Anyone else getting caught in the epidemic (cell phone on the rigging)

[kshansen]

My wife is no where as bad as most out there these days but still she got upset when I ran to the local pizza shop and she noticed me pulling out the driveway without the head lights on and then she calls to tell me and I didn't answer the phone. The whole trip is maybe 3 miles and 95% of it is on a winding country road with no shoulders to pull over on to take a call.

And heaven forbid if my cell phone, a flip phone if that matters, rings and I don't run for it like I was at the start of a 100 yard dash in the Olympics! 99% of the time if I do it's some China lady telling the warranty is running out on my car, I drive a 2011 Rav4!

 

[Truck Shop]

My cell phone is 15 years old at least, It is used mainly for company dispatch to contact me. My personal calls
pretty much range in the zero area. Any family matters are discussed before I go to work. If my wife calls it's
about four calls a year. Because I'm on the company land line at work during the day for company business
I'm really not into too many after hour calls unless it's a break down. I don't talk on phone and work-that's
when attention goes else where and mistakes take over.

 

[Hallback]

A lot of people just can't stay off the damn phone, I'm the opposite.

I love it when I don't have to be on my phone.

 

[BigWrench55]

I am blessed to be from a generation that didn't have cell phones when growing up. It's a pitiful state of affairs that so many can't do anything without their phones. When the wife and I go out to eat. We are the only couple that aren't staring at our phones. We don't even have them out on the table. And most times if I am out with my wife and family I leave my phone at home. It drives my friends nuts because I never answer the phone when they call or I won't respond to texts until hours later. I view the phone as a tool first and entertainment last. This forum is the most entertainment I get from the phone and is the only form of social media I participate in. Otherwise I am pretty well self entertained and have better things to do besides reading people's useless opinions. And self important videos. Phones and social media are a cancer to society. They allowed for a electronic leash to be put on you. And gave a platform for people to give you a opinion that you didn't ask for. Which gave way for people to think that they can tell you what, when, and where to go and do.
I digress.
But seriously those things are cancer to a civilized society.

 

[CM1995]

I remember when all your calls were made at night after you got home and had supper. That's just the way it was.

Exactly. My father was a framing contractor in the late 70's early 80's, remember the "tech evolution" when I first started to go to work with him during the summer as a child.

First was a roll of dimes for the pay phone if you absolutely needed to make a call which meant you cranked up the Ford 250 van, left the crew to themselves on the job and found a pay phone to call the lumber supplier or builder. Next came the roll of quarters on the dash.

All phone calls were made after he came home where the next day and following week were planned this way. This required all parties involved to actually plan construction projects - what a novelty in todays time.

After the roll of quarters came the pager which started the "instant contact" evolution that I personally think has ruined construction project planning/management. Now a superintendent or PM can instantly or so they expect to instantly, get you on the smart phone to handle whatever problem they forgot to plan for - right now.

Smart phones are a plague on our Country and Our Society that is rotting our brains. Personally I hate my iPhone with a passion that has nothing to do with the phone, I'd hate a Samsung just the same. When Friday or a vacation comes around I toss it the corner and forget about it.

 

[donkey doctor]

Pretty much all I use my phone for is to call my wife from the grocery store to tell her that her yogurt is on sale and should I get an extra carton d.d.

 

[John C.]

It seems to me that texting has become the real issue. I can't count how many times I'm driving at speed on the freeway and either a kid or a grandma passes me with two hands on the top of the steering wheel and the cell phone in between with thumbs dancing across the screen like a couple doing the jitter bug. The other time is sitting a car or two back from a red stop light that turns green and the lead vehicle driver's head is looking at their crotch and you have to honk the horn like an alarm clock to wake them up. I like the idea of a device that kills the phone reception or broadcast when ever the vehicle is moving or even in gear.

 

[Spud_Monkey]

We are in a society now where everyone needs instant reaction/gratification which is why not just cell phones but social media has taken off. People want instant results in the work place which is also a byproduct of all this, don't do it fast enough someone else will get the job/contract.
There is jamming devices out there and you can make them yourself based on the wavelength you emit with enough wattage but are illegal and you will be caught and fined by the FCC.
https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/man-put-cell-phone-jammer-in-car-to-stop-driver-calls-fcc-says/

 

[Truck Shop]

The false need for speed in every thing we do-drove the cell phone industry and that convinced the public
they can get everything faster and there lives are far improved by the speed of there I Phone. In reality
it just caused more stress, created more rumor mills, amplified the confusion people already had in their
daily life. Created more safety issues, caused driving hazards, killed people in many different ways.
Progress--progress that should have had limitations from the start, hard now to put it back in the bottle.

 

[Spud_Monkey]

The false need for speed in every thing we do-drove the cell phone industry and that convinced the public
they can get everything faster and there lives are far improved by the speed of there I Phone. In reality
it just caused more stress, created more rumor mills, amplified the confusion people already had in their
daily life. Created more safety issues, caused driving hazards, killed people in many different ways.
Progress--progress that should have had limitations from the start, hard now to put it back in the bottle.

Thus limiting progress is limiting peoples freedom which can be misconstrued into multiple facets, so essentially our freedoms we fought and killed for are what’s going to kill us as a nation…ironic

 

[Truck Shop]

Really not limiting progress or freedoms rather doing what's best for the majority. Because your never
going to satisfy everyone. A phone is a tool nothing more.

 

[John C.]

The way I take Mr. Spud's comment is that the phone is a symptom of individuals claiming that society as a whole cannot limit any perceived freedoms by any individual. A society as a whole cannot survive without some types of limits on personal freedoms.

 

[Spud_Monkey]

Beautiful thing of living out here no cell signal for 50 miles to town so no one is texting and driving or on their phone on the way into town, it's like we are back in the 80's out here Even the online marketplace is almost non existent, better look elsewhere if you need to by something used or drive down the road to see if something is wasting away, or has for sale sign on it. Speaking of which since I been here I have watched a D4 or D6 dozer sit in same spot past 5 years waiting for me to ask a price on it each time I go into town.

 

[John C.]

Which eighties are your talking about, 1980 or 1880?

 

[Spud_Monkey]

Which eighties are your talking about, 1980 or 1880?

Lol good laugh, thanks... 1980. Though seems like 1880 when frustrated with certain things.

 

[Truck Shop]

If it was 1880 you would be using a smokey fire and a blanket instead of a cell phone.
Actually that's a good idea.

 

[emmett518]

We’ve become our parents, complaining about the young folks!!!

 

[Truck Shop]

We’ve become our parents, complaining about the young folks!!!

Boomers.

 

[dirty4fun]

Unless I am expecting a call for something work related I don't answer or even look at my phone. There are a couple people who call, and if I am not doing something that I need two hands I will answer. Usually they text me, meaning when ever you have time answer, call if it needs an answer right now. My sister just expects me to answer texts right away, and she gets upset when I don't. I figure when I am working my phone is a tool, if it helps me get the job done more efficiently fine, if not it stays in my pocket till break time or after I am done working.

 

[gwhammy]

I've got most people to text me now, setting on a machine working for someone I don't feel they want to pay me to be on the phone producing nothing.

A few years ago I had a gal pass me while I was in the dump truck on a four lane road. She had the cruise set, both feet on the dash with her knees against the steering wheel and both hands on her phone running somewhere over 80 mph.

I work with Amish quit a bit, that cures the phone problem.