[at-l] RnR's *worthwhile* cell phone questions

[sloetoe at yahoo.com (Sloetoe)]

Just a quick note to say that while I am not well-read on the
current version of at-l cell phone mania threads, I find these
questions rather even-handed and answerable by honest hikers in
ways not-at-odds with RnR. (For those of you new to the list,
RnR and I are not chums.) I don't wish to encourage the
haranging or the trolling; I just want to encourage rational
discussion of {well, here it goes} the real purpose of the trail
and the real impact of technologies trail users employ in hiking
it.

Really, I'm sane.
sloenocellphonetoe

       1)   How do cell phones change the physical Trail? (ie
increased shuttle activity and cell phone induced access points)
Demographic: (Increased usage by cell phone lifeline types who
then skip the rest of what the Trail's about?)

       2)   How cell phones change the hike experience? (ie
being able to call out at any time, or knowing you can.) (Also,
how daily contact changes the extended feeling of remoteness.)
 
       3)    How cell phone acceptance as a part of hiking gear
changes the whole attitude of how people perceive the AT from
the outside. Is the Trail seen as a truly wild place and
challenge at that point, or is it now tamed by quick
communications allowing quick outside contact with remote
sections of the Trail?

      4)     And most importantly, how cell phone proliferation
by plain numbers leads to an inertia that displaces important
Trail concepts literally existing in writing in ATC's
Guidelines. "Disconnectedness" is literally written in plain
words in the guidelines. Explain to me how the overt
'connectedness' a cell phone provides jibes with this main Trail
goal?