Cell phones and IM

Cell phones and IM (instant messaging for those of you not in "the know" of things) have become so prevalent in the community that I live in that it's actually become very annoying. I think that it does have a lot to do with living in a college town, but it's just completely and utterly annoying at times. OK, most of the time.

As I either ride my bike down the streets of Chapel Hill or drive around in my car in and around Chapel Hill I see it all around me. College kids walking down the street yapping on their cell phones, driving their Mom and Dad provided BMWs yapping on their cell phones, it's like it's not OK to be out of contact for even one minute. This is the world that we live in. Constant communication and contact 24/7 no matter what. It wasn't that long ago that anyone who had a cell phone had to have some cash on-hand, a lot of cash. First, the phones weren't cheap, and the service, even less cheap. I have to admit that I have been on the cell phone wagon for a long time (since 1995 or so), but in my own defense, back in those days, I traveled a lot, and had an unreliable car. It would be nice to have contact with someone should something happen to me on the road. And also back in the day, we didn't carry our phones around with us, mostly because there was not that much coverage and we couldn't be reached most of the time anyway, but for most of us, they had a permanent place of residence in our glove compartments in our cars. And most times, they were just turned off. Who is going to call me on a cell phone anyway?? Obviously times have changed. Technology has improved vastly, and coverage has increased probably a thousand times better than it used to be, and hence the proliferation of cell phones on the general populace. Spending the last few bike racing seasons traveling with a college kid has given me general insight into how cell phones are now used with the modern era of people. Essentially, said cell phone is stuck to his ear. Many calls are received, many calls are placed, and a general disavowance of what is actually going on around this person (in his presence) is disregarded for talking on the cell phone. I had a good example of this one weekend. I was in a car, driving to dinner with 4 college kids. Bear in mind that total elapsed travel time from hotel to the eatery we were going to dine at was 10 minutes at the most. In that period of time, every single person in the vehicle, except for me, was talking on their cell phones. The entire drive over. And the calls kept coming. During dinner. After dinner. And on the way back to the hotel. I kind of give the kids the old stink eye when they whip out their cell phone at dinner to talk with someone about something very inconsequential, and at one point in time, they would put it away, but now, they just ignore the stink eye and keep on talking. How rude is it to be out to dinner with a bunch of people and take phone calls during the entire time that you're eating? Very rude indeed. It's just not good manners. Now, one time I was out with a doctor friend of mine, and she laid her phone on the table, and said that she was on-call that evening, and that someone might call for advice. This is acceptable. A college kid whose roommate calls him to say that they're going to have a raging party this particular evening, or who just happened to see a gorgeous woman walking down the street and felt the need to tell someone about it, not acceptable. Not acceptable at all. And driving... Don't even get me started on that one. I do it on occasion myself, so I probably shouldn't cast stones, but when you're driving down the road in the middle of town, and you actually need to pay close attention to what you're doing, they're just talk, talk, talking away, and almost running me over with their parent provided cars in the process. I just wish they'd pay closer attention at times. OK, all of the time.

IM is another case in point. It's just another means for today's youth to stay in constant contact with their peeps. According to the SO, IM is so rampant, that kids are trying to do it during classtime, during the time when they're supposed to be getting an edumacation at an institute of higher learning. Now I didn't pay super close attention all the time when I was in school, but at least I "pretended" like I was when I was in class. I didn't tap away on my laptop during the class chatting with my friend sitting 2 seats away. I know college kids who leave their IM on ALL THE TIME. 24/7/365 they do. Even when they're nowhere near their computer. It drives me up the wall.

Why do we need to be in constant contact all of the time? Why do we need to be on the grid and always available? I don't like to be myself. I like some quiet time. I do bring my phone with me most places that I go, but there are actually times when I won't answer it. Yes, believe it or not, I won't answer my phone at times, depending on the situation that I'm in. My friend Curtis finds this astonishing that I don't answer every call that comes into me. I just use the old adage of, if it's really important, they'll leave me a message and I can get back to whomever it is that's calling me. I like for it to be quiet sometimes, and the ringing of a cell phone would just ruin it all.