Time for some cell phone etiquette There is no question that cellphones have had dramatic positive effects on people’s lives in kenya. The ability to get access to anyone and everyone and having accessto all the information on the planet on your phone is surely an unparalleled example of people empowerment. Unfortunately, like everything else in life, cell phone usage has a bad side - the sheer annoyance factor is one, the safety issue is another, the constant distraction being a third, among a long list of negatives. When communication was hard in the past, phones were used very selectively. For example, if you were going to meet some friends for dinner at a restaurant, therewould be a land line call or two to firm up the plan. Today, it’s an entirely different story. Recently, when I was going out to dinner with a bunch of youngsters (in their 20s), I noticed that they called each other back and forth to give a literal commentary on the way to the restaurant: “I am this junction, there is too much traffic. Not sure how long it will take.” Then the friend has an idea and calls back. “Hey, why don’t you take this road instead? You might get there sooner.” A few minutes later, the friend calls back, “Hey, the traffic is better now. I should be there soon.” In short, at least a handful of calls and maybe a bunch of text messages had been exchanged for the most inane reasons.Next, the issue of safety on roads. It’s good to see that, in many cities, the police are pretty strict with the use of cell phones while driving. Nevertheless, cell phone usage is rampant in cars andeven two wheelers, and an increasing cause of accidents. Among the negatives, this is easily the most dangerous and needs to be dealt with urgently. As for the annoyance factor, there is no end to the number of examples one can think of. There are everydayoccurrences that stare at you in the face at almost every instant during the day(or maybe, I am just too sensitive to this!). I was at once at the office of large retail chain. There was a common waiting area and then a long stretch of cubicles and conference rooms. Youngsters, mostly intheir twenties, frequently stepped aside from their cubicles to the common waiting area to answer personal cell phone calls. Many rushed down the elevator when the calls were“very private” in nature. The common waiting area was hence always crowded with youngsters chattering away on their cell phones during regular office hours. Interestingly, some even carried multiple cell phones! Another frequent source of annoyance occurs when you call someone on the land line.While the conversation is in progress, you notice that theperson at the other end sometimes remain silent or appears to lose focus from time to time. This is probably because they are busy multi-tasking - perhaps texting ontheir cell phones while on theland line with you!I was once having a discussion with a senior executive at a company, oneon one, and every few minutes, the individual’s cell phone would go off. Without batting an eyelid, the individual would answer the phone to my utter annoyance. In another instance, I was on what I considered an important “Skype call.” A few minutes into the call, the gentleman, said to me, “Ek minute, ek call ah raha hai.” To my amusement, he started abusing the caller over somespecific issue that I had nothing to do with, while the Skype call was not even on mute! To add to these annoyance factors, cell phones also provide various forms of sound effects to notify you of any number of things - the arrival of email, social media notifications, appointments, text messages, etc. So while you are in a conversation, you’ll find others staring at their respective phones, and sometimes even smiling to themselves, to add insult to injury. The net result being that most people just can’t seem to focus and concentrate because of their phones. No wonder teenagers who are fast becoming active cell phone users appear to be so distracted all the time. Another interesting trend that some of you might have first hand experiences with is that cell phones have increased gossip in society. Friends and relatives call each other just to get an update on the latest gossip! There is no doubt that people are more often in contact, unlike in the past, thanks to cell phones, but it comes at a social cost.