And that’s the way the telcos like it, uh huh. Times:
As cellphone use has skyrocketed, making it hard to avoid hearing half a [noisy, useless, yammering, overly personal, and non-stop] conversation in many public places, a small but growing band of rebels is turning to a blunt countermeasure: the cellphone jammer, a gadget that renders nearby mobile devices impotent.
The jamming technology works by sending out a radio signal so powerful that phones are overwhelmed and cannot communicate with cell towers. The range varies from several feet to several yards, and the devices cost from $50 to several hundred dollars. Larger models can be left on to create a no-call zone.
Of course, those Fourth Amendment-trashing assholes at Verizon aren’t too happy about this:
“It’s counterintuitive that when the demand is clear and strong from wireless consumers for improved cell coverage, that these kinds of devices are finding a market,” said Jeffrey Nelson, a Verizon spokesman.
“Counterintuitive,” my sweet Aunt Fanny! Somehow, I don’t think Jeffrey Nelson rides public transportation a whole lot, or has ever had a concert ruined because some asshole forgot to set his to vibrate.
Of course (this is America!), forced listening to high-decibel ringtones and idiots yammering on about about their gallstone operations and their proprietary business information and their marital woes and their lousy boss—Hi! I’m on the train!MR SUBLIMINAL Me too, asshole is actually mandated by law:
In evidence of the intensifying debate over the devices, CTIA, the main cellular phone industry association, asked the F.C.C. on Friday to maintain the illegality of jamming and to continue to pursue violators.
The technology is not new, but overseas exporters of jammers say demand is rising and they are sending hundreds of them a month into the United States — prompting scrutiny from federal regulators and new concern last week from the cellphone industry. The buyers include owners of cafes and hair salons, hoteliers, public speakers, theater operators, bus drivers and, increasingly, commuters on public transportation.
The development is creating a battle for control of the airspace within earshot. And the damage is collateral. Insensitive talkers impose their racket on the defenseless, while jammers punish not just the offender, but also more discreet chatterers.
Hey, if there really are any discreet chatterers, I’d certainly like to meet them.
In any case, there really is a very, very simple solution for anyone wants to yammer on their fucking cellphone in a crowded public space: Go where it’s not crowded and not public. Try the toilet; you can yammer in line.
Otherwise, shut the fuck up.
NOTE When I was commuting, I managed to drive all the cellphone users out of my car—thereby creating a “quiet car” on public transportation. It was hard work, but somebody had to do it. My steps were, roughly:
1. Saying very loudly “Nice ringtone!” whenever one of those fucking things went off.
2. Muttering how much I hated cellphones if the user was in earshot.
3. Saying loudly “I hate cellphones!” if the user was out of earshot.
4. Turning around and staring.
5. Getting up, and asking them to be quiet.
I never had to go to step 6:
6. Moving next to them, sitting down, and saying “I thought I’d come over here and sit next to you, because I couldn’t quite hear everything.”
And after a while, my car was blessedly free of the fucking things.
Amazingly, I never did come to blows with anyone, though I did come close a few times. (Earplugs and headsets didn’t help, though I tried them; the cellphone conversations came through loud and clear.)
NOTE People who are required to be in touch at all times can just get pagers.
Front page
6 step method
I do this whenever two people are having a conversation near me. It’s every bit as effective as you say.
Now I don’t have to deal with insensitive assholes carrying on with their lives while I’m within earshot.
Human conversations (mostly) I can deal with
Cellphone conversations are uniquely obnoxious, orders of magnitude worse than ordinary conversation. I’m not sure why. Possibly it’s the one-sided nature; possibly since the cellphone mikes are so crappy, people talk more loudly into them; possibly the lack of physical feedback, as with other forms of digital communication, degrades the discourse. Whatever, if I want to carry on my life, whether by reading, or studying, or programming, or contemplating the view out the window, their yammering makes it impossible. Hi! I’m on the train!MR SUBLIMINAL For the fucking millionth time…
And then there are ringtones, for which there is no excuse whatever. Although, to be fair, ringtones do give me an opportunity to grit my teeth before the yammering begins.
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
I Disagree
Personally, I think as long as the person isn’t shouting into the phone for everyone to hear, then what is discussed and when and with whom shouldn’t matter to anyone else, especially when it’s in a public place where there are other conversations going on anyway. Yes, it’s possible to talk quietly into a cell phone, or at least at average conversation-volume. I’m really sick of hearing people bitch about this. Some people find technology convenient.
Also, ring tones serve a purpose. Instead of a standard (not to mention obnoxious) “bring bring” tone, unique tones are easily identifiable to the owner. That’s why I use one.
step 7 - the imaginary friend
this reminds me of the recent Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm) show where he becomes annoyed with a guy talking loudly over a cellphone earset and so he decides to carry on an imaginary conversation with an imaginary friend really loudly just to annoy the guy with the cellphone earset. When the guy with the cellphone/earset complains he tells the guy with the cellphone to fuck off… he can talk as loud as he wants to his imaginary friend too if the guy with the cellphone can bellow into his earset. pretty funny… pritty pritty funny.
so next time some asshole with a cellphone starts talking loud in your car just sit next to him/her and begin screaming into your wallet at your imaginary friend.
what the hell do i know…. i don’t even own a cellphone. And I’ve never even used a cellphone in my life. Not even once. But i do have imaginary friends!
*
Hey, Ashley
It may be that you are the rare cellphone user who is actually able to talk quietly and avoid polluting the public square. But given that you’re a ringtone user, I doubt it. Whoever invented the idea of actually selling people loud, staticky, snippets of music that would express their pitiful and virtually non-existent personhood is an evil genius who I hope suffers dearly in the next life, if any. If all ringtones were standardized to the sound of a dentist’s drill they couldn’t be more annoying. Put it on vibrate, stupid!
And of course, I’m aware that you find technology convenient. I find it incredibly annoying and obnoxious.
I mean, I might slide over next to you in your seat, and start farting loudly—“Sorry, it’s convenient for me”—or picking my nose—“Sorry, it’s just not convenient for me to use a Kleenex”—but I don’t do that. Why? Politeness, I guess. You might think I was an asshole if I invaded your personal space like that.
Farmer, I didn’t know about that Larry David show. In fact, I’ve often thought of doing exactly the same thing — I just couldn’t work up the monolog for this post. It was going to start out “Hi Dad! How did the operation go? They did? What kind of secretions?” and move on from there. Sort of a Bob Newhart thing.
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
If you need a cell-phine to keep track of your kidz, why not
just plant a gps chip in ’em, like you would a pet.
that’s the next step in ’child security’ anyway (and the next advance in the total information monitoring/surveillance society; cell-foners, being already accustomed to having their every movement monitored and traced probably won’t mind.
Cell phones exist primarily as a means of tying workers more tightly to their bosses and their work.
if i never see another distracted driver wheeling along the freeway with a giant latte in one hand and a cellfone in the other, at rush hour doing 65 mph in traffic and only partly attending to the flow of deadly objects hurtling along behind, beside, and ahead of them (if at all), it will be too soon for me…
Me? A Quick Study, But A Slow Learner
Lambert: You're Wrong
It may be that you are the rare cellphone user who is actually able to talk quietly and avoid polluting the public square. But given that you’re a ringtone user, I doubt it.
My ring tone has nothing at all to do with the volume at which I speak into my phone. My ring tone is solely for recognition purposes, so when it goes off, I immediately know that it’s mine. It makes no statement about my life or personality other than that I like it and know it. In interesting company, it might even make for a unique story about why I chose that particular tone. Also, as I already stated, I find standard rings obnoxious and grating. And no, I don’t like staticky snippets, either. I don’t understand why anyone would choose one. Vibrate mode works just fine if you’re wearing clothes with deep pockets. Women, however, generally keep their phones in their purses, where they can’t be felt.
When I speak into my phone, yes, I’m quiet, because I don’t want the world to know all of my business. If the conversation happens to be about private matters, I’ll make it known that I’m in public and will have to wait for another occasion to discuss them. I am aware that I’m in public when I’m on my phone, just as I’m aware that I’m in public when I’m out with friends, and the content and volume of my conversation reflect that. All of you have still failed to make clear how a cell phone conversation is different from any other conversation you might stumble across in public.
Lambert, you of course may fart wherever you want. I’ll probably get up and move away from you, but you’re certainly welcome to do the same if my progression offends you.
Bottom line: Idiots exist. The world is full of them. If you happen to run into one, make fun of them and move on. Don’t let somebody else ruin your whole day, and don’t take our technology away from the rest of us just because you’re annoyed. That’s pathetic.
Ashley, you're a self-centered discourteous moron
Although extremely verbose.
I bet your cellphone conversations are exactly the same way.
I should move because you’re discourteous? No. You move.
Put the fucking thing on vibrate and get your yammering out of my personal space.
Oh, and you say none of us give reasons why cellphone conversations are different. Actually—leaving aside the fact that many others feel just as I do—I gave reasons upthread. You might think of them as the other side of the conversation.
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
Funny, it seems to me that
Funny, it seems to me that intolerance of others is self-centered and discourteous.
Oh, I saw your reasons. I responded to them by pointing out that you’re overgeneralizing, and that some of us have reasons for ring tones. Though I suppose by your logic, I should apologize for your short-sightedness.
You don’t have to move. It was just an offer. I’m not responsible for your inability to coexist.
Oh, man. This is too, too easy
I shouldn’t be wasting any more time on Ashley, because she’ll never, never get it, but it’s too much fun. I wrote:
Ashely opines:
As does everybody within twenty feet, at the concert, or the restaurant, or in the commuter car, or the public space.
Right. Like “The Ride of Valkyries” or “Macho, Macho Man” isn’t a personality statement. Choosing a consumer product because “you know it and like it” is the operational definition of making a statement about your personality! That’s why the marketing works!
Your “unique story” is a MR SUBLIMINAL pitiful and virtually non-existent personhood personality statement! We’re talking public space: A restaurant, a concert hall, a commuter train, anywhere where your noise invades my space. You aren’t in “interesting company” when you’re in those spaces. And let me clue you in: Nobody cares about your unique story.
Well, in public spaces, I find all ringtones obnoxious and grating, and the more they express your own unique story, the more obnoxious I’m likely to find it, because the more unique it is, the more likely it is that your precious ringtone is going to grab my attention.
Put the fucking thing on vibrate, Ashley! Yo know what vibrate means, right?
Finally, Ashely justifies all discourtesy, anywhere, anytime:
You’re responsible for invading my personal space with unncesssary and obnoxious noise, and, with the ringtones, all because you want to express the wonderful facets of your own personality and “unique story.” I guess I am going to have to kill you. What fun for us both!
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
Well, I could choose an
Well, I could choose an easily-distinguishable ring tone that would also annoy me, but that would be sort of stupid.
My cell phone is turned off in concerts, movies, restaurants, plays, etc., etc.—anyplace where I would either be talking quietly anyway, or wouldn’t be speaking at all.
I’m in agreement with you about “unique stories.” Obviously, I like discussion. But that’s just an added benefit. I don’t immediately leap into the story of why my tone is “Macho, Macho Man,” unless asked. If I’m not asked, I assume no one else cares. I selected it for my own recognition, after all, and not that of anyone around me.
Once again: Vibrate mode works just fine if you’re wearing clothes with deep pockets. Women, however, generally keep their phones in their purses, where they can’t be felt.
I never said “anywhere, anytime.” I clearly stated, several times, in public spaces when you are using a normal voice.
Actually, my cell phone conversations are not verbose at all. I don’t particularly like talking on the phone, anyway, and don’t even do it all that often. When I do, as previously stated, I am aware of the people around me. And once again, I cannot be held responsible for the fact that you obviously can’t play well with others.
Rights In Conflict
This has been an interesting and instructive series of conversations about the boundaries of speech in public. From The Phelps’ to “Don’t Tase Me, Bro” Meyers to cell phone users in public spaces, positions seem to be a bit clouded by relativism. For instance; is a loud, endless cell phone conversation a form of protected speech if the topic is political, but unacceptable if it is about Aunt Freda’s anal seepage? What if Aunt Freda is running (ahem) for President?
The real issue isn’t cell phones or microphones, I think, but public rudeness. The same people would behave the same way, mindlessly imposing themselves on the personal space of others, whether it’s with cell phones or boomboxes or perfume. On every single transoceanic flight I’ve taken there have always been several people who yak and laugh at barroom volume for the whole trip, horribly rude and no technology involved. I don’t know about killing, but vigilante tasering those folks has some appeal.
Cell phones are just a tool. I find mine very useful and convenient, and haven’t had a land line for years now. There is never a reason to have it on any setting but vibrate or the lowest volume ring, just as there is never a reason to shout into any phone, or have phone conversations at table or while transacting other business. It isn’t the cell phone, it’s the rudeness. There’s a pretty brisk cottage business now in retrofitting restaurants with Faraday cages to block cell signals, and at least here around SF those places do a booming business. The same thing can, and should, be done with theaters. On some European trains there are No Cell Phone cars, just like No Smoking. Seems a reasonable, civilized, and fart-free solution.
Woody, my younger children got cell phones early on and it has – in my view and theirs – resulted in more personal freedom for them and less worry for me. As to government tracking of my whereabouts, it actually isn’t as easy or quick as it appears on television and far less so with a few simple tactical steps – like leaving the cell phone at home when I’m out skulking around being seriously nefarious. Any citizen-tracking system that can be defeated by a piece of tinfoil doesn’t seem to me to be an effective means of establishing authoritarian control. I think we have much more to fear from economic totalitarianism by a long shot than technological oppression.
Now, if only I could wrap Ashley in tinfoil!
Then I wouldn’t have to kill her! Thanks, bringiton! You made my day.
Same deal with boomboxes. It seems that whoever has the power to grab, grabs. Those assholes with humongous speakers in their cars. Ick.
Re: tasering. I agree with what Digby said on tasering:
Not my culture…. (Not to re-open the tasering thread again, but).
Oh, and I got rid of my cellphone. All I have is a landline. Either way, it’s clear that there can be such a thing as too much connectivity.
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
and some real ones, too
Just sayin’.
I have to use my cell phone all day long.
It sucks.
No Hell below us
Above us, only sky
Thank You, Bringiton
Cell phones are just a tool. I find mine very useful and convenient, and haven’t had a land line for years now.
Precisely. Thank you. I agree with everything you just said, except about the ring tones.
Keep your noisy, obnoxious tool out of my personal space, Ashley
and I won’t have to kill you. Or wrap you in tinfoil. Which goes for bringiton, too.
This post has nothing at all to do with technology, and everything to do with, well, the ability of obnoxious cellphone users to play well with others in public spaces.
You don’t get that, which is why you keep defending ringtones. If I was sitting next to you beating a gong, everybody and Aunt Fanny would know it was rude, so why in the name of sweet suffering Jeebus would cell phone users be privileged otherwise?
NOTE The “it’s just a tool” slogan is interesting because some tools are made, and others are not made, because of choices “society” makes. The rack and the thumbscrew too, are just tools, and it says something about the society that made them. It’s a form of fetishm, implying that technology is an actor, and not humans.
Likewise, the invention of any tool has unintended consequences—even externalities. The loss of privacy from invasive cellphone yammering is one such externality. The decrease in my quality of life is a cost that the cellphone yammerers force me to bear. In effect, I’m subsidizing them. I don’t see why I should have to.
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
You're Still Missing the Point
The point is, you can bang a gong if you want to. Nobody’s stopping you. So what if you’re easily annoyed by a few seconds of melody that may or may not be staticky? You’re in public. There will always be annoying people around you in public. It’s part of the quirkiness of living on this planet. What’s irritating is this constant whining about something so inconsequential.
air horns are the future of communication
Since I don’t have a cellphone I use pressurized air horns to communicate via morse code across big crowded rooms with other air horn users. Sure, its obnoxious, but its just a tool. One time I even accidentally struck up a friendly conversation with a Conrail train horn model named Leslie. Just to show that you can easily make new friends with your air horn communication tool.
*
Rejuvenated from dinner with no cellphone yammering around
In case I wasn’t clear, the public space I’m talking about is “crowded public space” where I’m “forced” to listen, where the examples given are a restaurant, a concert hall, or a commuter train. If I’m walking through Rittenhouse Square, for example, I don’t have an issues with cellphone users; they aren’t forcing me to bear any costs of their sonic externalities.
I’m not alone, or idiosyncratic, in finding cellphone yammering in (call it) closed public space. That why “tools” are being manufactured and marketed (as the Times story shows) to block cellphone usage in such spaces. That’s probably also why an ill-conceived proposal to allow cellphones on airplanes was dropped. That’s also why there are “quiet cars” on some trains. Would that there were more such spaces everywhere!
Now, the interesting thing about the morality Ashley advocates is that I win either way. She writes:
Translated: “There are assholes everywhere. Deal.” By this theory, it’s perfectly OK with Ashley if I run my cellphone jammer! Because that would be my annoying quirk, eh?
But Ashley also writes, even more interestingly:
By “this constant whining” Ashley can’t mean that there’s whining here, since nobody’s forcing her to read this blog, let alone write comments.
So, could it be that she’s hearing “whining” from others? Getting pressure from people who find her yammering on her cellphone as obnoxious as I, and many others, find it?
I fear that nothing will persuade our Ashley. She will continue to aggressively invade the personal space of others with her tales of Aunt Fanny’s anal leakage, her digital dentist’s drill, and her other “quirks.” How pleasant the silence will be, when someone flips on their jammer! Or wraps her in tinfoil. Or whatever.
NOTE Farmer, the airhorns: Flawless victory!
UPDATE Yep, I’m right. Upthread, Ashley writes:
And to think I was feeling that “self-centered discourteous moron” was a little over the top. Ashley has been spoken to, often, but still she persists. Her yammering must be just awful then, because, in my experience, most people suffer in silence rather than “bitch.” She’s just impervious, isn’t she? I guess we will have to kill her. Maybe that will get her attention.
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
You have completely ignored
You have completely ignored everything I’ve said. Your blog, based on this thread, is like the fucking Hatter’s tea party. No sense. No logic. I have stated many times that I’m not one of those annoying cell phone users that you are referring to. Thus, I’ve never received a complaint about my personal cell phone usage. The whining that I am referring to is the general whining of others like you in everyday conversation. Yes, there are others like you; I have never denied that. But I am saying that you are the ones who need to shut the fuck up.
Any public space, including a commuter train, where people might be carrying on a conversation within your earshot, is also fair game for a cell phone user. If the only distinguishing feature making the one more annoying than the other is that one involves a hand-held device, then that is simply anti-technology, and has nothing to do with how rude a person is at all.
Ah, the old "fair game" argument
Then I get to run my jammer! Excellent! That’s technology too!
NOTE Interesting that even though people say “in conversation” that they find cellphone usage often obnoxious, it seems to have no effect. Perhaps you are not so polite as you imagine?
UPDATE “Fair game…” Hmmm… Your name isn’t Michelle, is it?
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
I don’t particularly like
I don’t particularly like talking on the phone, anyway, and don’t even do it all that often. When I do, as previously stated, I am aware of the people around me.
Did you assume I was lying?
It isn’t even my own public cell phone usage I care so much about. For the most part, I could take it or leave it. I even agree with you that some people are loud and annoying on their cell phones. The difference is, I don’t care if a few minutes of my day are spent listening to yammering. I tune it out or, hell, try to find something in the conversation to amuse me during our forced time together. What I don’t do is bitch about it.
And yeah, you go ahead and use your jammer. The same rules giving cell phone users the right to be loud give you the right to be petty.
For the record
NO cell phones currently in use cannot be set so that the ringer is discreet (i.e. lower the fricken volume on your individualized, recognizable, oh-so-important godforsaken ringtone, ashley-poo, you precious mistreated little princess you).
When forced to carry one for work I kept it set to vibrate (as far back as 2001, so don’t give me that gotta-have-it-for-work vip line of horsepuckey, either).
I don’t have one now. Never have had one not furnished by work. Hope never to need to.
When they take the last pay phone out of the last grocery store parking lot, I’ll get the FRS radios back out.
Oh, fuck you. Your
Oh, fuck you. Your impression of me, no doubt gleaned from your obstinate cherry-picking of all my words, is so inaccurate I had to laugh.
I didn’t come here to attack anyone (that’s your job, evidently); I came to argue a side. But now I’m sick of you and your ad hominem nonsense. Arguing is fun and engaging with some people. You’re not one of them. Good-bye, have the last word, and I wish you years of miserable pettiness.
All I want is for my state
All I want is for my state to ban cellphone and texting while driving. Make it a $1000 fine and tow the vehicle to the impound lot (they can keep the cellphone). I’m tired of these morons killing pedestrians, killing bicyclists, killing people on Vespas and motorcycles, and ramming into other cars while blabbing into their cellphones.
Violent Extremists at the Tea Party
One must be careful; she might inform the thought police. Though she seems to be innocent of the crime.
“Ah, that’s just it. If you don’t think, then you shouldn’t talk.”
No Hell below us
Above us, only sky
Another case--closed
See how difficult it is dealing with cellphone yammering? It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it. And although it’s unworthy of me, I confess to taking some pleasure in these tiny victories—Bringing blessed silence to a little corner of a crowded world.
And bringiton, speaking of Michelle, who seems to have flounced off, I’m sorry about the hot tub. I thought scouring and the Clorox would have enough, but apparently I should have hauled the sandblaster in from the sculpture garden and used that. Sorry.
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
No Worries
When I was travelling nonstop the cell phone was a huge convenience and not even close on cost compared to the ridiculous hotel phone charges. Now there are no pay phones whatsoever around SF so they’re not an option anymore. Guess I’ve just gotten used to it.
Cell phones don’t annoy other people, rude people with cell phones annoy other people – or something like that.
RE: Michelle; no apologies needed, at least I know what I’m dealing with - Residual Flounce. You’re a braver man than I am, lambert strether.
Cellphones
How would you feel if a doctor on a bus where I’m using a jamming device missed a call, and it resulted in the death of someone you happened to care about?
I guess you would understand that that my freedom from yammering really was that important.
Glad we understand each other. Sorry for your loss.
Get a pager, stupid
Can’t be jammed. And now that the Times has put the idea of jammers in play, I’d say it’s the doctor’s professional responsibility to go that route.
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
Uh...
Pagers can’t be jammed? Right, well, I’ll set my buddies on figuring out a pager jammer. I hate that little beep beep beep noise!
And how do you propose that the doctor should return this direly emergent call if his cell phone isn’t working when it’s another hour before the bus’s next stop, and for some reason his cell can’t get a signal?
Look, you’re pissed off at people who use technology in stupid ways. Fair enough, but that doesn’t empower you to screw things up for those who don’t. When you’re in a public space that isn’t designed for peace and quiet, your right to not have to hear “yammering” does not trump my right to communicate when and how I choose.
If a child is kicking my chair on a plane, I ask him to stop. I don’t believe I’m entitled to paralyze him from the waist down with a taser simply because I think he may start bugging me.
If my cell conversation is bugging you and you say, “Excuse me, but I was hoping to travel in quiet and you’re bothering me, could you have this conversation later?” then you’re being self-centered, but you’re being polite, and I (and many others) would tend to respect that.
Brosnath...
Pagers can be jammed, sure, but nobody has the incentive because people who use pagers aren’t obnoxious, yammering assholes.
Please reread the whole thread on technology, morality, all of it. Cell phone advocates are insanely persistent, I find, and I really don’t have time to spend repeating arguments with you that I have already spent endless time refuting with Ashley (unless, of course, you are Ashley).
Note, please, that the marketplace is speaking on this; there are a sufficient number of people who find the behavior of cellphone users so intolerable that they are seeking—surprise—technological solutions—showing, if any proof were needed, that the advocates of quiet are not anti-technology. I can only hope that these solutions propagate rapidly. It’s not just me.
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
You Mean I Was Wrong
to taser that little creep that was kicking my seatback all the way from Denver to Miami? Who knew?
Don’t worry, consensus is she’ll probably walk again.
Oh, and a technical tip, if you apply the taser to their little necks instead of at the waist, they scream less.
This is actually like the argument that socities...
… where citizens carry concealed weapons are more likely to be small-c civil.
I supppose societies that encourage duelling would be more civil still.
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
You are totally absurd and
You are totally absurd and immature with your obnoxious ways of dealing with cell phone users.
Just thought you should know.
Brutal times demand brutal measures
Unfortunately, the only way to deal with obnoxious assholes is to be an obnoxious asshole. Singing kumbayah didn’t work.
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
I'd like to see a cellphone jammer built into the ignition
of automobiles. Retrofittable to at least 1997 models * because, seriously, study after study has proven that DUI is exactly the same degree of dangerous that DOT (driving on telephone) is.
I used to get chewed out for pulling off the Interstate before I’d answer a call. Two or three rings — it doesn’t take long enough to actually miss the call — instead of one, supposedly, means I’m not “reachable.”
What a load of horsepuckey.
Oh, and Brosnath? Yeah, I tried your approach. It led to loving air travel because YOU HAVE TO TURN THE G*DDAMN CELLPHONE OFF WHEN THE DOOR SHUTS.
*1997 models being the average age of the vehicles currently driven by high-schoolers with cell phones hereabouts.
After rereading the thread
Please reread the whole thread on technology, morality, all of it.
Didn’t make any more sense than it did the first time around.
Closest thing I got to an impact on my rights argument was your “yammerers decrease my quality of life” bit and “if It’s public space then I get to run my jammer by the same rights that they get to run their cell phones.” The jammer causes nontrivially more harm than the decrease in one’s quality of life is worth.
It’s not just me
I don’t care how many people may feel like you, it’s not up to you to pre-emptively make that decision for you and everyone in the effective radius, some of whom may be perfectly capable of using cell phones in a way that does wonders for their quality of life* while not impinging on yours. The sledgehammer/fly issue discussed in the article you quoted and upthread.
the advocates of quiet are not anti-technology
I never said they were. I said it’s not OK to screw up technology for everyone cause you were pissed off at how some idiots used it.
Unfortunately, the only way to deal with obnoxious assholes is to be an obnoxious asshole. Singing kumbayah didn’t work.
Thanks for clarifying why you completely ignored politeness as a suggestion. I’m glad you acknowledge that your propositions wouldn’t decrease the amount of assholery in the world.
*For example. Re-reading your initial post, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the enormous amount of flack I and friends have gotten from significant others when they failed to give a call saying “Hi, I’m on the train!” when it was requested we do so. I can only imagine the ridiculing the excuse of “I tried, but my phone had no service the whole ride! Someone must’ve been using a jamming device” would earn.
I gotta say that folks who broadcast their personal bidness
indiscriminately (“Canyouhearmenow?”), without apparent regard to their intrusions propogated upon their inadvertent auditors, haven’t got a lot to say about ’douchebaggery.’
but mebbe that’s just me…
Me? A Quick Study, But A Slow Learner
Obnoxious Assholes
“Unfortunately, the only way to deal with obnoxious assholes is to be an obnoxious asshole. Singing kumbayah didn’t work.”
Well you’ve succeeded, you’re an obnoxious asshole.
What if I don’t like webjournal posts and think that they’re totally ridiculous? Should I start spamming your site? Request it to be shut down? Make 100s of posts saying, “STOP POSTING YOU FUCKTARD!” Maybe it’s invading my space and ruining my life, just like cell phones are apparently ruining yours.
Get a life, dude. You’re just as disrespectful as everyone who is talking loudly on a cell phone.
its a small world afterall
What if I don’t like webjournal posts and think that they’re totally ridiculous? Should I start spamming your site? Request it to be shut down? Make 100s of posts saying, “STOP POSTING YOU FUCKTARD!” Maybe it’s invading my space and ruining my life, just like cell phones are apparently ruining yours.
You don’t have to look at these webjournal posts. You might have a case if webjournal posts you don’t want to see or hear or watch were radomly popped into your browser without you calling them up first… but they aren’t. Unlike cellphone noise, and some of their noisy users, you have control over what webjournal posts you want visited upon you.
Presumably it would be ok with you if i parked my can in front of your house all day long and blasted amplified bagpipe music or a chorus of robotic children singing “its a small world afterall” through a bank of subwoofers the size of a garbage can lids? Hey?
…its a small world after all its a small world after all its a small world after all its a small, small world………..
You’d either kill yourself or kill me before the sun set on our small world afterall.
Maybe thats an extreme example. How’d ya like it if I followed you around all day long poking you in the neck with a stick? Poke, poke poke….poke….poke poke…. poke poke poke poke….
poke
POKE POKE POKE…!
obnoxious hain’t it?
They should make cellphones the size of WW2 era military field radios… wanna bet your average cellphone user wouldn’t have all that much important stuff to babble about in the event they had to carry a WW2 era military field radio around with em all day long.
*
I have a theory about cell-phones' extravagant popularity
It is that cell-phones are surrogates for the instantaneous communication of the simian/hominid ’tribe.’
if you’ve ever been around groups of our less evolved relatives, in zoos, for instance, you are struck by the almost incessant noise. it’s the same in jail: the din of conversation never ceases, making sleep a matter of practice rather than weariness…
These conversations serve one pre-eminent purpose: they represent and reproduce customary hierarchical orders, and re-inforce the position, but also the membership, of the individual in the pack.
Me? A Quick Study, But A Slow Learner
In the Rio Grande Valley in the spring of 2004
I saw kid after kid after kid buying the “earbud/boom” extender for a cellphone ($3 at walmart).
Hang the bud in the ear, set the mike below the jaw, hide the empty (as in, HOOKED TO NOTHING, NO CELL PHONE) other end of the wire inside a shirt or jeans pocket.
No phone. But they walked around pretending they had ’em.
Couple years later one fine autumn day in the Austin airport, waiting on a plane, this professorly-looking lady goes by dragging her ginormous wheeled suitcase and babbling softly (to all appearances talking to herself, as used to be considered “odd” in public). She comes up next to me in the line at the bbq stand, and she’s got a Bluetooth cellphone extension in her (hidden by her hair) ear. Yakking away, occasionally tapping the thing to change channels, or whatever.
Cellphones may not give you brain cancer but they sure do make you crazy.
this is for you, Ashley, and your, um, decorative naughty bits:
Don’t take my word for it — ask Umberto Eco:
http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/…
The thousands of people we overhear on the streets, in restaurants, or on the train, as they discuss their most private affairs on their cell phones are not prompted by the urgent need to communicate something of importance, otherwise they would talk in low voices, guarding their secrets. Rather, they want everyone to know that they are decision makers in a refrigerator manufacturing company, that they buy and sell on the stock exchange, that they organize conferences, or that their partner has left them. They have paid for a cell phone and the hefty bills that come with it, to flaunt their private lives in the presence of all.
…
It is precisely the behavior of exhibitionists that tells us how much the assault on privacy has become – more than a crime – a social cancer. First and foremost, we should educate children to save them from the corrupting influence of their parents.
Amen, brother, amen.
And that goes double for the punx who complain on the phone to their buds about their parole officers.