2 Technologies that I Don't Care For

Cell phones are much more annoying than useful in my own life. I am irritated by the rudeness of fellow travelers in airports, who sit near me interrupting my own work and leisure with loud business calls. I continue to laugh out loud at the men standing at the urinals holding a phone to their ear with one hand while taking care of additional business with the other hand. I have even been forced to overhear conversations of two gentleman talking on the phone while they engaged in solid waste disposal. I'm thinking there is probably a hysterically funny book that could be written by someone with considerably more leisure time than me about the inane public phone conversations of cell users. My son at college drowned his cellphone in the toilet accidentally, and when I went to Verizon to see about replacement, they told me that such events are one of the most common causes of premature cellphone death. Scottie, a cartoonist in New Zealand (http://www.scottart.com/index.htm) created the wonderful cartoon above.

Tech Pet Peeve #2: I have colleagues who share the same hall or physical space who email what they could tell me. I have on-campus students who email instead of dropping by to see me. I have a backlog of over 500 unanswered emails because everyone and their brother on and off this campus can include me in group mailings, and everyone one who has an interest in my work can find me easily electronically and contact me instantly.

Okay, so here's a realization. I don't dislike either of these technologies. I dislike their overuse, misuse, abuse, and the way they allow strangers to intrude in my life. So, both technologies are useful, but should have training programs, learner permits, and licenses that can be taken away for their misuse. I propose a new Tech Police Force. This would be a much better use of my tax dollar than pouncing on folks driving 8 miles an hour over the limit on Hwy 421.