Why must I take part in people’s cell phone conversations?
More and more i’m finding that cell phone usage has become so much the norm that all restraint and propriety is shed as people carry on in public like these things are an organic part of not only their own bodies but of societies norms.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in public places with these people carrying on with loud phone conversations that show not the least awareness of those around them. THis smacks of not only inconsideration, since often these conversations go on in places like the book store where I and others are reading while someone screams into thier hand about the inconsequential details of their lives like sharing them will somehow make them more valid.
It also seems highly egotistical. Not only is it all about them and not the least bit about anybody else there at the moment who doesn’t want to hear about what their person on the other end is making for dinner tonight or how much they really want to see Borat or enjoyed that recent indie film they saw and highly recommend because blah blah blah. THey just carry on as loud as they can without getting arrested as if it matters. To all of us. I can only speak for me but it doesn’t matter to me. I’m not there because I want an inside peak into the private lives of these amazingly complex and worldly blazing stars.
An example of the complete disregard and lack of awareness of these people is a woman at Barnes & Noble who was having this loud conversation in the cafe area while I and others were reading or engaged in normal conversation. She was carrying on about where she was, what she was going to do next, what she thought about so and so and this and that. But then she had the temerity to loudly complain to her friend, therapist, or parole officer on the phone about how loud the music was in the store and how it made it impossible for her to relax and read.
What the fuck!
And even when it’s not disturbing the peace I have to wonder about people who are just walking along having conversations, often with unseen phones or those mics that allow for free hands. Often they appear to be crazies talking to themselves. But slowly I find myself not assuming madness but instead when i hear someone talking to themselves I assume they must be wired and having some pointless conversation that couldnt wait until getting home because their egos demanded immediate airing of whatever was on their minds and the gratification of suggesting to passersby taht they are really cool and important people with alot of shit going on.
When I see someone truly talking to themself that’s the surprise.
But I never see that anymore.
Why?
Because all the damn loonies have cell phones now!
And there’s such an intensity and focus to these people’s conversations you’d think they were passing on launch codes. Unless you’re Jack Bauer talking to Chloe or a terrorist, stop carrying on in front of me with your cellphone or racing up and down store aisles going at your little phones with a gravitas born only of your self-inflated worth.
There was a study recently indicating that excessive cell phone usage thins sperm counts in men. I can only hope that is natures way of thinning the herd of loud, overbearing people who think their shit don’t stink and that I want to smell it too.
If you need to discuss something that urgently step outside or find a spot where people aren’t engaged in quieter pursuits. At least lower your voice. Those phones work pretty well now and you don’t have to yell into them. THis isn’t C.B. technology anymore and you’re not truckers good buddies.
I don’t care about you. You didn’t do anything that interesting. You are not interesting. You are not Jack Bauer. And you obviously don’t care about me though you wish me to hear about the tired minutiae of your life. So let’s respect our respective indifference of each other. You don’t yell play by play into your hand about what you’re doing at the moment and I won’t get closer to flipping the frack out and bashing your face in with that damn phone!
Can we make this happen?
Thank you for listening.
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