by P. Byrd

Created on: June 06, 2008

Why do I go to a restaurant? To purchase well-prepared food, which is served promptly after preparation while still at the temperature that is intended to be eaten. If in the company of others, it might also be to enjoy fellowship with them or to develop or further a personal or business relationship. I do not go to hear the people that are not at my table letting their "cute" ringtones go off incessantly while they frantically search through their pockets or purse, or talking with their "outside" voice to someone else not inside the restaurant. At this point, you might think I wrote in the wrong side - but the question is not should people observe common courtesy in the use of their cell phones, it is should their use be banned.

I have a cell phone and I carry it almost everywhere. It is a luxury to have the freedom to go places where I am able to be reached by someone who needs to get a message to me. The technology exists to allow this to occur in almost any place one can go. There are significant benefits to this which do not need to be recited, since they are different for each person. There is no need to place limits on these benefits by legislating manners to the users who choose to ignore the implications to others around them.

The crux of the problem is how a person uses their phone in a public place. The problem lies in the lack of consideration for others displayed by many cell phone users. Except in the case of a true emergency (or suspicion of one), a polite person does not put the answering of one's phone followed by the carrying on of a conversation ahead of the person who is with them. They also have the common courtesy to have their technology set so as to not be obtrusive to others around them. If answering is a must they excuse themselves and hold off on the conversation until they are in a not so public place. All conversations up to that point should be held at a very low volume directly into the mouthpiece of the phone.

If we were to open a group discussion on this question, each person could cite numerous examples of gross rudeness they have experienced at the hands of public users of cell phones. Yet, before the group discussion was over, it would be almost a certainty that someone's phone will ring. If it is your phone, will you fight the urge to answer it? Can your voice mail get it? Let's make the world a better place one person at a time.

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