What did people do before cell phones? How on earth did they survive? How did they go for hours, sometimes perhaps even days, without gabbing over the airwaves?

Well, trust me, it was really quite easy. I am, after all, old enough to remember life without cell phones (B.C.P. = Before Cell Phones); and, believe it or not, but we reserved talking on the telephone (one with a cord that limited our mobility) for when we actually had something to say. For example, maybe we needed to check on someone in the neighborhood to find out how he or she was faring. Or maybe we needed to conduct business (during which we spoke to real live human beings, not recordings). Or else maybe we needed to call the doctor because Little Johnny fell off the roof while trying to emulate Superman. Or maybe, just maybe, we simply needed to hear a friend’s or family member’s voice. One thing for certain, however, is that we did not spend every waking moment of our lives with a telephone plastered to our ears.

Now everyone thinks he or she must be constantly connected, just a few irritating ring tones away from communicating with anyone in the entire world, or at least anyone within his or her calling range. Just look around you. What do you see? You see people shopping and yakking, driving and yakking, dining and yakking, riding elevators and yakking, even taking trips to the john and yakking. You also see people who are supposedly out together (on a date, having lunch, walking in the park, etc.) but are yet yakking away with someone else on their cell phones, which, in my opinion, is the epitome of rudeness.

What is so important that it can’t wait until these people get home? In reality, after all, most of them are yakking about absolutely, positively nothing worth yakking about in the first place. Then again, maybe all that yakking makes them feel important. “Hey, look at me; I’ve got someone to yak with. I’ve got something to say.”

Yeah, right. They have something to say. They are either fussing at their kids, spouses, significant others, bosses, employees, or co-workers, or else they are whining to a friend about their kids, spouses, significant others, bosses, employees, or co-workers. And, yes, I know it’s their God-given right to yak as much and as often as they wish; but, please, let them do it in the privacy of their homes instead of subjecting everyone within hearing distance to their harangues, whining, gossip, and totally pointless so-called conversations.

P.S. Yes, I do own a cell phone; however, I leave it turned off unless I need to make either an important call or an emergency call. And when I make those calls, I find a place well away from other people.