You stupid f***ing cell phone users, stay off the roads.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by dawgfan

It makes no sense for the cell-phone industry to promote more responsible use of their product? Have you read the vitriol in this thread towards cell-phones?

What we have is a technology that is still in its youth, and we as a culture have been slow to adapt and adjust to accommodate the changes that mobile telephones bring to public behavior. There are segments of the population that have developed a dislike of cell-phones beyond any practical reasoning but is based on a dislike of the behavior of those with the phones.

While there are any number of individuals bitching about the effect of cell-phone use on both driving and in terms of public courtesy, an ad campaign by the industry could provide a more structured and unifying message to the public. I don't expect such a campaign would have a huge immediate impact on behavior, but I think it would accomplish the following:

1. Show the public that the industry is aware of the problems that many have with their product and that they care about responsible usage;
2. Start a more public discourse on these issues, and provide the perception that the industry is willing to work with its critics;
3. Long-term, I think it could help speed up the way our culture adapts to cell-phones and what is considered appropriate usage
4. Also long-term, if the campaign was successful in helping shift our cell-phone habits and in conjuction with improving their public image, it would lead to penetration into a greater percentage of the public and thus more revenue

Do you think the beer company ads regarding teenage drinking and designated drivers has had no positive impact?

And you missed my point entirely. Yes, it's good for society as a whole. But this has the problem of statements like "my baseball team should pay $12M for an ace starting pitcher" and then they get upset when you sign Pedro or someone because everyone has question marks and there's no such thing as a perfect ace. Or the "music companies just need to set up a new business model for mp3's"- I doubt the record companies are running out there to try and develop a new model when their current one still makes them money.

In the same vein, if you go and propose this to, say, Verizon, they're going to look at you and laugh. Sure it benefits society, but how does it benefit them? Why would they want to do it? It makes them marginal money at best. Whereas the downside is that those advertising spots could better be used to steal customers away from Nextel and Sprint. If you were running the company solely for your shareholders (and thus personal weath) as most are these days- which would you do? I'm not saying it's right but, it's a pie-in-the-sky idea that is idealistic but not realistic.

SI

[dawgfan]

I didn't miss your point, I disagree with you. And I think you're overlooking my point - if things continue as they are in the arena of public opinion, talking on the cell-phone while driving, even while using a hands-free device, may become illegal in many areas. This will hurt the cell-phone industry (more in image than anything else).

A proactive ad campaign on this matter could forestall such legislation from passing as well as improve their public image, which would pay off down the road in increased revenue. You seem to be looking at the issue in an extreme short-term cost/benefit manner, while ignoring the longer term potential benefits.

[cincyreds]

I waited until the young age of 37 before I got my first cellphone....(shrugs)

[rkmsuf]

the scourge of society


----------------------------------------
Cell phone addictive for users


By Cynthia Hubert
Sacramento Bee


SACRAMENTO -- Sergio Chaparro's information-technology students had more than just a healthy attachment to their cell phones.

When he asked them to shut them off for three days, they panicked.

"They were afraid. They were truly afraid," Chaparro, then an instructor at Rutgers University in New Jersey, recalled of the assignment last year. "They thought it was going to be a painful experience, and they were right."

Only three of about 220 students managed to complete the assignment.

To Chaparro, now an assistant professor at Simmons College in Boston, the experiment confirmed what he strongly suspected was a widespread psychological dependence on cell phones.

"I think it's critical that people realize their level of dependency, and possibly do something about it," he said.

Business executives. Soccer moms. Travelers. Teenagers. All of them adore their cell phones. But when does love turn into addiction?

A Korean study recently found that nearly a third of high school students showed signs of addiction, including paranoia, when they were without their phones, and two-thirds were "constantly worried" that they would miss a text message when their phones were off.

In Britain, researchers concluded that people are so intimately connected with their cell phones that they see them as "an essential item, an extension of self."

"No other medium has infiltrated society so widely and so quickly" to alter lifestyles, and "no other portable medium is used so frequently," wrote researchers for Teleconomy Group. They surveyed 210 consumers about their use of mobile phones.

Here in America, research on emotional attachment to cell phones has been sparse. But Joseph Tecce, an associate professor of psychology at Boston College, said it is a rich field to be mined.

Like substance abuse, Tecce said, excessive use of cell phones can lead to personal problems.

"If you try to exert control over your use of the phone and you can't do it, that's dependence. That's addiction," said Tecce, who studies "psychobiological behavior" including addictions and phobias.

"People who instantly reach for the cell phone every time they feel uneasy or anxious about a problem are relying too much on it," he said.

Ultimately, said Tecce, such behavior undermines self-reliance and reduces self-esteem.

"Like many rewarding experiences, leaning heavily on cell phones for advice or psychological nurturance is effective in reducing anxiety in the short term, but harmful in the long term," he said.

"How? By taking away control of one's behavior and placing it in the hands of others. After all, a problem might arise without a handy cell phone, and then helplessness rules the hour."

Too much yapping on the cell phone, Tecce added, also can lead to "a constant state of distraction" that "takes away a key component of happiness, the pleasure of total absorption of one activity to the exclusion of everything else."

Tecce recommended that cell- phone abusers "put themselves on a quota system, either so many minutes per day or so many calls per day" in an effort to break a serious habit.

Dependence on electronic devices is hardly limited to cell phones, said Bill Lampton, a communications specialist and author in Georgia. Electronic mail, he said, is equally addictive.

"Not long ago, my e-mail system was down for 24 hours," recalled Lampton, author of the book "The Complete Communicator."

"How did I feel? Isolated, marooned, in a sense almost rejected because I couldn't contact business and personal associates."

As for the cell phone, "It's not an exaggeration to say that it has become our contemporary pacifier," Lampton said. "As long as we're holding it, we don't show signs of unrest. "The difficulty comes when we lose our perspective on a tool that we're supposed to control -- not let control us."

David Mullinax, a lobbyist who does business in Santa Barbara and Sacramento, admitted an addiction to his BlackBerry, a wireless gadget that, among other things, transmits e-mail.

"Absolutely," he said. " 'Crack'-Berry' is appropriate nomenclature."

Despite his attachment to the device, Mullinax said, it often makes him feel "bludgeoned with information overload" and ultimately feeling "weak and ineffectual."

"It's like being caught in a wave and being tossed around like a rag doll, unable to control where you're going and not able to assimilate the information into anything truly worthwhile," he said.

"Society as a whole has created a dependency," he said. Marketing of cell phones is relentless, and access to pay phones and other "land lines" is growing more and more limited, Chaparro noted. So people feel they "have" to carry cell phones. And once they do, they tend to overuse them.

In his class last year, Chaparro said, he learned "amazing things" about the cell-phone culture of his students.

"For most of them, the phone was a lifeline in many ways," he said. "I had one student who went on a spring break trip to Florida, lost her cell phone, and her mom had to FedEx another one from home right away. She said, 'I didn't feel secure, Sergio. I couldn't even call to rent a car.'"

Against his better judgment, Chaparro said, he recently broke down and bought a cell phone for himself.

"And let me tell you, it's addictive," he said. "I have the very simplest one, the cheapest one ever, no camera, no text, nothing. I pay the minimum. But sometimes I feel I can't leave home without it."

hxxp://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050607/LIVING/506070340/1007

[sterlingice]

It doesn't sound very scientific- more anecdotal and sensationalized. However, I suspect that a more scientifically rigorous test would conclude the same thing.

SI

[Desnudo]

Cell phone companies must be ecstatic.

[Ksyrup]

I was going to bump this thread to mention that I think this problem would basically be solved if everyone who used a phone in the car was required to either be parked somewhere or using a hands-free system installed in the car.

My new car comes with HFL (Hands Free Link), a Bluetooth-enabling device that automatically synches with my phone everytime I get into the car (with the phone, of course!). There are two buttons on the steering wheel that control the HFL - one to initiate a call, give voice commands, etc., and the other to end a call or start over. I have programmed about 20 numbers into the car's memory, and all I have to do is say "phone home" and a pleasant lady asks me to confirm who I want to call and then dials the number for me. Or, if all I have is a number to call, I simply say "phone 18505555555" and it dials it for me. This system is probably more integrated with the car than an after-market system you would have installed, but I assume the features are pretty much the same. I never have to take my eyes off the road or my hands off the steering wheel.

I think this would pretty much solve the problem. At that point, you're basically no different than someone who is changing a radio station, inserting a CD, changing the temperature, etc., in terms of activation of the phone, and no different when talking on the phone than someone carrying on a conversation with other people in the car (or with themselves, or singing, etc.).

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I was going to bump this thread to mention that I think this problem would basically be solved if everyone who used a phone in the car was required to either be parked somewhere or using a hands-free system installed in the car.

My new car comes with HFL (Hands Free Link), a Bluetooth-enabling device that automatically synches with my phone everytime I get into the car (with the phone, of course!). There are two buttons on the steering wheel that control the HFL - one to initiate a call, give voice commands, etc., and the other to end a call or start over. I have programmed about 20 numbers into the car's memory, and all I have to do is say "phone home" and a pleasant lady asks me to confirm who I want to call and then dials the number for me. Or, if all I have is a number to call, I simply say "phone 18505555555" and it dials it for me. This system is probably more integrated with the car than an after-market system you would have installed, but I assume the features are pretty much the same. I never have to take my eyes off the road or my hands off the steering wheel.

I think this would pretty much solve the problem. At that point, you're basically no different than someone who is changing a radio station, inserting a CD, changing the temperature, etc., in terms of activation of the phone, and no different when talking on the phone than someone carrying on a conversation with other people in the car (or with themselves, or singing, etc.).

Is your car named KITT?

[Ksyrup]

That's the nickname we gave it (predictably).

I bought a Blackberry about 2 months ago and didn't even think about Bluetooth because I had nothing that I could use it with. I didn't realize until the day or so before I took delivery of my car that my phone was Bluetooth-capable. As nice a car as it is, that was just icing on the cake, to sit in the driveway and call my parents with the family in the car, and to have the car as basically one large speaker phone to announce our purchase. You talk and listen through the speaker system, and now I don't miss calls because I have the stereo on 30 - it automatically interrupts the music and displays the number calling in. It's pretty impressive. Especially since the freakin' thing actually works!

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

That's the nickname we gave it (predictably).

I bought a Blackberry about 2 months ago and didn't even think about Bluetooth because I had nothing that I could use it with. I didn't realize until the day or so before I took delivery of my car that my phone was Bluetooth-capable. As nice a car as it is, that was just icing on the cake, to sit in the driveway and call my parents with the family in the car, and to have the car as basically one large speaker phone to announce our purchase. You talk and listen through the speaker system, and now I don't miss calls because I have the stereo on 30 - it automatically interrupts the music and displays the number calling in. It's pretty impressive. Especially since the freakin' thing actually works!

you should have taken part in the study.

[Ksyrup]

I really don't feel like I need a Blackberry, but I got one because it really didn't cost that much and even with the email/browsing service I pay for, I'm still paying less per month than I did on my old phone plan. But it's nice to be able to read email whenever I want.

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I really don't feel like I need a Blackberry, but I got one because it really didn't cost that much and even with the email/browsing service I pay for, I'm still paying less per month than I did on my old phone plan. But it's nice to be able to read email whenever I want.

they just suck you right in

[Ksyrup]

Basically. Actually, I got it because my boss has one and felt like I needed one as well. I guess so he can email me at 10:30 at night and expect me to answer. One thing it can't do is alert me to email from the off position, though.

[rkmsuf]

"And let me tell you, it's addictive," he said. "I have the very simplest one, the cheapest one ever, no camera, no text, nothing. I pay the minimum. But sometimes I feel I can't leave home without it."

you've been warned

[Ksyrup]

Calling people through the car is more addictive than the Blackberry itself. In fact, every time my daughter is in the car, she insists we call someone.

[Kodos]

My cell phone is never on unless I am placing an outgoing call. Which can be as few as 1 or 2 times a month. I'd say I'm not addicted just yet.

A healthy dislike for the general population probably helps.

[Subby]

I think the vibrate feature is what makes most cellphones addictive.

Of course I carry mine around in my buttcheeks, so maybe it's just me.

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by Kodos

A healthy dislike for the general population probably helps.

Nice, someone else who shares my feelings. I'd ask you to be my friend, but I'm pretty sure we wouldn't like each other.

The feeling that these people get when they can't use their phone is the same feeling I get when I have to use my phone. I like to have it for emergencies, but that is about all I use it for.

[JeeberD]

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

When he asked them to shut them off for three days, they panicked.

"They were afraid. They were truly afraid," Chaparro, then an instructor at Rutgers University in New Jersey, recalled of the assignment last year. "They thought it was going to be a painful experience, and they were right."

I would be afraid and I know it would be a painful experience because my girlfriend would kick my ass if she wasn't able to get ahold of me for three straight days...

[Passacaglia]

I was going to bump this thread to mention that I think this problem would basically be solved if everyone who used a phone in the car was required to either be parked somewhere or using a hands-free system installed in the car.

I think Chicago passed a law similar to this..from what I recall, the law they passed said it was illegal to have your hands on a cell phone while driving a car. I've heard that most accidents dealing with cell phones occur while the driver is looking at the phone to dial, so that makes sense. I know that I don't have a problem with talking on my headset -- it's almost better than talking to a person in the passenger's seat, since in that case, I'm more likely to turn my head to the side.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

I would be afraid and I know it would be a painful experience because my girlfriend would kick my ass if she wasn't able to get ahold of me for three straight days...

I have a friend like this with his wife. I don't know how he can put up with it. She calls at least 5 times a day in the sense that that's how many I see if I'm over there for a couple of hours, probably more like 10 or 15. Now, I think whipped is a strong and harsh word, but wtf could possibly be so important that you need to be tied to that like a security blanket/noose.

SI

[JeeberD]

Well, she's not that bad, but if she can't get ahold of me when she wants to she starts to freak out. One night I was over at a friend's house late at night and left my phone in my car. When I left around three AM, there were eight...count em, EIGHT messages on my cell.

But that's an extreme case...

[Ksyrup]

This is like deja vu all over again.