I've lived in this era between the near non-existence of cellular phones and today where nearly all of the people I know would be lost without them. It is this ubiquitous acceptance that I take issue with, where it is somehow unacceptable to plan ahead about the when and wheres for actual human interaction. The same argument can be technologically applied to GPS mapping devices, as they cripple what has been a necessary ability to understand how to plan when travelling.

I cannot dream of stopping the spread of potentially useful technologies, what I do encourage is for people to develop new social norms to reduce the number of small conflicts surrounding miscommunication with these technologies. For people that use GPS devices, please add the co-ordinates to an address to avoid ending up at 23 Main St. in the next city over or 87 James St. East rather than 87 James St. West because an inferior device cannot distinguish locations. Humans can distinguish between good and bad information.

The telephone has created problems for my social life among over-anxious, paranoid, albeit kind friends. After planning some events and celebrations with proper invitations that are received by e-mail, actual mail, or are hand delivered people have actually called the day of the event and said they cannot make it. Its understandable when a personal or family emergency occurs, but when the excuse it "It looks cloudy outside, it might rain" or similar phrases I am irritated. As though what I have planned is not without a backup plan, or in the worst of cases where there is NO RAIN. We have a technology that reliably terminates social behavior that people pay attention to, but few of these people will use a technology like weather radar to notice that there is nothing.

When and where, this combination is the key to actual human socialization. I've played online games, they don't beat shared experiences in person - but they do reduce the social obligations of living in a civilized society. No shower, no problem. It is the next step up from the antisocial elements brought in by the telephones. Now we can play these games on the go and be callous and smelly among strangers while seeming civilized around people that we actually see as people. Dehumanizing strangers, is arguably the one thing about mobile technology that people have began to do. I've been ignored while asking for the time, like a house cat, by a person holding a cell phone clicking away at a noisy game. While the person is likely wondering "why doesn't he just check his own cell phone", I experience the indifference this person has built up to people that are not themselves - and when it comes to human behavior when people do that a dehumanization begins.

In order to continue with good planning, showing respect and civilized behavior, having actual friends or in the least decent acquaintances I would like to hear about Canadian cities without cell phones or the establishment of a quiet zone where people do not use cell phones or other radio transmitters and if we can exist with our other amazing technologies without radio. An empire of wire would likely result, but there it the distinct possibility services like healthcare, policing, and infrastructure maintenance could learn an important lesson about planning.