Your Cell Phone Has Rights
This is for everyone with a mobile phone (so, I guess… just about everyone). Without fully realizing it, we abuse cell phones in various ways. Mobile phones do not have a voice of their own, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have rights. We use them to get our voice across, and I think it’s time we allow them the same luxury of being heard.
The abuse can be of a domestic nature, in which the owner hurls the phone around like a baseball. A phone, however, is not a baseball. This leads to cracked screens and broken number pads. Anyway, it’s a private matter. If you have a rich father or you simply don’t care about bad karma, indulge in it.
In the second form of abuse, the cell phone plays a submissive spouse. It is ignored when it rings, beeping meekly until the user needs it. Calls go unanswered and missed calls are overlooked. It’s never charged, perpetually dying since forever. The user justifies the abuse, saying that he/she likes his space and cell phones encroach on that in an uncomfortable manner. Such an abuser exhibits a lack of remorse. It is laziness masked as protest. I have to admit, I am guilty of such abuse. But I know that resistance is futile and there is no escape. Cell phones are everywhere.
The third form of abuse is not recognized much, but it does exist. This is the overuse of the cell phone. Such abusers call up the same person over and over again because all the necessary, or unnecessary, information is not conveyed in one go. Or two. Or three. Not. Cool. Unfortunately such people almost never run out of minutes and the poor recipients begin to panic at the sound of their now terrifying ringtone. It’s a covert form of Big Brother behavior. Again, Not. Cool. Take a deep breath when you’re ready to end the call, think if there’s anything else you need to say and then say it. The key word being think. Sometimes, more does not mean merrier.
Basically, we must realize that the mobile phone is a resource and a responsibility that’s to be used optimally and with respect. Just because they have no feelings, does not mean that they have no rights.