Let me preface this by saying that in the right hands, cell phones can be a very useful convenience that can increase one’s productivity substantially. At the same time, I think we’ve all seen the type being described here by Louis Rene Beres in the Chicago Tribune:

“Talking on a cell phone makes the caller feel more important, more valuable, less alone, less lonely.

“At a time when ‘rugged individualism’ has become a nostalgic myth in America, being witnessed in conversation with another – any other – is presumed to be absolutely vital. Certainly, the nature or urgency of the particular phone conversation is mostly irrelevant. In many readily observable cases the exchange consists of meaningless blather punctuated by monosyllabic grunts. There is no vital content here; certainly nothing to resemble a serious reflex of thought or feeling.
“All that really matters is that the caller be seen talking with another human being and that the conversation push away emptiness and anxiety….”

Thanks to Eric Scheske, and his great blog The Daily Eudemon, for the link.

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