How far do you travel from home before you no longer turn back to retrieve your cellphone?
When is the point of no return? One mile? Two miles? Five miles?
If headed to work, I’ll turn back until about two miles. If I’m doing just local errands, I won’t turn back at all.
And then, of course, I’ll feel vulnerable without a phone.
For many if not most Americans, the smartphone is like the American Express card. We don’t leave home without it.
Yet there is a counter-culture movement underway that is looking to hang up on that sentiment.
Here and there, restaurants are challenging diners to leave their phones in the car or providing a safe place to store them while they dine.
Comedy clubs, too, are requiring patrons to check their cellphones at the door.
And then there’s Green Bank, West Va., which as of two years ago had banned all cellphones and wireless devices.
It’s a welcomed movement toward civility, when we actually pay attention when someone is talking.
But it’s difficult to believe this crusade will gain much traction. Someday, voice-controlled smartphones will be surgically implanted in our bodies.
“Beam us up, Scotty.”
RANDOM SHOTS AND SECOND THOUGHTS
— Similar to how it would have been nice to see Michael Jordan play a couple of games in the majors, it also would be nice to see the Mets call up Tim Tebow next September. That assumes Tebow is still playing professional baseball, and I think that he will be — that he will surprise us with his ability.
— By the way, the Flyers expect to sign Tebow in October.
— Neat story in The New York Times about a woman who has diligently saved for retirement, in part by eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at work for lunch every day for 30 years. There are lessons to learn, to be sure. But for God’s sake, let’s hope she occasionally switches jelly flavors.
— It looks like the Eagles will miss out on free agent wide receivers Kenny Britt and Kenny Stills. But Kenny from South Park is still available.
