A real cell-out happens daily right under our noses

By: LOUISE ESOLA - Staff Writer | Friday, October 21, 2005 11:51 PM PDT ∞

From the looks of it, it appears that everyone's got a patient in labor, everybody's now a top agent in the FBI and many have a dying relative with unspoken last words.

How, you ask, did I come to this impossible, unbelievable conclusion?

Based on much sociological research and keen observation, quite frankly, we human beings never stop yapping away on our cellular phones.

Whatever information is transmitted over the invisible wire ---- "contractions are two seconds apart"; "we need a description of the armed suspect"; or "I never meant to miss your fifth-grade dance recital" ---- is of utmost importance, it appears.

As a result, whatever is going at the time of such dire transmission appears to be as insignificant as toilet paper that's on sale.

In the grocery store checkout line, gone are the days when customers actually spoke, said "hello" even, to the cashier. What is being transmitted via cell phone ---- "Fruit Loops or Frankenberry?" ---- is much more important. And what about intimate one-on-one lunches and dinners? Gone! Thanks to a phone call ---- "Of course we should get together for Christmas in 2011!" ---- from a friend obviously a little more important than the one sitting across the table.

No longer are the days when drivers actually used turn signals to let the drivers behind them know why they are slowing down in the right lane of a 55 mph zone. Why? One hand on the wheel, one hand on the ol' cell. Yap, yap, yap.

Yes, me too. I am, with the exception of the turn signal item, guilty.

On Thursday, I called a friend from the grocery store, while deciphering between chicken or beef for that night's dinner. On the phone conversation menu at the time? The enormous Hurricane Wilma and the e-mail I got the other day.

But I feel it is time for introspection: Why are we always on the phone?

I feel that, yes, cell phone technology is vital, especially if your car breaks down on the road to Barstow, where, sadly, there are few to no cell phone towers and whoever you call for help will hear: "Ba ... stow ... broke ... tow ... coyotes ..."

You do need a phone, too, if you are a reporter on deadline (ahem, that's my excuse), FBI agent, a doctor or a close relative of a dying person, to name a few instances when it is OK to treat the world as your own personal phone booth.

But that is not what's really going on here. (I admit, and as you daily readers can see, this reporter's article in Friday's newspaper had nothing to do with a hurricane.)

The truth is, we are humiliating ourselves.

Some cell phone conversations ---- easily overheard standing in line at the checkout ---- have become today's radio soap operas:

"And this is what she did ... "

"You had no right to do that ... "

"So, you're saying the midget ... "

And people on cell phones often take longer to perform regular tasks, such as search for the right cut of beef, push a cart a few feet, withdraw money from an ATM or dig in their purse for 16 cents to avoid breaking a dollar.

It leaves people like me ---- those who haven't received any calls in the last few minutes ---- very frustrated.

I want to scream: AT&T urges us all to reach out and touch someone! They didn't tell us to reach out and touch everybody, at all times of the day, no matter who's around!

So frustrated, in fact, that I have to ---- I must! ---- grab my cell phone and immediately call someone ---- anyone! ---- on my speed dial to tell them about the annoying person I saw at the grocery store a minute ago.

Staff writer Louise Esola covers Oceanside schools. She can be reached at (760) 901-4151 lesola@nctimes.com.