Cell Phone Curse

June 14, 2009 by admncc

I often get asked what the keys are to a good blog.  The way I see it, there are three:

  • Content
  • Visitors
  • Comments 

If you can accomplish the above-list, I’d be willing to bet that you have a pretty good blog.  So along those lines, I try to write posts that will not only attract readers, but will generate comments as well.  Of course, some posts do better than others.  And some really surprise me with how popular they turn out to be.  “Date Night Disaster” was an example of the latter.

I wrote “Date Night Disaster” after I ended up missing more than half of a showing of the movie “Revolutionary Road” due to a domestic disturbance that occurred in our row (and the subsequent police investigation).  I mean; this incident made the local police blotter and everything.  Anyway, to this day, that is one of the most viewed posts I’ve ever had on this blog.  Cleveland.com even picked it up and mentioned it.

Before I wrote that post I had a problem with people that text during movies.  When I wrote that post I had a problem with people that text during movies.  And I still have a problem with people that text during movies.

Anyway, speaking of cell phones, I was talking to my buddy and his father-in-law about cell phones and texting, and their implication on society.  It’s sore topic for all of us.  I’ve blogged about everything from cell phone use while driving to constant texting.  They brought up another issue – the lack of social skills most school-age children have these days – because instead of talking to each other, they just text from across the building.

Anyway, going back to “Date Night Disaster” and the guy who was arrested – I called the local police department to follow-up.  All charges were dropped.

Oh, to close the chapter on Leo and Kate, I rented “Revolutionary Road” tonight…

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Comments

  1. I find between text messaging and twittering kids in our society are going to officially forget how to spell. Imagine trying to get your thoughts to fit onto one “page” of text or 140 characters?

    People texting during movies bother me as well. Those really bright lights coming on and attracting your eyes. It’s so annoying. My husband actually has a few movie bad habits.

    1. Not turning his cell phone to vibrate (I now take it and change the setting for him)
    2. Answering his cell phone during the movie and trying to whisper to someone that he is at a movie and ends up speaking louder than he thought he was because hes on the phone with his 80 year old father who can’t hear shit
    3. Nudging me during a movie to answer a text that he got because I text faster

    My husband and I go to the movies at least twice a week and this happens at least 3 times a month. I want to kill my own husband. Do not interrupt MY movie experience!!!

    I went back and read your date night diaster post a while back and I couldn’t help but laugh. I can’t believe a fight broke out over that!

    I went to the movies a while back and these stupid kids had brought a laser pointer and kept on putting it on the screen. The first couple of times it was easy to ignore, by the 3rd time I was annoyed and stood up and was like “If I find who is doing this I’m gonna shove that laser where the sun don’t shine” and then people clapped so they stopped with the laser.

  2. mmm… i wanted to see that. more for my longstanding obsession with leo than anything else. how was it?

  3. Hal says:

    Jenny, I can’t believe your husband answers his cell phone during a movie. You need to slap him silly. And I love how you handled the laser pointer situation!

  4. Extreme John says:

    I cant really comment much on the texting, between our Business’s and having two kids that are out and about more often now, you can’t even begin to imagine my incoming and outgoing text volume. A real “Vacation” for me is when the phone no longer gets service because I am in another Country. ahhh I dream.

    Amazing how the charges were dropped, what a bunch of crap. It’s stuff like that, which makes me point out to my kids that most of the time, regardless of what happens in life, the sun still comes up tomorrow.

    Police called out, numerous people screwed out of a nice night out at the movies and the end result is the fn charges get dropped. Such bs.

  5. Jane says:

    Good movie and I enjoyed the old post. I have never seen behavior like that in a theater, but I guess there’s a first for everything.

    John, I am not surprised that the charges were dropped. That guy did what any of us would have wanted to do. I’m proud of him. Ha ha!

  6. Dan says:

    There is no sense of safety on the roads these days. And cell phones are a major factor of that. Drive! Don’t text!

    And their point about the students is accurate. Their heads are buried in their phones as opposed to their books.

  7. Zig says:

    “Children may forget about play and may forget how to go down the street to a friend’s house, knock on the door to ask if the friend wants to come out and play. The lack of socializing and face to face contact is incredible. Facebook instant messaging, portable emailing, Twitter and texting may lead to a decline of society. Are these conviences doing more harm than good…” Doesn’t this sound like a generational divide?

    “Save the children. Destroy their portable phones.” Is this right?

    It is not a matter of right and wrong… It is a matter of New and misunderstood. The socially inept and challenged kids have always been around. But, instead of walking down the street texting they were in a dark room, in a basement feeling isolated and alone. Now, they can come out inot the light of day and not have to feel all alone. I say GOOD FOR THEM! SAVE THE PHONES! Let them TEXT!

  8. Cleveland Blogger says:

    Zig, you are way off the mark I think. We need to save our children, not loose them to technology.

  9. I actually agree with you Zig on the fact that kids don’t interact as much face too face as they did when I was growing up. Now everything is done online…but its not to say that they have lost their social skills. They use their Twitter/MSN/FB etc to MAKE plans and then they hang out.

    I’ve been on twitter for about a week now and I’m convinced that I’m going to forget how to spell because I have to keep my thoughts down to 140 characters. I find myself not using a lot of vowels when updating my status and typing like an internet moron using words likr 4get, b4, nvrmd etc…

    And Dan…taken from FB this morning…from my 14 year old cousin: “Amanda XXXX In class bored shitless9 :29am · Comment · Like Unlike”

    When I was growing up pagers were all the rage and we were strictly forbidden from having them on school grounds. Yep, that meant we couldn’t even keep them in our lockers. Now you have 14 year olds in middle school using an iPhone in class to update their Facebook.

    (This is me rolling my eyes)

  10. Cleveland Blogger says:

    Jenny, wow, I can’t believe that story about your cousin in class. Are phones even allowed in schools these days?

  11. Cleveland Blogger says:

    They shouldn’t. But Zig probably thinks they should be. LMAO.

  12. I have written more than one post on my site about the implications of social networking on our society. We are losing our manners and ability to connect with people without the aid of an electronic device. Social skills are suffering to no end. The more we “connect” the more disconnected we become.

  13. Marissa says:

    I agree with Zig that socially inept kids have always been around and the technology available now just levels the playing field for them. And kids who are social already will remain that way, either face-to-face interaction or other means.

    Maybe texting is just another runaway fad for now, until kids get bored and the next fad arrives. Remember CB radios? Uhh, not that I’m that old or anything. (Don’t get me started on Morse code and walkie-talkies.) Yeah, good times.

  14. I wish I could text myself. That’s my dream. Maybe I oughta start marking my comment replies to comments on my blog as spam. Oh the silliness.

  15. Zig says:

    What, “Cleveland Blogger Says:

    June 16th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
    Jenny, wow, I can’t believe that story about your cousin in class. Are phones even allowed in schools these days?

    Cleveland Blogger Says:

    June 16th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
    They shouldn’t. But Zig probably thinks they should be. LMAO?”

    Are you for real? Don’t you know the Columbine tradgedy was drastically slowed down and maybe even resolved by kids, “in highschool,” on cell phones? I say hide the phones and punish the kids who use/answer/make calls on cellphones. Don’t outlaw cellphone all together! Outlaw the use of cellphones “during school hours!”

  16. In regards to texting and twittering and forgetting how to spell, it’s not just the kids. I have to constantly remind myself to spell out words completely when typing emails at work. I just get so used to abbreviations making the typing so much quicker.

  17. NeoConDon says:

    Yesterday, I went to my first movie in 2 years. My family went to the 11:10am early bird showing of UP. The theater was half full with parents and children. It was without a doubt the best movie experience I’ve ever had. No talking, crying, annoying teen-ageres trying to act cool, and no cell phones going off.

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