I don't think it is just you Mel.

Besides the PHONE I really get rather horrified by the CONTENT of the conversations I am exposed to!

Now my son is techie and at work, they all have novel things. His programmer supervisor just got an iPhone. So in his line of work, I expect "some" of this keeping up with new things. (But it seems he has a new expensive phone every year!)

At my now former job (which I have just retired from) the conversations daily were stultifying. It appears to me people have to talk on the phone about their tattoos, new nail polish, hair gel, what their boyfriend/girlfriend said at breakfast, the newest movie...endlessly. These folks just cannot stand to be alone by themselves. Even up North, at the laundromat when I was trying the laptop there, and people asked me etc, and I told them I live on an island with no electricity etc... they say--"what do you do all day?" You know I am comfortable alone with my thoughts, no problem.

Having my cell phone was handy this year tho, when my husband left twice to return to work and I was there ALL ALONE...I could at least call him each morning and we'd exchange events, and set up return stuff to bring, and I'd get the weather report from him. If I got an important mail or call at home, at least he could field them for me now. When we came home, separately several hours apart, we called each other a few times, to check in. One example was a large piece of wood I passed on the freeway with about 20 nails sticking up, in the left lane. I called him to warn him to stay to the right at that spot. He called me when he left the island, finishing closing up, so I wouldn't worry that he fell off a ladder. Cell phones are ideal for this, and I appreciate mine for it. In the past I used to worry A LOT.

When my son was up for a week, he just tuned in his phone to the internet for our weather reports!

So I think that people today, many people, not just young ones, cannot stand to be alone, by themselves for any length of time, and have to have reassurance constantly. The cell phone fills that niche perfectly. I had some people at work with TWO phones even. I never took mine in...I kept it in my car, and went out there if I had a serious reason to call home or doctor's appt or something. Sometimes I think that people will grow so dependent in these ways, that if an emergency happens, and the satellites go down, or the towers fail (they sometimes do up North) people would PANIC...having no internal coping mechanisms! But then I am very old fashioned and used to being personally accountable and resourceful....