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[at-l] Cell Phones -- Perception



"In Wildness is the preservation of the world..." Henry David Thoreau

> ------------Original Message------------
> From: Jim Bullard <jbullar1@twcny.rr.com>
> To: "Bob C" <ellen@clinic.net>, "rick boudrie" <rickboudrie@hotmail.com>, at-l@backcountry.net
> Date: Mon, Jan-17-2005 2:46 PM
> Subject: Re: [at-l] Cell Phones -- Perception
> 
> At 02:04 PM 1/17/2005 -0500, Bob C wrote:
> > >"...Perhaps phones get too much of the blame. ? Still, I can't 
> figure 
> > out why so
> >many fail to see how their wide-spread presence changes (at least a 
> bit) the
> >wonderfull feeling of isolation that the woods can provide," note rick 
> b.
> >
> >That of course is the crux of the problem with cell phones -- for both 
> 
> >those who carry them and those who just know they are present. The 
> >presence of cell phones -- instant communication with the outside 
> world -- 
> >damages a bit of the wildness that some seek on trails. Yes. Cell 
> phones 
> >occasionally save lives. But cell phones also diminish lives. The 
> trade 
> >off is between an occasional life saved and the millions of lives 
> >diminished. Many of those with diminished lives don't really know that 
> 
> >their lives have been diminished, because they have yet to experience 
> >wildness, and increasingly, as civilization intrudes on the last of 
> the 
> >wild places, sadly, they never will.
> >
> >Weary
> 
> "Millions" of lives diminished because of cell phones? Get real. What 
> you 
> are talking about here is attitude. Lincoln said "most people are as 
> happy 
> as they decide to be". I think he had it right. As I just finished 
> explaining to Steve off-list, I have a cell phone because it comforts 
> my 
> wife (it's her phone actually) to have me carry it. She's happier when 
> I 
> remember to take it with me because she thinks I'm safer even if I'm 
> not, 
> I'm happier because I know she's not worrying unnecessarily, so who's 
> life 
> is diminished and how? You?, because I've told you I have it, and you 
> are 
> now aware of it's presence? If you let your life be diminished because 
> someone else has/uses a cell phone, that is *your* problem resulting 
> from 
> *your* attitude. No one controls your attitude but you. As for a sense 
> of 
> isolation, that's why there is an OFF button. Hit that button and it 
> just a 
> hunk of plastic and metal.
> 
> A cell phone is just another piece of equipment that some find useful 
> and 
> others don't. You want  a true wilderness experience? Take you next 
> trip 
> with just what you have on your back. Build you fire by rubbing sticks 
> together, make a shelter by leaning limbs against a tree and covering 
> it 
> with leaves, find your way by the moon and the stars instead of taking 
> map 
> and compass. It's all just tools to reduce risk to life and limb guys, 
> whether it is adequate clothing, a sleeping bag & tent or a gas stove. 
> People do stupid things with all those. I know, I've been out there and 
> 
> seen some of those stupid things, especially with stoves. Some of us 
> have 
> done stupid things. Cell phone conversations destroy the quiet sense of 
> 
> wilderness? What about the jet plane noise of gas stoves? ***It's just 
> a 
> tool.*** The trees don't care if you make a cell phone call to your 
> significant other, why should I? In 10 or 20 years the cell phone will 
> be 
> old-hat and they will invent some new geegaw that you can get all 
> stirred 
> up over. The world changes. That's life.
> 
> 
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