July 2, 2001

9:30 AM

9 out of 10 Brit Kids Have Cell Phones...and 8 out of 10 have tumors the size of oranges above their right ear. Beer with school lunches and now cell phones for kids?

What happened to tying up the phone line for hours and hours til mom turns red?
posted by jennak (7 comments total)

I read a funny rebuke to this piece in The Sun the other day. I believe it was by that Scottish TV presenter woman.. I forget her name.

She said that the report is wrong, since how many under 7s (who make up at least 50% of all under 16s) do you know with phones? In fact, if you assume that no child under the age of 3 has a cellphone, then surely every child between 3 and 16 has a cellphone to make up the 90% average!

Once again, these reports dig their own grave and are simply put out to further the name of the company publishing them. And, as everyone knows, 97.47% of statistics are made up.
posted by wackybrit at 9:37 AM on July 2, 2001

I was under the presumption that the saturation of cellphones in the UK was largely the result of the cost of traditional phone calls which rendered use of a wireless as an equally economic choice.

I think it's funny when I hear Americans bitch about people on phones in public places, because I always recall being on a bus in Oxford Street on Christmas Eve, 1998. No fewer than 15 cellular conversations were happening, all featuring the same phrase "No, I'm on the bus in Oxford Street. I'm on my way home! Yes, I bought the _____." No one seemed to be at all fazed by people chatting on wirelesses on public transport or in the streets.
posted by Dreama at 9:43 AM on July 2, 2001

I agree...the statistic would be more credible if the researchers had published a more appropriate age range (say 10 - 16) than just "all kids under 16."

This weekend I took the bus to meet up with a friend, and I made a 90 second call on my cell to warn her that I was running late. The man in front of me made a scene, putting his fingers in his ears as if I was blaring a fog horn towards the back of his head. I hope I gave him brain cancer too!
posted by jennak at 9:53 AM on July 2, 2001

I'm English, and I'm sick of cellphones. I use mine a few times a month, but wouldn't dream of talking on it while on a train or bus. That's what SMS is for.

Of course, in reality, talking on a cellphone is no different than talking to someone next to you.. except the nosey gits around you can't hear the other half of the conversation...!
posted by wackybrit at 10:09 AM on July 2, 2001

Exactly, wackybrit, which is why I don't get all of the animosity toward cellphone users, like from the guy that jennak encountered. The majority of people I encounter who are using phones in public places are speaking at completely appropriate volume for their location, certainly no louder or more obnoxious than those conversing around them in person. Unless someone is shouting or speaking somewhere that it's altogether inappropriate, it isn't anybody else's business. But this is, of course, a rather different topic that should probably best be left for another thread.
posted by Dreama at 10:13 AM on July 2, 2001

Often when forced to take public transportation, I talk to myself out loud, just to unsettle those around me.

The ubiquity of cell phones have ruined this fun for me.
posted by dong_resin at 6:14 PM on July 2, 2001

except the nosey gits around you can't hear the other half of the conversation

Which, I think, explains why some people hate cellphone users.
posted by lia at 10:24 PM on July 2, 2001