wahoonc

Well unfortunately it doesn't work that way anymore. Now a days the teachers have no backing from the administration because they are afraid of the school board, the school board is afraid of the parents and the kids aren't afraid of anything. We have multiple incidences with cell phones being confiscated in schools and resulting lawsuits filed because it was going to cause harm to little Johnny/Suzy (don't want to be non PC here ) because they can't follow the rules and suffer the consequences. In the latest one around here, Jr was using his cellphone in class, teacher confiscated it sent it and Jr to the office. Office keeps the phone and sends a note home with Jr telling the parents they need to come get the phone, they want the phone released to Jr, against the rules, 3 days later Jr gets his butt whipped after school (I wonder why) and the parents file a lawsuit against the school because it still has Jr's cellphone so he couldn't call for help....and it goes on ad nauseum. It is a sad comment on our society today... and for those people that HAVE to have a cellphone for emergency contact, may I suggest vibrate mode and text messaging? That is the way my company contacts us via our Nextel units when we are required to respond to an emergency. That allows us to then get to a location where it is safe/courteous to use the cellphone /walkie talkie portion of the phone. Again a common courtesy that is all too lacking in today's society.

Aaron

DnvrFox

Anymore? I just stopped teaching 2 years ago. I guess things change very rapidly. Wow!

straightedge

I don't disagree with you on this, I prefer to keep mine on vibrate most of the time, even when it won't interupt others. But vibrate mode and text messaging aren't any good if somebody is jamming your signal.

DnvrFox

I'm sorry, but when someone (or the hospital) is calling you on a regular phone, text messaging most likely won't be available, nor will they know how to use it. I don't know how to use text messaging, nor do I plan on learning. Must be a generational thing!

CommuterRun

I feel sorry for Jr. who has to put up with such a pinhead excuse for parents.

FlyingAnchor

I still teach and it is my job to collect the cell phones and keep them for safekeeping. I have a little box on my desk with a small novelty lock. The box is homemade and has "Phone Booth" written on it.
My little darlings (7th-12th grade) hate the idea that I take their phones, Ipods, Mp3 players and walkmans. I do allow them to use their phone if I accept the reason as valid, or during an emergency.
A couple of years ago we caught some of them using txt msging during a test. Mr. Jones had a conniption fit and got permission to put an end to it. (me) And I did!
Steven

SingingSabre 

A cellphone jammer...

Way to set an example. For advocacy and safety, we sure seem to be more than happy to bypass a law if we think it'll help us out.

I-Like-To-Bike

Not so much to help "us" out, as stick it to "them" (i.e. those other guys that offend the PC sensibilities of "us".) Isn't that right, OP?

banerjek

I am not against cell phones. As a matter of fact, I am required to have one on by my work. It's easy enough to use phones in such a way that that everyone doesn't have to be involved in everyone elses' personal/professional lives.

I wear an earbud and a tiny mike. I have a small button that no one can see that allows me to answer and still use my hands. Texting is especially useful for short critical messages because no one will know the message is sent, you'll receive it the instant you are out of a coverage hole, and you'll know exactly what to do. Many people don't realize I carry a phone, even when I'm using it in the same room and they can see me.

If it goes off, no one can hear the ring but me. I can quickly extricate myself with minimal disruption, and if I really have to talk, I can do it in a low voice that people close to me can't really hear but the caller can. If you expect to get calls in a public place, for your own convenience and consideration of others, it is a good idea to physically position yourself in the best place to respond to a call. At movies, this means being by an aisle. It's easy enough to be discreet at restaurants, but I often walk to a place with a bit more privacy when taking a call. One option that is always present is to gracefully leave as soon as the phone rings in your ear and call back within a minute.

I think some perspective is useful. Before the 90's hardly anyone had them. A bit earlier, no one had them. In a few short years, this device has gone from nonexistent, to a luxury for the rich, to a life or death tool for everyone.

BTW, for those of you who are wondering how I deal with the cell when biking or driving. Driving: look for place to pull over as phone rings. Press button to answer and pull over at first safe opportunity. Biking: phone is on loudest setting in pocket or pannier. I rarely can get to it before voicemail kicks in, but I can call back immediately.

sbhikes

I think there should be jamming devices as a matter of course in use for all the places where you aren't supposed to use cellphones such as on the plane, at the movies, doctors' offices, classrooms etc.

Disabling them removes the need to stick up nannyish posters asking people to pretty please be courteous and removes the uncomfortable situations where you have to go and play "mom" and admonish people for not following the rules as if they were recalcitrant children.

But as for controlling people in traffic I think it would make things more dangerous, not safer.

SingingSabre 

I'm with Banerjek: I have a wireless headset next to me. If it's safe, I'll grab the headset and answer. If not, then I don't answer.

While riding, I don't answer. I don't feel it, so I don't know it's ringing.

I pretty much always have my phone on vibrate (unless I'm in a movie...then it's on silent). I respond faster to tactile stimulus than I do to auditory.

I wish I could do without it, but it's a necessity for me due to various circumstances. I also use text messaging quite a bit. It's just the thing for a quick message which requires no response.

markf

It's been established that talking on a hands free phone while driving is just as dangerous as holding a cell phone in your hand while driving. Either way, your mind is distracted from the task of driving. Safest thing to do is use voice mail and call back when you're stopped.

Text messaging is great, especially if you have a message prepared ahead of time that you can just hit a button and send. I'm told that the Japanese have developed a custom of sending a brief text message asking if it's OK to call, which sounds like a great idea to me.

Bikepacker67

No, that's not right.
I don't want to "stick it to them", I just want their undivided attention focused on DRIVING.
Imagine that.

N_C

The only problem I see is as your riding on the roadways with motorists & their call drops because of the jammer you have in your jersey pocket or bag they look at the screen, causing them to take their eyes off the road which could cause an accident. Bad for you if you're next to them, etc. It is bad enough they are distracted while using a cell phone, but at least their eyes are on the road, more so then when they lose a call & have to look at the screen as a result.

Otherwise I want one if it will work in my area.

MarkS

The "I have the right to irritate anyone anytime" attitudes here are the kind of responses you hear from addicts justifiying their addicitions. Immediately gravitating to the highly improbably defense: What if a life-altering emergency is occurring and I don't hear it about??" Like you always dine right next to a medical doctor at Mac's. Its like people don't have any sense of etiquette anymore. On multiple occasions I've seen people roaming up and down the aisles of the local library, carrying on conversations with their "outdoor voices".

A jammer would only have a limited range (3-6 feet) and once people learned that bikers might be carrying something that would interrupt their more-precious-than-life conversations they would start to give us space.

MarkS

Hmm. The small print says they can only sell it to government agencies ... but the examples they cite (restaurant or commuting) don't really apply to government officials -- and why would a government official need to have a jammer that looks like a cellphone? They must be selling these to civilians through some back door (ebay?) ... or maybe the US isn't an important market..

I-Like-To-Bike

And where is your attention as you are on your nanny patrol looking for cell phoners to zap? Or maybe you would just keep your zapper on full time, and teach 'em all a lesson.

I-Like-To-Bike

More likely, once it was "learned" that self righteous cycling nannies were jamming cell phone calls it would cause attacks on innocent bicyclists from cell phoners whose call got interrupted for any reason. No thank you for your nannying.

banerjek

This is pretty tame. At the university where I worked at some years back, students would actually have pizzas delivered into the library (despite the no food policy). An incredible percentage carried huge soft drinks even though the nearest restaurants were several blocks away

Several times, I personally witnessed students unleash a tirade of obscenity laced abuse on any poor library worker who had the chutzpah to politely remind anyone of the policy. Hostile, indignant responses were outright common. Now that education has become more businesslike, you can't offend "customers."

The cool side is that if you're nice to people nowadays, the ones who aren't jerks (fortunately, there's still millions of considerable people) treat you like a king.

jwc

I'm sorry for your loss and I'm glad you got to the hospital in time.


Actually, I don't see anywhere here where you state it was a bag phone, only that it was a "few" years back. I'm sorry if I offended your sensibilities. Just because you can come up with a justification to be annyoying doesn't mean that it is right to do so. Rudeness is becoming more commonplace in our everyday lives. Many people seem to be oblivious to how rude they, we, have become.

I have to put up with customers that have headsets connected to phones everyday. You'll be having a conversation with them and they will, without saying excuse me or anything else, just start talking like you are not there. I had customer who just talking to someone when I was trying to help him, making customers behind him wait. When I tried to talk to the customer behind him while he, conducted his phone business, he stopped long enough to tell me he was first and then continued on for another five minutes talking to whoever was at the other end.

Even if it is an emergency phone call, you can still be polite and step aside.

AlmostTrick

+1

I never had a cell phone and still don't want one. I'm I putting myself and my family at risk for sudden death?

If it's ok to irritate others with obnoxious phone blabbering in public, how is puting a stop to it with a jammer any worse? Oh wait, I forgot, someone might die.

twahl

I've avoided this thread for a while, but this thought dragged me in.

Yes, I use a cell phone. Occasionally for short period while driving or ever (gasp) while riding my bike. So far so good.

My question though is related to "undivided attention" to anything. I bowled tonight, my normal Tuesday night league. I had to remove my wedding band because it was sliding off my finger. It was distracting, even though it was on my "off" hand. Given that something so integrated into my daily life was distracting from my immediate activity, what are the chances that anyone gives driving their undivided attention?

My guess is about 1,000,000:1. Isn't going to happen. People (except for self-righteous non-drivers) drive daily, so it becomes second nature. Something else is going to fill the rest of our limited capacity for thought. Whether you are thinking about what's for dinner, your upcoming exam, your kid's upcoming exam, how to paint the living room, your grandmother in the nursing home, whether you'll get laid tonight, the upcoming annual report, etc...the chances that any driver is giving the task of driving (or riding the bike) the undivided attention are pretty slim.

Legislate that. Then get back with me with a valid point.

SingingSabre 

One's legal, the other isn't. That pretty much sums it up, unless you want to get into philosophy, which isn't really arguable in a logical way.

Which tends to be what I do. I'm quite liberal with my voicemail feature.

That said, I would like you to then tell me why despite the close calls which I avoided while having a conversation (often interrupted by "Hold on," or "Hold on, this looks fishy,") I have been in only 2 collisions, both of which were nowhere near my fault. Both were rear-endings, and out of my control. I have avoided many accidents by discretion on when to continue a conversation and when to not, in addition to when to answer a phone and not.

Yeah, texts are great. I used them to coordinate rides for visiting family while in a movie... We were all in a movie while a cousin was out running errands. She needed to know when the movie was ending. Great stuff.

eubi

OK, so now we have two sets of inattentive drivers?

The yakkers and the jammers.

CrosseyedCrickt

And what are the chances someone will be "enjoying their meal" in peace, next to an on call surgeon who is now unable to get the call to save your wife/mom/sisters life because of this.
Stranger things have happened.
There's a reason things like this are illegal to use.
I know that I for one am not about to go up against the FCC in court. Federal prison is no joke.