Mobile Telephones – A Modern Menace

It doesn't matter if the punishment for using a mobile behind the wheel is 9 points and £2000. The Police are nowhere to be seen*.

*Apart from hiding behind a hedge with a speed gun where a 50mph drops to a 30mph and stopping people doing 34mph.

 

Couldnt be further from the truth. My mobile bill is pennies a month.

 

According to the BBC news today, the UK has "never been more mobile addicted".

◾One in three UK adults has argued with their partner about using their mobile phone too much (not me)

◾About a tenth of respondents admitted using their handsets "always" or "very often" while eating at home or in restaurants. (not me either)

◾A third said they regularly used their devices while with friends or watching television. (not me. It drives me bonkers when I'm talking to someone and they get their poxy mobile telephone out and start fiddling with it. I'm strongly considering carrying a paperback book with me, so that when this happens I can take my book out and start reading it and ignoring the other person)

◾One in three UK adults - and half of 18-24 year olds - said they checked their phones in the middle of the night, with instant messaging and social media the most popular activities. (not me)

◾One in 10 smartphone owners admitted reaching for their phone as soon as they woke up - with a third grabbing the device within five minutes of waking. (not me either)


Do these unsocial and addictive traits apply to any of the portable telephone enthusiasts on this board?

 

Not me, I hate the damn things and only have one because it's essential for my work .... phone boxes and pub phones now seem a luxury.

 

Nope, just meth and crack for me.

 

Nope.

It's bloody annoying when you're talking to someone and they're on their mobile and I'll ignore it if it rings whilst I'm eating. It's switched off in a restaurant and it's downstairs overnight. I'll use my mobile when it's convenient to do so and it's not rude.

 

It is bloody annoying when I'm talking to someone and my phone goes off, but they still insist on talking.

A pretty loud "SHHHH, PHONE" while gesturing toward device soon shuts them up and I can enter into my phone conversation or social media update in relative peace.

 

I have a new neighbour. Been in the house a month or so now. I'm not one to bother anyone or knock univited, but I'm trying to engineer a situation where I can at least introduce myself and welcome him to the street.

I was cutting the front grass at Meister towers the other night. New neighbour turns up in his car. Immediately picks up his phone, calls someone and gets out of the car. I smiled, he ignored me and went straight into his house. It's as if the phone was used as an excuse to not actually converse with a person in real life. He probably wasn;t even on a call.

Fair enough he might not be a very outgoing person, I'm not great at socialising myself but that was plain weird.

 

Chalk another four up for the blessed “Moby”!

Mother and three innocent young kids wiped out on the A34 near me by a lorry driver engrossed in his mobile phone. Cab camera shows him looking down at it, whilst the camera out of the front windscreen shows him careering at 50mph towards a line of stationary traffic. He was "changing the music" on it apparently......

Once again I reiterate, it’s time for using mobile phones whilst driving to be treated in the same way as drink driving. In fact, studies have shown that drivers on their mobile phones are even more dangerous than drunk drivers and there are loads of them, steering one-handed around the roundabout whilst gossiping to someone on the mobile that’s pressed to their ear. Absolutely deadly dangerous.

Penalty for first offence of talking or otherwise fiddling with a mobile phone whilst driving should be a night in the cells, vehicle crushed, 6 month ban, £2000 fine and retake your test.

Then people might start taking it seriously.

http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2016...shire-mother-and-three-children-in-a34-crash/

 

As I am back in the world of commuting in Nottingham I am struck how, probably 90%, of the commuting population are engrossed in their mobiles on the way to work, and young kids on their way to school, with barely any awareness of their suroundings.

Yesterday, I was in a shop and this woman was trying to shop for 5 minutes, whilst dragging her kids around and holding a mobile conversation about total **** (although as it was in a foreign language, I cant be sure). She struggled through the checkout, still on the phone, not acknowledging the checkout girl, and as they disappeared down the road, the little girl clinging on the pushchair with her, was still trying to get an answer to a question she had asked 5 minutes previously.

Sad.

 

Tut tut...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-37795008

 

With every story I hear about those bloody things, the more smug and self-satisfied I am that I don't have one.

 

Time for zero tolerance on these mobile menaces in Watford!

http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/ne..._phones_behind_the_wheel_in_Watford/?ref=rss#

 

That explains how you were able to add "not me" to the five bullet points you listed earlier.

I try not to do those things, but I can't say I'm entirely innocent. They're just so tempting - especially when matches are in progress or when I think that Lloyd might be posting something really interesting about moaners.

 

According to the latest studies, mobile telephony enthusiasts are so attached to their devices that when they have them taken away from them, they display signs of stress after only a few minutes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/artic...-your-phone-makes-you-stressed-within-minutes

"The comfort from the mobile phone is a substitute for real human interaction, say the researchers. They even compare it to how a baby can be comforted with a blanket when they are away from their parents."

"The fear of being apart from your phone has even got a name - it's called nomophobia, which is an abbreviation of "no-mobile-phone phobia"."

It's no wonder us small number of refuseniks who don't spend our lives engrossed by and jabbing a little 2" by 2" screen are a bit scornful, is it?

If some of you were able to get shot of your portable telephone, you might find that after you'd got over the initial panic and stress of being separated from the ghastly trilling little bit of plastic and electronics, it is strangely liberating to be free of it.

You might find yourself more in touch with the realities of the world around you.