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Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Do-Gooders are After Your Cell Phone

I'm concerned about the Do-gooder police. Sure, I don't smoke (and hate smoking), but I don't like it when the government tells restaurants they can't allow smoking. Before such impositions, I simply avoided restaurants that had too much smoke.

If that wasn't bad enough, that was followed by a move by some to force restaurants to serve healthy food. You can already say "goodbye" to trans fats (why french fries taste great, in my opinion) and soon to other things that simply makes food more tasty. Laws against such fats were passed in New York City and restaurants across the country were seeing that the writing was on the wall as franchises began to pull such from their ingredients.

Now Do-gooders are aiming at your cell phone. Maybe it is in the name of noise pollution or mere irritation, but they want to take your phone away from you. Restaurants are already beginning to require such ("Please turn off your phone while dining here"). Right now it is only voluntary with restaurants making that choice. As long as it stays that way, I'm fine with it. But knowing those Do-gooders, I wouldn't hold my breath. They might make that illegal too.

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Monday, October 29, 2007

Phantom Cell Phone Sensation

Let's face it, our lives are better because of technology for many reasons. We can access the information we want quicker and at unheard of locations just a few years ago. But I have been noticing a recent down side lately.

Have you ever sat in a comfortable chair watching a TV and feel a vibration in your pants leg and you think it is your phone? Sure enough, if you are my age, getting to it isn't as easy as it use to be so you struggle to get your hand in your pocket and you find the phone isn't even there. In fact, this problem has become so common that I actually now feel the outside part of my leg and make sure before I dive in.

It appears I am not the only one with this problem. Medical professionals have a name for it. They call it "phantom cell phone sensation." It is similar to what amputees feel after they lose a limb. There is the feeling that it is still there. In our case, we feel the vibration with no cell phone around.

Unfortunately for me, this problem will not go away any time soon. I'm on the air M-F, I also do weekly TV shows, and in between such I am in meeting after meeting. I have to keep it in vibrate mode or off (which I do on TV because of static it generates on my microphone even in vibration mode).

So if you were concerned that you were developing health issues, it appears there is no concern. It is just the "haunting" effect of technology. However, I will remind you that I'm not a doctor and don't play one on TV, so visit a doctor's second opinion if you have any questions. There is nothing like our litigation nation; but that will be another blog topic. Note on the video. I found this on YouTube, an example of others who suffer from this same issue.
Order Kevin Price's audio program The Accumulators, which explains the impact that the Internet is having on marketing and consumer behavior. It is available online here for only $10 plus p and h. Receive the Houston Business Review e-zine free each week by clicking here.

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