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Cell Phone Is The Most Hated Invention

Posted by timothy on from the seattle-police-car-572-hates-turn-signals dept.

Romeo Elias Cabrera writes "The most hated invention in America -although also one of the most used- is the cell phone, according a recent survey. The Lemelson-MIT Invention Index, an annual survey by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, found that among adults asked what invention they hate most but can't live without, 30 percent said the cell phone."

11 of 704 comments (clear)

  1. What about... by inertia187 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Cell Phone Is The Most Hated Invention

    My, how short our collective memories are. Have we already forgotten about astroturf? How about the rubber-chicken-with-the-pully-in-the-middle? Michael Jackson's nose? Umkay?

    --
    A programmer is a machine for converting coffee into code.
    1. Re:What about... by dustin_royer · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No one mentioned Microsoft Office. Most people who use it hate it, but almost no one in the corporate world can live without it. it's the classic situation of "I use it because I have to."

    2. Re:What about... by Moofie · · Score: 5, Insightful

      OK, so your employer gives you money in exchange for your agreeing to be on call.

      What's the problem? Did they put a gun to your head? Do they not pay you?

      If I were a sysadmin, I'd be delighted to have my employer pay for a cell phone on which they could call me any time. I'd charge them about 20% of my annual pre-phone salary for the privilege, for additional access to my time and attention. Or I'd find somewhere else to work.

      Saying "I hate my phone, but I can't live without it" is passive aggressive cowardice. Your phone is a tool. It has a power button. It can be used properly, or misused. People who hate tools are silly people.

      People who ARE tools, now that's a different issue entirely...

      --
      Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
  2. Still don't have a cell phone... by VistaBoy · · Score: 5, Insightful
    ...and I still don't want one.

    Did you ever notice that things have gotten way more stressful in the past few decades? We're getting all this advanced technology, and for what? So that we can get in touch with anyone anywhere? So that we can have our bosses bother us at any time with useless BS work that "can't wait until tomorrow?" I say the cell phone is the biggest stress-causer ever, and anyone who has one should eliminate it from their lives.

    1. Re:Still don't have a cell phone... by FreemanPatrickHenry · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Indeed. The vast majority of all cellphone ringers are horrendously annoying. Every time I sit in a room and one of these dumb MIDI ringtones plays (and, mind you, they play loudly), I want to strangle someone.

      What's wrong with keeping your phone on vibrate? If I'm having a conversation with you, I don't need to stop and wait for you to answer your phone and chit-chat for several minutes and say "I need to go, I'll call you back later." That's what voicemail is for. Keep it on vibrate, let it forward callers to voicemail.

      Seriously, we need to enforce some cell phone etiquette. And they call us not socially adjusted.

      --
      I have discovered a truly marvelous .sig which, unfortunately, this space is too small to contain.
    2. Re:Still don't have a cell phone... by ATMAvatar · · Score: 5, Insightful

      ...and thus, we've revealed the fact that it's not cell phones we hate, but rather the average cell phone user.

      --
      "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
  3. The cell phone doesn't have to be this way. by Faust7 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "The interconnectedness you get from the cell phone is a very positive thing, ... The downside of that is that you sometimes want to be alone," said Lemelson Center Director Merton C. Flemings.

    So turn it off.

    --
    The coolest voice ever.
  4. Guns don't kill people.... by MuckSavage · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not the cell phone itself, it's the asshole who is too busy talking on it to realize there is a world going on around them that is hated.

  5. PTT by egburr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not the cell phone I mind so much as Push To Talk. You're in a public place, you shouldn't be broadcasting your personal business to the whole area! Hole the damned thing up to your ear and don't force the rest of us to listen to it! also, keep your voice down, the person on the other end can hear you fine without your shouting.

    --

    Edward Burr
    Having a smoking section in a restaurant is like having a peeing section in a swimming pool.
  6. Most Hated Invention by forkboy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    OTHER PEOPLE'S cell phones.

    --
    This message brought to you by the Council of People Who Are Sick of Seeing More People.
  7. Just me. by Raven42rac · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have a cell phone, unfortunately. It is understood that it is nothing personal if I do not answer, I will get back to you. I leave it on vibrate in any potentially sensitive situation (movie, dinner, etc). I also use it in case *extreme* emergency situations at work, only when I can not be reached by land line phone, or e-mail, this is understood by the brass. It is my personal phone so I am not on a ball and chain. If it rings while I am in traffic, I do not answer. I call back when I come to a permanent stop. Yeah it is the worst invention, if used irresponsibly, as are guns and knives.

    --
    I hate sigs.