Cell Phones and the Morons Who Abuse Them
| Published 11/19/04

Graphic by: Ande Hearn

If you know me, then you would know that not too many things piss me off. I tend to be a fairly laid back individual: I say, "Hello" to people on the street that I've never met before; I give money to homeless people; I almost never get into fights (verbal or physical). If there isn't anything else in this world that gets under my skin, it's the obnoxious ring of a cell phone and the almost always annoying voice of some fool accompanying it. Cell phones are the bane of my existence. I've managed to live my life (I'm 23 years old now) without one up until last spring when my parents forced me to buy one.

I will admit that, in their purest form, cell phones are an intelligent commodity. They can easily provide a safety net, like if you needed to call the authorities or if your car breaks down.

That's all well and fine. However it's not fine to find yourself in this situation: you are in the library (a place that traditionally prides itself on being quiet) working on an important project, and the girl's phone at the computer next to you goes off to the tune of any wide number of irritating theme songs, and she proceeds to gab in an excruciatingly loud voice about her sex life. That's not cool.  

This actually happened to me several weeks ago at McConnell Library. I don't understand how people can be so blatantly rude, and it seems to never get old. Similarly, half of the movies I go to see are plagued by patrons who forget to turn off their phones. Some even have the audacity to answer them during the movie. The same thing happens all the time in the classroom. Some students will actually walk out of the room to answer their phones mid-lecture. I've seen this happen; I'm not making it up. It sucks. Not to mention the fact that it's horribly rude to both the professor and the other students in the class.  

If you want to own a cell phone, that's fine. I have no problem with the little contraption itself; it's the individuals who abuse the privilege of owning a phone whom I have little to no respect for. I tell you what: you learn how to use your phone properly and try not to nauseate me with your sordid tales of sex, and maybe I'll stop bitching and go back to being the laid back fellow whom I prefer to be.