Gilda

Three incidents from the past couple of weeks made me think of this.

First incident: I'm teaching a class in Children's literature during the summer session. At the beginning of the first part of the first class period, I go over procedures and class policies, including that for cell phones. The procedure is simple: Turn off cell phones before class begins. Half an hour into the first class session, a woman's cell phone rings in her purse. She fumbles to get it out of her purse, I assume to turn it off. Instead, she gets it out and takes the call during class. It escalated from there, but that's a story for another thread.

This is just one example; it happens quite often in my middle school classes, also. My college students usually get it the first time; it takes a few confiscated cell phones and detentions for the middle schoolers to understand. Some remain unmoved even to the end of the year.

Second incident: Grace and I are watching Batman Begins, in a theater with stadium seating, where each row is elevated a foot or so higher than the row in front of it. About ten minutes into the movie, a someone in one of the early rows flips open his cell phone. When you do this, the screen is clearly visible to every person sitting anywhere behind you. A voice from my right, a middle-aged man calls out, "Shut off the cell phone." No response from down front, so about 10 seconds later, "Shut off the cell phone!" The cell phone goes dark. I was ready to cheer.

When the movie ended the young gentleman who had the cell phone, dressed in gang chic clothing approached and confronted the man who had told him to shut off his phone, telling him [and I'm trying to quote exactly here] "Yo, dude, that was really rude. I wasn't doin' nothing. It's just my cell. You shouldn't have been on me like that."

The man calmly said, "Well, I guess there was rudeness on both sides then."

"Yo man, it's just my cell. I wasn't doing nothin'. It's just my cell."

"Your phone was visible to everyone in the theater. It's distracting. You should use you phone outside the theater."

"What? You want me to miss the movie? I wasn't talkin' or nothin'. It's just my cell. I wasn't doin' nothin'"

They were walking as this conversion went on, the man clearly trying to get away, the youth following him. The man tried to explain that the bright screen of a cell phone is distracting in the dark theater, and it might have been prudent to leave the theater to take his call. The youth's positions seemed to be that he wasn't doing nothing, it was just his cell. Fortunately for all involved, there was a passal of security guards there that day, patrolling outside the Batman theater, who approached the youth and the middle-aged man, which encouraged the youth to retreat and let the incident go.

Third incident: While watching Land of the Dead yesterday, I notice a cell phone screen pop up in the first row, followed by the woman holding it getting up and walking over to the tunnel, where I assume she took the call or text message or whatever. This proceeded to happen two or three more times. The third time I could hear her talking in the tunnel, and several people down low shushing her.

These last two incidents are typical of theater experiences. A few years ago, the problem was cell phones ringing in the theater, which would happen literally every time we went to the theater. Now people seem to have gotten the message that a ringing phone is a big distraction, and it only happens about every third time. The big problem now is the bright screens popping up in the dark.

Fourth incident: As I'm sitting at a stoplight waitinf for the light to change, a car pulls up on my left, and as I glance over, I see the woman driving, head down, looking at her phone, which is in one hand as the other dials or operates it--neither her hands on the wheel nor her eyes on the road, with her car still moving.

I would like to propose some general rules for cell phone usage.

I'll start with these three:

1. When you are in class turn your cell phone off. Using it during class time is rude to the teacher, and distracts you from learning what it is you are supposed to be learning. It also can be used to cheat, in a variety of ways.

2. When you are in a theater, turn your cell phone off. The cell phone is both visually and aurally distracting. Using it in either way is distracting and rude. If for some reason, you feel the need to make a call, get up, leave the theater, and do it outside. Your desire not to miss the movie does not take precedence over the right of the other patrons not to be distracted by your choice to use your phone during the movie.

3. When your car is on the road, your cell phone should be off. If you need to make a call, pull off the road and make your call with your car parked. Taking a call shouldn't be an issue, because your cell should be off.

Discussion, modification, or additions are welcome.

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