We all know that mobile phones, cellphones, hand-phones whatever we want to call them (anti shouldn’t we all be calling them the same thing?) are changing our lives. But it takes a god old-fashioned survey to wake us up to the glaring reality: they have changed who we are. The mobile phone has indeed changed the way we behave. But perhaps we don’t realize how much we. have become its slave. Consider other elements of the Siemens 5 Mobile Survey: With the exception of Australia, in every, country surveyed the majority polled said they would go back for their phone if they left it at home (in Australia it was a respectable 39%). If you’ve endured the traffic in Indonesia the Philippines and India, you’ll kow what kind of sacrifice some two-thirds of those surveyed are making. I can’t think of anything I would go back for - except my wallet, maybe, or my clothes.
And even if we remember to bring it, we’re still not happy. Many of us get anxious if it hasn’t rung or a text 10 massage hasn’t appeared for a while (a while being about an hour). Once again of those surveyed Indonesians (65%) and Filipinos (77%) get particularly jittery. Australians are more laid back about this (20%), but every other user in Asia seems to be glancing at the phone every few seconds. This statistic, I have to say is highly believable, and the instinct highly annoying. There’s nothing worse than chatting to someone who constantly checks his or her hand-phone.
Then there’s the fact that mobile phones are not only enslaving the user, they’re trampling the rights of everyone else. Around a third of folk surveyed acknowledge they get so engrossed in mobile conversations that they’re often unaware of speaking loudly while discussing their private lives in public. At least most of us agree on one thing: With the exception of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, the increasing use of mobile phones has led to a decline us courtesy and considerate behaviour.
The bottom line here is that we are more than a litle bit out of control. Mobile phones arc great: but if we allow them to dominate our lives to this extent - interrupting conversations with those around us to take a call, staring at .our phones rather than relating to the world and people around us, sending flirty text massages to random numbers - then I can only assume that in another 10 years, society as we know it will no longer exist. All we’ll see is a blur of digital data going out and having all the fun, socializing, falling in love and taking sneaky pictures of each other.
Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE about cellphones?