I suppose enough time has passed since cell phones became cheap and therefore ubiquitous to ponder the question: is life better with cell phones? Denise Van Outen thinks not:
Denise Van Outen reckons smartphones have killed the fun of the hedonistic ’90s as revellers’ antics are now being recorded instead of remembered.
The 50-year-old actress and telly host made her name as one of the ballsiest women on TV more than a quarter of a century ago – partying with the likes of Sara Cox and Zoe Ball.
But the mum-of-one is now lamenting the loss of the ‘Cool Britannia’ decade – and blames the likes of Apple for sucking the joy out of life.She blasted: “We never had access to everything on our smartphone. So, you’d go out and you’d just be in the moment and really enjoy it. I remember going to the big festivals like Glastonbury and Reading and you wouldn’t have your phone with you, you wouldn’t be videoing anything.
“I think people are starting to see now that smartphones can be a hindrance and stop people actually enjoying themselves.”
“And I think we’re gradually getting to a stage where a lot of people… for example, if you’re going to a party – are putting on invites that it’s a ‘No phone policy’.
I dunno. I find myself hopelessly conflicted about the whole cellular phone business. Never mind an early adopter, I put off buying one of the things for years, until Connie actually forced me into getting one. So I had a Nokia flip phone for years until my kids finally shamed me into getting a smartphone.
But maybe that’s just me. As someone who guards his privacy fiercely (I know, this blog yadda yadda yadda), I don’t like being at someone else’s beck and call, and at least the advent of caller ID made things bearable because I could decide whether or not to take the call.
And cell phones — at least the smart ones — put in an appearance quite long after I’d semi-retired; I cannot imagine having one in a workplace environment, and finding out that no matter where I happened to be, I was still in the office.
Ugh.
That said, there have been times that being connected to the outside world has had its advantages — a couple of emergencies, helping the kids out of a jam, etc. — so yes, there’s that. And I can see that for some jobs (e.g. realtor) cell phones have been a tremendous help to productivity. I remember going to the airport during the early 1990s (when I did most of my business travel) and feeling sorry for those souls who were glued to pay phones (remember them?), contacting clients, the office, family etc. in those few minutes before takeoff. For them — the people whom Woody Allen in a rare moment of actual humor termed “connectivity assholes” — there’s no doubt that the cell phone has been a boon.
I remain unconvinced, however, that the conveeeenience of the cell phone has been that much of an improvement to society. And I resent like hell the intrusiveness of the things, enabling the outside world to contact me whether or not I feel like being contacted at all, let alone by people I have no wish to communicate with (politicians, pollsters, scam artists etc.)
I’m not a Luddite by any stretch, by the way. I embraced email, for example, with a vengeance and to this day I prefer to communicate by that method instead of a phone call.
But I’m a reluctant user of the phone — any phone, not just cell phones, mind you — so don’t expect me to sing its praises.
And the lovely Denise has that part right: going out is a much better experience without a cell phone. We all used to make fun of Japanese tourists who experienced their entire trip through the lens of their Pentax.
Now, of course, we are all Japanese, who have to record our every experience lest we forget it.
What bollocks.
...I’ll say they are.