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[at-l] Perception/Quote



At 06:36 PM 1/13/2005 -0500, RoksnRoots@aol.com wrote:
>In a message dated 1/13/2005 9:07:26 AM Eastern Standard Time,
>jbullar1@twcny.rr.com writes:
>*
>Had they not had the cell phone I strongly
>suspect they would have gone unprepared anyway but likely with tragic result.
>*
>          For my point to be best understood let's pose that they later on
>admitted they kept going into deep snow in shorts because they figured 
>they had
>the cell phone and could make an emergency call if necessary. How would the
>total lack of allowing this possibility to even exist reflect on the internet
>Trail membership? I have yet to see any internet members admit this in even a
>single instance...

What you pose is *not* part of the news story posted on AT-L thus is purely 
hypothetical. What the story did say (I just reread it) was that the phone 
did not work where they were and they had to hike several miles to find a 
location where they could get reception.

You assume an attitude on their part which is not supported by the facts 
you were given. Bear in mind that these two hikers are 22 and 24. You, and 
for that matter I, grew up in a world where cell phones did not exist and 
the idea of instant communication anywhere you are is not a part of our 
consciousness. To us a cell phone is an emergency device. I have one. I 
first got it when I was doing a lot of travelling by car for my job. It was 
(and still is) only turned on when I'm making a call. The generation these 
guys come from are accustomed to carrying cell phones, leaving them on all 
the time and routinely receiving calls anywhere they are. I have 2 children 
and a daughter-in-law in their 30s and they all carry cell phones all the 
time. The cell phone is simply a normal accoutrement of modern life to 
them. They don't see them as emergency devices. They are just *phones* to 
them. To assume that they relied on the phone in lieu of other emergency 
preparations reveals far more about your view of cell phones than theirs.

The good news (aside from the fact that they survived) is that they are 
resolved to go hiking again but to be better prepared. I see that as a plus.