[at-l] Cell phones VS Nature - An attempt to clarify - LONG

[jbullar1 at twcny.rr.com (Jim Bullard)]

At 01:53 AM 8/1/2005 -0400, RoksnRoots@aol.com wrote:
>I no longer carry a radio. Personally I believe a radio is OK
>and doesn't break the civilization line by offering two-way contact for 
>all the
>reasons Shane conspicuously avoided in his attempt at devaluing the AT's
>wilderness ethic above (via a cheap example of alleged hypocrisy). I 
>thought about
>the radio and realized it did let civilization into the Trail and maybe did
>alter the Trail experience. Imagine that, I was taught a lesson by someone 
>who
>doesn't really value the lesson he's teaching! But mostly I've decided to not
>bring it because disingenuous people would use it as an example.

In one of the previous posts someone said something to the effect that we 
shouldn't carry cell phones because going to the wilderness meant escaping 
the restrictions of society. Now RnR admits that he has stopped carrying a 
radio "mostly" because of the pressure of others. In other words he's 
traded one set of social restrictions for another.

Now I'm all for social norms where they serve a real purpose. I would even 
be in favor of a ban on radios without headphones. The idea of walking 
through the woods with Def Leopard blaring is offensive to me but if I met 
RnR on the trail wearing a headset connected to a small FM radio in his 
pocket I would think it odd that he preferred that to nature sounds but 
hey, it's his hike. As long as it doesn't intrude negatively on mine, I 
don't care what he prefers to listen to. For all I know he may be listening 
to an audio book of Thoreau.

What I can't comprehend is why a turned off cell phone that is in the 
bottom of my pack primarily for the benefit of the state of mind of those 
back home is so offensive that it desecrates wilderness anymore than any 
other piece of equipment I carry. The truth is I don't always carry one and 
I defy you to tell with more than a 50/50 certainty whether I have it on 
any given day. The truth is that the only reason anyone here knows I 
sometimes carry a cell phone is because I've told you. Had I simply kept my 
mouth (or rather keyboard) shut you would have no way of knowing since I 
*never* use it in the woods in proximity to others. Truth is I very rarely 
use it *at all*.

Granted some people do and yes, they are sometimes obnoxious. But the 
problem is the *people*, not the phone. I've encountered far more obnoxious 
people doing other far more obnoxious things than using cell phones. I go 
to the woods to escape the stresses and pressures of ordinary society. I go 
to be free. Freedom (to me) does not include deliberately worrying those 
who love me by insisting on not being able to call them occasionally to let 
them know I'm okay. If there were no one back home to care, I wouldn't 
carry it. It is just extra weight. OTOH the notion that its mere presence 
in the woods diminishes the experience for me and those who encounter me is 
(in my view) the product of being 'up-tight', something I am not when hiking.