I love my cell phone.  Yes…I can’t imagine my life without it at times.  My friends and family have access to me pretty much 24/7.  This is admittedly a blessing and a curse.  Yes, I like that if there is an emergency I can be reached.  Other times, I really don’t want to be called, or I am trying to sleep and I’m up to my eyeballs in friends who need to talk to me via text.  I see the good and the bad, but what worries me is the total lack of cell phone etiquette.

If you are in a place that says all cell phones must be turned off , turn them off please.  Oh and by the way, turn your cell phone off doesn’t mean turn the ringer off or put it on vibrate, it means turn the dumb thing completely off.  Seriously, unless you are some world famous surgeon or other really important person, you can live with out this umbilical cord for a few hours.  Yes, I know, your kids are sick or at home or whatever.  Okay, mothers dealt with this issue for centuries before the cell phone was a common thing.  You can survive too, unless extreme circumstances occur.  Then keep the phone on silent, and have the courtesy to at least ask the person in charge if this is okay. 

There are some situations where the it is just isn’t the time to talk on your phone.  Okay, ladies…the ladies room is not your own person phone booth.  No, it is not. when you are checking out at the store, it is good form to not be blabbing about your personal business instead of paying attention to the cashier.  If you can’t hang up, at least have to good form to put the phone down, attend to your business and then continue your conversation.  This rule also applies to banks, the BMV and any other place you have someone waiting on you.  First, it is just rude to treat whoever is waiting on you like that.  Second, if you are trying to multitask, you are taking longer.  That means you are also inconveniencing everyone in line behind you.  I’ve caught myself doing this before, and I feel totally awful about it.  Now I make sure to at least put the conversation on hold, and focus on the task at hand.

The other time you should steer clear of using your phone is when you are in class or in a meeting.  Unless it is a very important call, it should be able to wait until the class or meeting is over.  If you are rude enough to take the call while still in the class or meeting, you are a double offender of this rule.  It is bad enough when you disrupt the attention of everyone else in the room and detract from the presenter/teacher.  However, when you just answer the call in the room, you are showing a lack of respect to everyone in the room.  You are insulting the presenter/teacher and everyone else who  is trying to listen to said person. 

Really, none of this would be an issue if people just used common sense and good manners.  However, in today’s world common sense seems to be a rare thing.  And an irrational sense of entitlement has long replaced good manners.