Re: <nettime> Cellphones and the Cancer of Cellspace

[cisler <cisler@pobox.com>]

> From: "Benjamin Geer" <benjamin.geer@btinternet.com>
...

> I watched mobile phones become ubiquitous in New York, and I heard
> many people walking down the street, loudly having entirely pointless
> conversations, usually along the lines of: "Now I'm at 38th Street and
> 6th Avenue..."  I had no doubt that this was type of ostentatious
> public performance was the expression of an intense emotional need.
> But what exactly is this need?
> 
> I don't have a mobile, because it has always seemed to me that I would
> have no use for one.  I have few friends, and no one ever needs to
> contact me on short notice.
...

Those are the reasons that kept me from getting one: lack of need, people
yammering loudly as if they are alone (esp. in airline terminals), and the
annoying ringing in public places (meetings, conference halls).

However, I'm heading out into very rural parts of the U.S. during the
winter, and I have a tight schedule of people to interview for a document
about how rural folks are using IT.  It will be during the winter, and I
think I may get one for safety reasons.  Unfortunately, some of these
areas do not have cell service at all.

Steve Cisler



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