Originally Posted by
Ziemas
It's not the phone's fault that people can't limit their use. Every mobile that I've ever owned has had a 'silent' and 'off' button, not to mention that I can simply choose not to pick it up.
Even a quite casual look almost anywhere in public proves ignoring the call of the cell to be much easier said than done. This is why we have "unlimited" plans. Slaves to the phone are almost everywhere one looks. Am I to believe that most of these calls are anything close to essential? haha, that's funny. If you are indeed the master of your contraption then you truly appear to one of the few.
As for being a crutch, that's just bizarre. For example I was supposed to meet a friend at a bar last Sunday. She lives closer and arrived first. The bar was closed, so she called me and we arranged to meet elsewhere. It saved both her waiting in the rain for me, and me walking to the bar and then the new place in the rain. What's bad about that?
There's no doubt that they can sometimes be useful. My point about it being a crutch is that having this instant access to others has caused many to fail to, or even forget how, to plan ahead. And why should they when they can just call or text everyone, and get near instant repsonse? Ask people how they deal without their phone. Many will admit they are lost. What's good about this?
The ever quickening pace of communication seems to be anything but freeing. Like you and many others have noted, it can be very relaxing to just turn off the phone (or not have one) and slow down.
Can you hear me now?