When telephones distract people from behaving well, that's bad. Cars / dining tables / grocery lines / etc.

But people communicating more? For business or pleasure? Impulsively, with anyone on the surface of the globe, friend or stranger, at a cost that's essentially too small to be worth measuring accurately?

Indescribably wonderful.

I've had a cellphone for almost 15 years (?)... The miracle is so mundane I've forgotten when it dropped into my pocket. I almost never find myself talking to people I don't want to talk to. (The Red Cross called today, but I already donate to UCLA, so I didn't answer.) I mean, this Leonard guy is a totes wuss of a curmudgeon... Real crankballs wouldn't allow people into their lives for mere research.

We should be grateful, but people forget.

"Dumb" cell phones were coveniences. The smart phone itself, with all its cute little "apps" encourages use, which will go on growing until the EPA wipes out the coal industry and the electric grid crashes.

I can multitask, but not particularly well and I find continuous interruptions a mental drain. If something needs my attention, it needs my attention. You couldn't give me a smartphone.

I love my Iphone. I have no land lines anymore.....anywhere in the country I can use it. Left front pocket vibrates and I can chose to answer or not. Read email whenever I want.....texting is awesome and I can just talk into the phone and it types it for me. I access my financial accounts....pay my bills.....have thousands of pictures of my family and travels and friends....show my boarding pass on it at the gate to get on the plane....shop on amazon and ebay.....look things up on wikapedia whenever I want to learn something....it' like an encyclopedia right there in my pocket....an ever present gift of learning.......

what's not to like?

I have a BB supplied by my employer. It is a major convenience to get work emails wherever I am during the day. I'm not tied to my desk waiting for a response when I could be productive (or taking a break) elsewhere. It is also convenient to be able to make or take a call at any time or for emergencies. I've made or taken four calls, so far this year and six in December.

My wife has an old phone and a 30 minute a month, $10 +tax plan. The minutes accumulate and she has a few hours built up.

We have a storage area at work for used electronics that are taken away to be wiped and recycled. I salvaged two new-in-the-box old style cell phones. I hope to be able to use one in a plan like my wife's when I retire. The day I hand in my BB and pagers will be a very happy one.

The smartphone doesn't turn itself on and demand you play Angry Birds. If you don't want the distraction, turn it off. I've switched mine off for days at a time. It's pissed some people off, but when they pay my bill, they can decide how I use it.

I love my phone for texting and IM, so I don't have to disturb people with phone calls for trivial matters or to arrange to meet. The GPS has made it possible to be independent in a new city. (I have a terrible sense of direction.) I never lose my shopping list because I can access it from my phone when I type it on my home PC. Smartphones can be wonderful tools.

@MonicaP: THIS! The things have an "OFF" mode, many times that is the appropriate usage. But I think Mr. Leonard misses the target, he gripes about the smartphone, but overlooks the user. I think most people are "talking" and believe they are "communicating", they have cellphone/email/text/Facebook/Twitter/blahblah "connections" and believe they are maintaining "relationships". The technology allows us to connect remotely (sometimes that's pretty cool and useful), but it also separates us more and more from real human interaction. Kinda scary when I really think about it.

Like MonicaP says, my phone doesn't make me call any more than my car makes me drive. But my phone is dumb, dumb, dumb. I can call, text, and take pictures, which I can send to my e-mail. I think it has web capability, if I wanted to pay for it. I'm eligible for an upgrade to a smart phone soon, though. My kids seem to enjoy theirs, so I'll have to look into that.

...my phone doesn't make me call any more than my car makes me drive.

But the car does make you drive. Granted, it doesn't hold a gun to your head and say "drive me" but thanks to the car, your personal horizons have been vastly expanded. You routinely make trips, the distances of which stymied your ancestors.

To your colonial ancestors, a trip of 10 miles was a planned event requiring planning. Your Industrial Revolution forebears marvelled at being able to go 30 miles from home and back in one day. Unless you lived in the same city, people didn't "pop over" in those days. They came to stay for a few weeks. And only the well-to-do could take the time off required to visit a relative "in the country."

The smart phone has done the same to communications.

We can stay connected to the world in ways we never imagined. We interact with people in the here and now, not the near future or whenever we get a few minutes free. No longer do you make a note to call John when you get home, you call him now. And he has the ability to answer you now.

No longer do you make note to look something up when you get home (or in the really old days, when you're at the library). You look things up now - when you actually need the information.

The price has admittedly been high. We have the attention spans of spastic gnats. We have the situational awareness of pinballs. And we have the manners of cavemen. But we have Angry Birds, damn it!

I've heard that in 2013, more internet traffic will go to phones than to conventional desktops.

But we have Angry Birds, damn it!

Sometimes swine gotta die, Conan.

I've heard that in 2013, more internet traffic will go to phones than to conventional desktops.

Not surprised. And teens use their phones primarily for texting, not talking, so we're looking at some interesting shifts in how people communicate.

I don't like phones, I hardly talk on mine, and it annoys me when it rings. I do sometimes phone for practical reasons though (eg. if I'm stuck in traffic due to an accident up ahead, better to let clients know I'm going to be late for the meeting etc).

I'm in charge of my phone, not the other way around. Like all my tools, I use it to do work, and to make my life easier and better.
I could do without it, but why would I?

"Who Are They All Talking To?"

Some guy in Ashgabat.

My wife and I have often wondered the same thing. My contention is that people today are so afraid of solitude, of being alone with their thoughts, that they simply prefer to talk/text with someone instead.

I enjoy woolgathering while I drive. I enjoy being alone with my thoughts and solving problems and just thinking.

My cell phone is so primitive that it won't even take pictures. My wife won't even carry one. I think we're better off.

What kills me is seeing couples walking together, and the woman is invariably on the phone!
Whothahell does she NEED to be talking to? It better be her mother...
If a prospective date interest tried a stunt like that on me, I'd advise her that she'd better be calling someone else to take her home.

We went to see Neil Young last month. Big concert. Awesomeness. New Crazy Horse tunes!!

Neil's up on stage, and all of a sudden, he looks at his hand, then uses his other hand to "push buttons" on it, and he's frowning, and then glaring up at the audience and then looking down at his hand again, and the band is playing, and his guitarist looks up and says "Hey Neil! Who ya callin'?" and Neil just smiles and shakes his head, and they go on with the song.

And it occurred to me, hey! he's making fun of all the idiots who are there for the show, texting and talking while he's performing. I'd be pissed, too.

Well, he's not paying them to listen, it's the other way around. Maybe what they mean is "Be more good."

Well, he's not paying them to listen, it's the other way around. Maybe what they mean is "Be more good."

Yes. Maybe they were Tweeting about how much he sucked.

Could be, could be. I thought he was pretty damn good, anyway. But my thought was, why would you pay all that money to go to a show, and instead of rockin' out, you're tweeting and texting an' all that. I'd just rather enjoy the show. I can text when it's over.

These days, communication is definitely more rampant because it is made easier by all these smartphones. Plus, with wireless connection, you can easily send messages or update your friends about your life on Facebook or on Twitter. It can be draining however if you get really hooked to it. Good thing I know my limitations.