Sunday, 26 July 2015

Mobile phone, mobile phone, mobile phone!

It's urgent, urgent, urgent! 
I am the reluctant owner of a mobile phone. It have used it just three times in the past three years. On each occasion it has been used to inform the Senior Cat that I will be later than I first told him. He worries if I am much later than I expect to be.
Yes, he is a worrier and, at almost 93, I am not going to change him. He will call me for the same reason. I don't worry quite as much as he does. At his age I am merely conscious of the fact that anything could happen. He worries that I will be worried.
I am grateful for mobile phone technology which allows him to have a little extra peace of mind. His phone however is so old that he will need to do something if it is to continue working. Brother Cat has informed us that he will "do something about that" when he comes to visit next month. There is no urgency. It works but it needs frequent charging. New battery? Probably.
Middle Cat wants the Senior Cat to have a new phone. "You should get one that does more," she told him. She has said the same thing to me. 
Middle Cat is firmly attached to her phone. Apparently she can't handle life without it. When she visits us her phone will ring. It even has a variety of ring tones so that she knows whether it is family, friend or stranger calling her. She appears to spend hours on the phone. Her phone is also filled with photographs and video clips and appointments and...well, you know the sort of thing. 
The Senior Cat's phone will, apparently, take a photo - as will mine - but neither of us know how to do  it. They are however the most basic of phones. They don't take videos or search the internet or keep appointments or...well you know the sort of things phones do.
I watch other people using their phones too. They walk along and do it. They almost bump into you. You are the one who has to take evasive action. They don't watch the traffic. And yes, it is against the law to use a handheld phone while driving. Does it stop people? Of course not. It's urgent isn't it? 
The library is filled with ring tones and the sight of people frantically searching for their phones. They will drop books on the floor to reach that vital phone call. 
The supermarket? We have all seen someone prowling the shelves talking to their partner about what else they might need. I'd write a list before I left. I guess they find it easier not to but they continue to talk at the checkout. They barely acknowledge the person serving them if at allbut using a staffed checkout allows them to go on talking. That call about who said or wore what really is terribly urgent.
I had to go into the supermarket on Friday. It was an extra trip to get something that had been unavailable the day before. One of the staff was just putting down a "closed" sign for her aisle but she saw me and said,
"You've only got that? Want to come through?"
"Thank you."
"That's okay. You always talk to us."
And some people don't.
Isn't it time we stopped ignoring people and started talking to them?
 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Some years ago an exhibition included some scenes of past, present and future ... including a group of four people standing together in conversation ... but they all had mobile phones held at their ears. Now it is not just standing around in a group it is sitting at a table in a cafe when having coffee with friends.