MobileMundo

Why do humans have an insatiable appetite for communication?

Are Buddhists popular simply for their temporary willingness to sever communication?
Well…..at least, conversation with other sentient beings.

A debate of very minimal consequence has been raging in the States for years….
An argument sure to bury the foes & friends of meat-eating-fetus-killing-limotruck-driving conisseurs. A controversy that is currently tearing at the afghani threaded fabric of the nuclear age family.

Cell Phones.

Or heretowithinsaiddocument referred to as:…cells (non-terror), mobile (limbs not required), portatelly (ability to correspond with other beings while on temporary crapper non-essential).

Americans have been so self-absorbed in this debate of a determining factor for the recently developed addition to daily life, that people have forgotten that the entire world has become subject to this controversy.

At this very moment, while Bob in Chilicothe is reaming out Dave in Dayton for ordering too many X293’s for the Spring inventory; simulataneously irritating dozens of unintentional eavesdroppers in the Cincinatti Airport……there is a young Ecuadorian woman on her country’s Pacific coast, trying frantically to regain a signal with her Aunt in Quito.

However, the debate does vary based on economics.

While the device of controversy may be identical, the observed consequences are different.

Most South Americans are not subject to the decibel shattering shouts that accompany US mobile calls. Here, below the equator, a majority of people can not afford the high cost of cellular service.

So, most mobile plans are fairly affordable but that is because they only include a buttload of free text messages, and free incoming calls.

In practical terms…..Entering a public space in North America means slamming your ears into a unorchestrated concert of “HELLOHOW MUCH I DIDN’T KNOW HER I CANT HEAR YOU ARE YOU STILL THERE WHAT TIME I SAID WHAT TIME”
And entering a public space in SurAmerica entails witnessing a bizarre cult of people who treat the cellular as if it were man’s first contact with fire.

People of all ages clutching their pocket life lines, staring into the window as if Hayzeus himself is about to portal his way through. And if their not zoned out on incoming anticipation, then their fingers are performing a rendition of “An Evening With My Coke Addicted Stenographer.”

Researchers have yet to discover the source, but many believe that a coordinated effort between the mobile companies and Latin American Prison Wardens are randomly calling a rolodex of cellular numbers. A very very clever effort, some would say, to remind those not receiving calls that a phone call is always possible. You just don’t know when. So you too can have that celebratory feeling of jackpot winning elation. Just Stare and Wait.

It seems to trouble many First Worlders that places once met for reflection (public toilets, elevators, waiting rooms, phone booths), are now corrupted with this demonic device. And the troubled would argue that the noise levels are shattering their moment of tranquility.

But perhaps the rage goes deeper then simply being subjected to excessively loud talking.

It is just as frustrating to be seated at a dinner table with 5 others in a ‘Poorer’ nation, and be privy to a cult of phone zombies. Then to be invigorated with talk of emerging Latin American power and localities specializing in women with loose values. Then to have the following sentence interrupted with a catatonic stare between the speaker’s legs, as if they were watching a minion of microscopic martians peforming Aida. Two minutes later, as the speaker regains consciousness, the remaining disciples take to their laps to watch the continuation of the Lilliputian Operatic performance.

And yet, no one bothered to interrupt the table with cellular SHOUTS. No cellular stereo rang violently with the pulsating beats of “Its Getting Hot in Here”. Only the open invite to watch a phenomenon simply described as, “Temporary Abduction”.

But people need it. According to unofficial stats from unknown sources, more people now own cell phones then televisions, vcrs, and refrigerators combined.

Scientists are now proposing that mobile phones may soon knock ‘SHELTER” out of its coveted number two spot in the Primary Needs Chart.

And despite the rapidly changing norms of daily life, billions of people seem genuinely happy due to their portatelly. One is able to wonder into the South American countryside, a region of the world notorious for its malnourished victims of life’s cruelties, and watch Native Incan women texting their way to Cellular Nirvana. Nearby, village children are talking away, even if it may be to no one. And the patriarch of the family, sits calmly nearby, playing cards with his mates. Only to periodically break concentration, and glance at his cellular amulet splayed out beside his deck, bringing a glint of happiness to a man who has seen too many tragedies.