WAP, SMS and PDAs are discreet; voice calls on mobiles in public places are not. In fact, they are becoming more intrusive socially than smoking ever was.
Over the past five years (1996-2001) I have carried out a personal non-scientific study into mobile phone usage on the Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART). The focus of the study: the number of incoming calls, outgoing calls and phone configuration (including address book, SMS & WAP). Usage peaked in late 1999 with up to 40 calls a carriage on a 20 minute journey. The most annoying statistic is that no more than eight users would be involved. Sit beside one of these phone-aholics and you will be treated to every graphic detail of business or social activity a one-sided conversation has to offer.
The right to own a mobile and use it just about anywhere seems to regarded as an inalienable right. Social etiquette regarding its usage has lagged behind this fast moving technology. The early adopters, the younger demographics of our population, have set no boundaries of usage. Where once we learned social graces from our elders, young upwardly ‘mobile’ morons are stepping outside the boundaries of excitability and SCREAMING “HELLO I’M ON THETRAINNN, 2 HOWTH, LUV”.
Just as smoking has been banned in many public areas, it may be prudent for legislators to limit the spaces where intrusive calls can happen, or phone rage could become a phenomenon we could do without.
Failing legislation, the gap in the market might be filled by the ‘vigilante phone jammer’. C-Guard Cellular FireWall is a jammer device that transmits low power radio signals, which cut-off communications between cellular handsets and cellular base stations. The jamming effect can be digitally controlled to form quiet zones in confined places. Source http://www.cguard.com/
Armed with one of these I could disconnect an entire carriage of mobile users, and generate income for the poor unfortunate phone user from dropped calls. The only downside of jamming is what follows, a chorus of “hello? HeLLO HELLLO? Are you there?” 🙂 Watch for the news headline – ‘Mobile Morons Zapped By Jammers’
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looks like the yummies in the SUVs have yet to be forced hands free, perhaps the law should enshirne that yummies can multi task and young drivers speed the rest of us have low insurance – sure aren’t yis all right then..