For you people on manners, what is your take on proper cell phone use?

I could not agree with you more. The cell phone habits of most people are completely obnoxious. No one seems to be living in the moment as they have these mindless unimportant conversations or text messaging while the rest of us are forced to walk around them, drive around them, wait for them to move out of the way and put their phones down. It's terrible.

I am tired of waiting in line at a store for the cell phone user in front of me to realize it is their turn to get service while the rest of us in line are forced to hear about what she is going to wear clubbing tonight.

I was with a large group of people who all paid decent money to hear a concert. I cannot tell you how many people left their cell phones on and rang during the show. We did not pay hundreds of dollars to hear a cell phone ring during a performance. Also, people on cell phones talk so loudly. They have this odd belief that someone can hear them better during a bad connection if they speak loudly. It is sooooo annoying to be subjected to such noise pollution while being forced to listen to mindless chit chat.

When my young adult children come to eat at my home, before we sit down, I MAKE them turn their cell phones off and put them in another room. I will not shop, prepare food, cook it, serve it, just to have one interruption after another while they are not in the moment with the family and me.

People are using cell phones as if they are an appendage to their hand and I am sick and tried of how some people make their phones a priority. All while ignoring real life happenings.

I have a cell phone and I do not always have it with me. People try to shame me for not answering it and now no one leaves a message anymore as they resort to texting. My cell phone is for MY convenience, not the convenience of others.

I take care of an elderly person with whom has to have her medication regulated on a weekly basis after a blood test every Tuesday. When I am expecting a call from the doctor, I tell the person I am with that I am expecting a call from the doctor so if my phone rings, they know I have to take the call. I excuse myself, walk away and have a very brief conversation with the doctor, then carry on with my day. But, I normally will not answer a call or a text when I am with others.

Just saying.

Ah, tis good to hear someone else kvetch (I'm being nice and not using the language I should be) about cell phones. I think cell phones are dummy down society. Young people no longer know how to carry on a civil, sane conversation face-to-face with someone. They carry on a whole affair with someone by texting, start to finish, and think that's real life. I mean, I can see some idiot who never shops having to call home to find out which brand of mayonnaise he needs to pick up, but an ongoing conversation (and most of the conversations I've heard are about NOTHING) is ludicrous. I had a coworker who's 30 y.o. daughter lives with her, and her daughter had 2 kids who also lived with them--daughter paid no rent or food or anything, basically my coworker paid for everyone including the kids...and every single day about every 15 mins. her phone would ring and it was one of her family and she's spend 5 mins. chatting on the phone, and then go home to these same people and I always had to wonder what in the world is so damn interesting that you guys need to talk to each other almost continually all day long??? And once you get home, what do you do? Rehash what you've already talked about all day?? Is your life really that sad and boring? Or these people who are so intent on their cell phones they step off the curb without even bothering to look for traffic (and this is a big city, we have traffic)--I know several people have gotten killed that way (to my thinking, it's part of the sorting out processes). Another coworker will interrupt a work-related explanation to answer a personal call on his cell, and people are always calling him so very little information gets related. He also admits that if he ever lost his phone or his phone got destroyed, he'd be a basket case because his whole life is on that phone (although he's got some of it backed up onto his computer). I think fathom letting something take over so much of your life that you could feel that way--although if all computers went down, I'd feel a bit peculiar because I do so much these days with my computer. I keep looking around for the cell phone interrupter/disconnector gizmo--something small you can carry in your pocket or palm of your hand and just press a button to disconnect someone on their cell--boy would I have a good time, probably wear out the battery in minutes though. I do find it so amusing when I'm commuting to work and the driver announces over the speaker system that we all have to get off and take another train because this one is going off line--and all those people wired into their cells can't hear the announcement and just sit there being carried away to neverneverland. People have gotten robbed because they are so focused on their cells they aren't aware of anything around them. I've seen people to all sorts of stupid and weird things while concentrating on their cells. Yea, it's rude, makes them all look so stupid and foolish, so socially inept. I do have a disposable cell--mainly for emergencies and for calling ahead when I need to pick up food to take home; I am not at all any good at using it, so far I've used it more as an address book then anything else. A few times I tried to call someone who wasn't on my contact list I couldn't get the phone to put the call through (had to add the person to my contact list and then make the call). But I have a landline phone at work, I have a landline phone at home, and inbetween those two places I really do not need to talk to my people, nothing I have to say is so important that I need to communicate with my people NOW. But then, I was brought up by my parents that you only tie up the phone only when you absolutely have to, we weren't allowed to use the phone to chat with anyone, the phone was only to be used to give or get information, and then you hung up.

it is a huge problem if you ask me. nothing is more rude than to whip out your phone & put all your attention into it while your with someone. it doesn't matter if its at the dinner table or riding in the car. and the ones that drive while they text (or whatever), scare the hell outta me. they just passed a new law in Louisiana banning texting while driving. I hope they really enforce it! They really gross me out too - at work, during lunch, it never fails that someone wants to "show" me something on theirs. Of course, I will see them go into the restroom w/ the phone all thru the day.... so, needless to say, I wont touch anyone elses phone, lol....gross!

how do you know they were all smart phones? why can't you focus on the task at hand?