sending runners to your house at all hours of the night. The telephone was worse. A person could no longer leave work at work. With the telephone you could be disturbed at any time of the day or night, and it was so easy, that anyone who could afford it felt they had a right. I have heard some say that the telephone was a significant contributing factor to the end of doctors making house calls. The simple equation is that as communication becomes cheaper, the data transmitted becomes less information and more junk.

    As far as the people who just say "turn it off", I have but one question. Do you turn off your phone at home? Do you value your family and friends enough to not answer the phone when they are present as guests in your house? Do you fight the social pressures to answer the phone? I do not worry about missing calls, and I deal with the social ridicule that results from my decision. I know that not everyone has the freedom to miss calls, and some just want to take the path of least resistance. Not mention that fact that some jobs will fire you if you are not available 24/7.

    OTOH, there is a difference between the path of least resistance and purposefully antagonizing the people around you with silly ringtones and constant babbling. Therefore, my least favorite invention if the musical ringtone, and I can think of few punishments that would be too severe for their users. The constant babling, as I have said, is an inevitable result of the cheapness of the medium.

  • The problem with cellphones.... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Roadmaster ( 96317 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @09:54PM (#8039010) Homepage Journal
    is not the phones in themselves, it's that people have no education and no respect for everyone else. It's a simple matter of not being annoying: don't use your cellphone when doing so turns you into a hazard for other people (driving), be smart when choosing the phone's alerts (don't select your loudest, most annoying ringtone when you're at a classical concert) and for god's freaking sake, DON'T YELL WHEN ON THE PHONE!!

  • My thoughts about cell phones (Score:4, Funny)

    by cr@ckwhore ( 165454 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @10:10PM (#8039120) Homepage
    I really think that cell phones are an integral part of ... umm ... hang on a sec, my cell is ringing...

    [away] ... crap! I forgot the point I was trying to make.

  • annoying by default (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Doc Ruby ( 173196 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @10:15PM (#8039149) Homepage Journal
    Cellphones should ship on "vibrate" by default, requiring users to "opt-in" to audible rings. Ringing used to make sense when the phone was stationary, tethered somewhere in the privacy of a house/office. But now they are more often in earshot of many people, often with the same ring. Just defaulting to vibrate might not be a perfect solution, but its a lesser problem than the current cacophony.

    • Because of women (Score:4, Insightful)

      by 0x0d0a ( 568518 ) on Wednesday January 21, 2004 @12:50AM (#8040177) Journal
      I see a *lot* of women that put their cell in a purse. Not only does this mean that the vibrate function is useless, but it means that when the audible rings start, they start fumbling around in their bag. Extremely annoying.
    • We need to start making "democratic" phones using the bluetooth adapters. If a room has 10 people with mobiles, and 7 of them are set on silent, the others should be forced onto silent by some kind of broadcast signal and not allowed to be used for speech or any other noise generation (except calling 999/911).

      You could even force people to send SMS, instead of "incoming call" they'd get "someone called, but nobody else in the room wants to hear your conversation, text them instead or walk outside.".

      Unfort

    • Re:annoying by default (Score:3, Insightful)

      by glinden ( 56181 ) *
      Great point. Vibrate or single beep instead of a loud full length ring by default.

      While many people do customize their cell phone's ring tones, as with any customer electronic device, the vast majority probably never change the settings from the defaults. Just making the default setting the least annoying one would have a big impact.

  • The Computer (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ari_j ( 90255 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @10:43PM (#8039330)
    I hate the computer. Without the invention of the computer, I wouldn't have a dead-end job while waiting for the economy to recover right now. I'd be turning dirt black like my proud ancestors.

  • EverCrack (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Sean Clifford ( 322444 ) on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @10:56PM (#8039418) Journal
    I'd have to say that EverCrack is pretty high up there on the list.

  • Just me. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Raven42rac ( 448205 ) * on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @11:01PM (#8039447)
    I have a cell phone, unfortunately. It is understood that it is nothing personal if I do not answer, I will get back to you. I leave it on vibrate in any potentially sensitive situation (movie, dinner, etc). I also use it in case *extreme* emergency situations at work, only when I can not be reached by land line phone, or e-mail, this is understood by the brass. It is my personal phone so I am not on a ball and chain. If it rings while I am in traffic, I do not answer. I call back when I come to a permanent stop. Yeah it is the worst invention, if used irresponsibly, as are guns and knives.

  • This says it all! (Score:3, Funny)

    by erf007 ( 649029 ) <cosmic7600 AT cosmic7600 DOT com> on Tuesday January 20, 2004 @11:48PM (#8039807) Homepage
    The random telephone survey of 1,023 adults and 500 teenagers was conducted Nov. 12-19 by Princeton, N.J.-based Taylor Nelson Sofres Intersearch and was released Wednesday

    I wonder if they called people on their cell phones to survey them!!! No wonder it's hated!

  • Grow Up! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Tom ( 822 ) on Wednesday January 21, 2004 @05:17AM (#8041355) Homepage Journal
    Cellphones are a matter of maturity. Here's why:

    Here in Germany, I am an avid hater of cellphones. You can't drive on a train or bus without someones damn phone ringing, and every second business meeting is interrupted by calls.

    But then I travelled to Tokio last year. Everyone there has a cell phone. Nevertheless, during my entire week I heard two rings, and both were from foreigners' phones.
    I also had to look very closely before I noticed people actually using them.

    The difference is that the japanese extend basic courtesy towards other people. You keep your cellphone on silent, and you leave the room before you take a call. That and maybe 2-3 other basic rules make cellphones a non-problem.

  • The real problem (Score:3, Informative)

    by sjames ( 1099 ) on Wednesday January 21, 2004 @02:32PM (#8045517) Homepage Journal

    Most of our problems with technology aren't in the technology itself, but that society has failed to evolve with it.

    I don't have a cell phone, and refuse to get one for several reasons, all related to social norms. First, I enjoy moments of solitude in the day. I don't want to be reachable 24/7. I might consider a cellphone for emergencies but too many people can't seem to understand a reasonable definition of emergency.

    I could get one and only turn it on when I have an emergency, but it seems that people actually EXPECT to be able to call you when you're on the can and get angry if you turn the phone off. If I don't have one at all, they think I'm odd, but they don't get angry.

    People who call a cellphone forget that you're not sitting in a dark corner just waiting for the phone to ring. It's impossible to talk to someone face to face if their phone is ringing every other word. I make it a practice to avoid talking to people who can't ignore their phone for 5 minutes.

    This will remain a problem until society's expectations mature enough to be able to hear 'I don't want to have a phone conversation right now' and not get all hacked off about it (as if they've never claimed 'breaking up' to get out of a cell call themselves).

    I might re-consider if there was a phone that would play my voice too chopped up to understand for 10 seconds then hang up on command.

    In a similar way, the alarm clock, once a handy way to avoid sleeping the whole day away now acts as a chronic (pun intended) sleep deprivation device. It is mis-used by the sleeper who refuses to realize that they would wake up fine if they went to bed at a decent hour, and by the rest of society which now feels that being tired is no excuse for being 30 minutes late.

    I don't hold out too much hope for society catching up with technology. We still haven't caught up with ubiquitous accurate wrist watches.

    Consider how much less stressed people were about appointments, meetings, and the start of the workday when nobody could really be called late unless it was by more than 15-30 minutes (based on the town clock chiming). While many people have adjusted, there are far too many anal people who start burning spots in the face of their watch if someone is 5 seconds late.

    It doesn't actually save any time, since it just forces people to be 15 minutes early and waste their time waiting rather than risking being a minute or two late.

    Of course, that is all reletive, and has been going on over 2000 years:

    "The gods confound the man who first found out how to distinguish the hours! Confound him, too, who in this place set up a sundial, to cut and hack my day so wretchedly into small pieces!" -- Plautus, 200 BCE

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