Call me paranoid – but I think cell phones are a subtle form of population control. Think about how anxious/depressed/angry we get whenever we can’t use our phone. There have been times that I’ve lost my phone, times that it had ran out of battery and I didn’t have my charger with me, times that my phone had broke, and times where I had no signal. All of those times, I nearly had an anxiety attack from not being able to communicate with the people I love.
Think about it – couldn’t phone companies pull the plug on us all?
You can take that same perspective and apply it to nearly all technology: Television, internet – any form of media and/or communication – it could all be pulled out from under our feet.
Maybe you wouldn’t go crazy from it – but there are a lot of people that would, enough to probably incapacitate society for at least a few months (in the event that some corporate jerk-off flips the switch).
Also, there have been times that I’ve strongly suspected that AdSense-esque computers filter through all of our phone conversations to target us for advertisement.
And without sounding like too much of a neo-Luddite, take a look at this: freepatentsonline.com/6506148.html
I keep asking myself “am I just a schizo conspiracy theorist?”, but I really don’t know… that website looks pretty legit, and there are other websites confirming it… Then again, there is a load of other crap like this on the internet equally as convincing, but its just people crying for attention.
It is less population control and more of an advancement of the alienation-through-connectivity that we’ve been experiencing for a while.
I mean, cell phones seem like a fantastic idea. I can call my friends anywhere and no matter where I am, my friends can reach me! But it also becomes a crutch. Outside of those cases where two people click, in the initial “getting-to-know-each-other” phase awkward pauses happen. Both parties are shooting topic at each other, some stick others don’t. Sometimes you have a run of topics not sticking and then you’ve got an awkward pause. Rebounding from these isn’t hard, you just need to do something. That is why dinner dates are a popular means of breaking the ice, you can chew during them and there is no problem. You can’t talk while you are chewing, after all. Me? I just tell a funny anecdote. That works for me, others have cultivated different skills, it is all good.
Everybody can get along with anybody, we are all people after all. You just need to find those commonalities and from there it is really easy. Easing over awkward pauses just lets you get to that point. Pre-cellphone boom, I can’t say I ever really had a problem with that. But after everybody had a cellphone, especially when texting took off, breaking the ice in mixed company became pretty difficult. If I am hanging out with people like me, it isn’t really a problem. After all, even if I don’t know them we have enough shared interests that shooting the shit isn’t hard. But if I am hanging with someone radically different from myself, during an awkward pause they reach for the cellphone and start texting. They reach back to their comfort zone and that-is-that.
I’d like to say it is all “them” but I’ve done the same. If my stories aren’t sticking and they are babbling about something I really don’t care about, the temptation is strong and I’ve given in, much to my shame.
But this pattern produces insular, alienated people who can’t leave their comfort zone. But leaving the comfort zone is how we grow. So it creates stunted, stupid people. And that is bad.
when cell phones first came out there was a surge of reports by people experiencing “phantom vibrations” in areas of their body that were in close contact with their cell phones throughout the day. this happened to me throughout my first 2 years of having a cell phone, where i would literally feel my phone vibrating in my pants pocket against my skin, only to realize either it wasnt vibrating or it wasnt even in my pocket.
it has something to do with how muscle tissue remembers vibrational patterns its exposed to. but i find it interesting that i no longer experience these phenomena. i can only assume that its a consequence of the body adapting to a constant stimulus over time. which really doesnt give me any comfort, since clearly the energy is still able to affect my body, only now i just dont notice it… im sure this could apply to RF radiation or even ELF frequencies emitted from cell towers, which have been poping up like crazy in the last few years. the fact that the body/mind adapts to new stimuli and gets used to them, even when they are harmful, is something that im sure government and advertizing uses to its advantage all the time.
of course, then theres the issue of radiation to the brain, and how cell phones actually pulse microwave radiation up to hundreds of times a second while your in a conversation… and that those microwaves are shooting right into your brain-tissue, through the open canal of your ear… and the fact that there were studies where rats that were exposed to cell phone use over time got more brain tumors… and then of course theres the fact that cell phones can not only be used to record and keep a file on everything youve said and texted people, but also can be used to track where you are on a GPS system and can be remotely turned on by the government and spy on what youre saying (this can even legally be done when the cell phone is off, by the FBI; they dont even need a warrant. and the only way to protect against it is to remove the battery).
so i guess you could call much of that “conspiracy theories” or obcessive fixations of paranoia… except, of course, that its all true. so take it as you will. either way, of course youre right that once we get used to a new technology we become dependent on it and cannot live without it. its strange to think that even less than 10 years ago i didnt even know what a cell phone was, and had no expectation of needing one; i didnt feel a loss at the inability to always communicate with whoever i wanted at any time, until that ability became commonplace. i suppose thats just the nature of technology, however.
Well, call me more paranoid then, because I think that all forms of tele-communication are forms of population control. Mainly, population controlling their own life, but also becoming dependent on it and hence somewhat under control of it. Individual video games are much like tele-communication in this sense, I think, just like basically everything else which is introduced into our lives.
Huh, I used to get that too, I just assumed I was going mad 
.
I don’t entirely agree with what you’re saying. That people have become dependent on phones or that the socio-networks through which we interact and define ourselves have become almost irrevocably intertwined with advances is telecommunications is something I can accept and, at a push, something in which I can see worrying tendencies is one matter, but ‘control’ in the sense you are using it seems to imply some sort of assertive outside force is manipulating the system and therefore our position, that is something I don’t agree with. That is not to say I don’t think networks themselves are controlled, clearly they are as they are both created and maintained by large companies of people, but I do not think that this point stretches to your idea of ‘control’ in the sense that these companies are deliberately weaselling themselves into a position of power over society. It’s not like there’s a big red button somewhere that pushing it shuts down a / all networks, they’re much more complicated than that. Furthermore, I don’t really see the necessity of pushing issues with telecommunications in the modern world to the level of conspiracy is necessary in order to critique them.
I’ve always said that cell phones were the devils tool, i have zero need or attachment to them. Society would definitely be struck hard by cell phone loss, without that instant anywhere communication a lot of things would have to be rearranged. we could become more conservative i suppose…
As far as emotional attachments go, I’m not sure, but I’m sure there would be a couple criers.
To be perfectly honest I don’t like talking on the phone, and most of the time I forget my cell phone at home on purpose. I feel like when an unwanted person calls, that person is invading my privacy. The less I have to talk on the phone, the better. We have become too lazy and too dependent on technology to do things for us. No TV? Read. Don’t have a cell phone? Send a letter. Computer is broken? Go to the library.
Surely it’d be worse for the phone companies?
All my friends have cell phones, and myself aswell, except i only sent less than 10 text messages this year alone…
You guys need to learn to live life with and without technology, if not, this will be the downfall of mankind, but that’s another subject.
I’m in love, oh yes. the fuzzy feeling wants me to call her, but for what? i see her all the time. and i noticed that when i don’t talk with her on the phone, when i talk with her in person, there is more excitement in the air, and that’s what love is all about!
And that’s another subject.
Point is, screw cellphones, screw the internet! i live to live.
Technology exists to make our lives easier and more efficient so we can spend more time doing the things we want to do. Cell phones only become a detriment when you see sad sacks spend the majority of their pathetic existence using them. This is the majority of the population. The weakminded easily become enslaved to idle distractions and this is what big business is banking on.
I don’t text and my cell phone is always off unless my wife is out and about because she might need to get ahold of me for something.
This Year to Date I Have:
Sent 0 Text Messages
Logged Onto the Internet (With My Phone) 0 Times
Called Less Than Ten Total People From My Cell Phone Including:
My Wife
Work
My Mother-In-Law
My Mother
My Sister
My Step-Dad
Home Pizza
Vocelli’s Pizza
In short, my cell phone is good to have in case of emergencies, in case I need to order pizza, and it has never failed me as an alarm clock.
I use my mobile phone to keep track of my social obligations mainly, on a daily basis.
My phone:
Isn’t it odd that the instrument we are using to produce advancements in technology doesn’t seem to work when used in the attempt to improve the quality of life.
No not really, tools can’t do the job for us.
This may be a little off topic, but there is this law in Canada,(I forgot where I heard this) that says it’s illegal to cause a catastrophy. I know, right? But now it makes sense. In Canada, it would be illegal to just push a button and get rid of phones. This would cause a catastrophy. Pretty smart once you think about it… 
It may not have IMPROVED the quality of life, but it did RESPOND TO LIFE and DEATH- remember 9/11?
There are moments when technology IS at its greatest achievement!