Cell Phones

The Metrolink train crash in Los Angeles a few days ago may very well have been caused because the engineer was using his cell phone when he should have been heeding a red light. 25 people died in the crash. Earlier this year in California (as well as other states) it became illegal to speak on a cell phone without a hands-free device while driving a car. There was very little opposition to this law because people understood that talking on cell phones is a distraction and there need to be consequences in place for those who put others in harm's way.

A friend of mine who lives in Texas sent out a Facebook message today to inform everybody that she was not ignoring them, but that Hurricane Ike had disrupted cell phone service and she was unable to get in contact with anybody with her phone. I can imagine that there are people who thought she was ignoring them, because caller ID has made it possible to screen all calls and filter out contact with undesirables.

I look at my own habits and psychological attachments to modern technologies and wonder whether or not they are ultimately making my life easier or worse. If I didn't have a cell phone I would save myself over $900/year. It may or may not be giving me brain cancer and I can't remember anybody's phone number anymore. I can barely understand my half the conversations I have because of weak signals on either end of the line and I end up having to make three to four phone calls to finish one conversation.

BUT ... I wouldn't be able to drunk dial high school friends late at night and let them know what I'm doing with their moms. That's priceless.