Cell phones are the new cigarettes
I realized something today while watching the umpteenth cell phone ad on TV during "Deadliest Catch" (awesome show BTW). Cell phones are quickly gaining many of the cultural stigmas and traits that cigarettes have enjoyed (endured?) over the years. First, there are many studies (though nothing conclusive) that show that extended cell phone use for long periods of time can lead to brain cancer. Just like cigarettes can lead to lung cancer. Also, more and more restaurants are banning cell phone use in their dining areas so as to not disrupt the non-cell phone using customers. If that wasn't enough, cell phones are becoming so ubiquitous in every day life, that they are becoming a natural and even expected detail in TV and film. They are at the same time status symbols, social instrument, and, for some, an addiction.
Cell phones are the new cigarettes.
Think about that last parallel I mentioned. How many of you saw "The Departed"? Everyone? No? Well stop what you're doing, go rent it /add it to your queue and come back when you're done. No really, I'll wait. (BTW, every time you don't watch a Martin Scorsese film, he misses another Oscar).
Done? Good. Now where was I? Ah yes: Cell phones in movies. Cell phones play an important, nigh indispensable, role in "The Departed." Seriously, take cell phones out of the movie. What do you have? Now think back to any movie you've seen pre-1955 or so. Everybody smoked. Even the doctors and patients in hospitals smoked! Shit, without smoking, 90% of film noir films would basically be title and credits. Maybe some drinking. Maybe. And then there's movies like "Cellular" that, while not exactly Oscar-worthy, depend almost entirely on the prevalence of cell phones in modern society.
Not convinced? Then think about the last concert you went to where the average age was no greater than 30 (i.e. Panic! At the Disco, My Chemical Romance, The Strokes, Brittney Spears*, etc.), or, hell, just about any concert where people don't wear Grateful Dead T-shirts. When it got to one of those songs, what did everyone hold up? (You know the ones I mean.) Lighters? Nope. Cell phones. Even if you smoke you probably hold up your cell phone. That's just how it's done these days. Instead of a sea of flickering orange flames during Metallica's Nothing Else Matters, now we get the steady blue-green glow of cell phone screens.
Interesting, is it not? Now if you'll excuse me, I have a call.
*If you have ever been to a Brittney Spears concert and you are not an 11-year old girl (and if you are, you need burn all your Brittney CDs and reassess your life), please slam your nuts in the nearest door or filing cabinet. If you do not have nuts due to your being female or a eunuch, beating yourself senseless with your own arms will suffice.
