Polite Savages (tm)

Where not to use a Cellphone

    Earlier this evening, I was struck by my friend's politeness.  She and I were chatting on the phone.  She was in line at a store and excused herself from our conversation for that reason.  I thought that was a really well-mannered thing to do or a good way to get me to hang up.  Either way you shouldn't be using your mobile phone in that and many other situations. 

1. In a church or other place of worship
2. In line at a store  (unless it's self-checkout, you shouldn't treat a human cashier like some automated register and even then you'll always check to make sure the automated register isn't cheating you)
3. Dining at a restaurant with others or alone (the people around you probably aren't very interested in what you have to say)
4. On a date (unless you don't want to see that person again)
5. Anytime you're having a conversation with someone at work or at a party (unless you really don't care about making the other person feel that they are not your priority)
6. On public transport (really, most of what you say is not that important.  It's not like you're publishing a cure for cancer.)

Cellphone Vigilante

     There is no doubt that cellphones bring innumerable benefits to our lives like being able to call from the roadside after you've driven your car into a ditch or calling your loved ones at anytime from anywhere.  Yet cellphones have also introduced new complications like having to hear about how drunk a dude and his buddies got while riding the train to work or having your loved ones being able to call you from anywhere at anytime. 

     Recently, the New York Times reported about cell phone jammers in the US.  Depending on their sophistication and power these devices disrupt the radio frequencies that cellphones operate on thus resulting in people talking to dead air or holding phones up looking for a signal.  Jammer devices are illegal in the US but that has not stopped people from ordering them over the Internet.  There people range from vigilante commuters to business owners who want an environment free of electronic chirping and unnecessary conversation. 

   I understand the desire to tell someone to be quiet on the train or to tell someone in a restaurant to take their boring cellphone conversation to the bar or outside but I do not think that it should come at the expense of good manners and self-discipline.  I would prefer to believe that we can all rely on the ability of a free-thinking person to make the choice to not use their mobile phone extensively on public transport or to excuse themselves from a restaurant table.  I would even rather have to get up and confront someone and ask them politely to take their conversation elsewhere instead of surreptitiously relying on an electronic device.  What if you're that James Bond wannabe and your train derails and you are rendered unconscious and bleeding but no one around you can call 911 because of your smart little pocket jamming device?