Cell Phone Etiquette is Lacking

Print this entry

I  was giving blood the other day for my semi-annual physical. That’s a sure sign you’re on the far side of the 50, when it becomes a semi-annual physical, and having blood drawn becomes a regular ritual. That used to be something I dreaded, but now I’m used to getting stuck with needles.

Now the worst part is fasting, not being able to down a cup of coffee seconds after my feet touch the floor. I get to the lab soon as it opens at 7 a.m. so I can return home and savor that first cup of joe.

As I sat across from the young woman preparing to stick me, my fist clenched and the tourniquet tightened, I noticed the sign: “Please refrain from using cell phones during this procedure.” I asked her, “Do people actually use their cell phone while getting punctured?” She nodded as she found my vein. “All the time,” she replied. “I once had a woman reaching to get her phone out of her purse while I was in the middle of drawing blood, nearly yanking the syringe out of her arm.”

Good grief.

I have concluded that cell phones are turning us into a nation of ill-mannered cretins. Well, perhaps not all of us, but a goodly number. One sees the “Please refrain from using cell phones” signs everywhere, at places where it would appear to require simple common sense and good etiquette not to be yammering away while conducting business: the teller window at banks, early voting booths, fast-food counters, even libraries.

The other day I was in line to mail a package at the post office. The customer at the counter conducted the entire transaction with the postal clerk — who had to ask a series of questions — while talking on his cell phone. The customer would yap on the cell, then say “Hold on” to whoever was on the other end, answer the clerk’s question, then keep talking on the phone. When he finally left, and it was my turn at the counter, I asked the clerk if that happened often. Like the phlebotomist, the clerk said it was common practice.

I thought most folks were raised better by their mama, but I guess I was wrong. What cell phone conversation is so important it can’t wait until one is finished mailing a package at the post office?

The most egregious example of bizarre cell phone behavior has to be men who talk on the cell phone while using public restrooms. I have witnessed this several times and wondered, “Does the person on the other end have any idea where you are carrying on this conversation?” I asked my wife if women are guilty of this practice, since I don’t make a habit of entering women’s restrooms, and she assured me that indeed it happens there as well.

And now there is texting, which is a convenient way of communicating, and I use it regularly. My three daughters — two of whom are grown while one is a full-blown teenager — rarely return voice mails but will return a text in milliseconds. Go anywhere that young people are gathered in large quantities, such as a college campus, and what one will observe is virtually everyone wearing earbuds, head down, staring at a phone screen. Most are texting while listening to music or looking at Facebook. I have seen people nearly get splatted flat by walking off into traffic, because they were texting and not watching where they were going. And let’s not even get into the dangers of texting while driving. If you see someone weaving all over the road in broad daylight, odds now are that the driver hasn’t been drinking but is texting.

I Googled cell phone etiquette the other day and found an article with great advice on when and where to use, or not use, a cell phone. For example, don’t put your phone on speaker while in a crowd, or use it in an elevator. And don’t share your personal details in public. The same day I was at the doctor’s office, an elderly fellow was carrying on an extended phone conversation, telling the party on the other end about his digestive difficulties in far too much detail. I wish I had his email address so I could send him that etiquette article.

Folks once worried, and some still do, about the effect cell phones might have on our brains with radiation and such. I used to discount that, but the way I see folks behaving while talking in public, I’m beginning to wonder.

 

Print this entry