Everywhere you look these days, people have a cell phone stuck to their ear or they are looking down at one trying to get in touch with someone. I never thought people would want to get in touch with each other so often and with such zeal. If you want to think about it in a benevolent manner you could say that there is some sort of bond that perpetuates this, but then again it could be something else.
 

The fact that people, whether in cars, walking, in offices, public institutions, hospitals and even sometimes the occasional forgetful person in Church, are frequent users, speaks volumes to the expansion of the mobile telephone network in our fair city. Even I have to admit there has been an improvement of service of late and it sure does make it fun to use those little gadgets. I can not say as much for other urban areas in the country because in  the ones I have visited, it takes you more than one try to get through to the person that you are trying to reach.
 

It is like looking at the next generation of Ethiopia begin to develop through a simple thing like phones. But one thing that has not developed with the culture of blue tooth ear pieces and eight mega pixel phones is the manner and place in which these lovely devices, sometimes expensive, sometimes cheap, can be used.
 

I have noticed that we Abeshas, and this is something that I have caught myself doing on occasion, are not exactly quiet when it comes to having conversations on our cell phones, particularly in public areas. Recently, I went out for a quick lunch on my own, I sat at a corner table and as I was reading some material that I had brought along, I heard a gentleman having an extremely loud conversation that could be heard across the expanse of the large space. I assumed that he was talking to someone that was with him, but to my surprise, he was practically yelling at the top of his lungs into a cell phone.

Now this is one of many occasions where I have come across loud conversations in restaurants that are being had on cell phones. Not to say that people should not use their phones when they are dining, but the way that I was brought up, nothing should interrupt a meal. And even stricter of a rule is that nothing should interrupt the meals of guests. In essence, people are guests at a restaurant; what is the logic of discussing the failure of a cement delivery for all to hear when some people are just trying to have a quiet lunch?

It drives me absolutely crazy, for solo diners, it captures the attention, for people that are dining in groups, it has a tendency of interrupting conversation, and worst still for the people whom the person on the phone is dining with it makes them the centre of attention and interrupts whatever semblance of a meal that they might have been enjoying.

Another faux pas that I have noticed is that people do not really pay attention to the places that they chose to switch off their phones. Every filling station in the city has a sign, if not more than one that clearly indicates that cell phones should be switched off. This is also true of court houses, another place where there is a clear sign indicating that cell phones should be switched off. Most people think this is just for the heck of it, to add colour to the bland walls of the space. On the contrary, there is logic to asking for this courtesy in these specific places. But there have been plenty of times when I have witnessed people having telephones conversations while their tanks are being filled or sneaking in, an ‘I will call you back' inside courthouses.

Sometimes there are some rules that are not so severe and could be broken, but what about in the case of meetings. I have sat in on, and even chaired meetings where there have been cell phones going on during serious discussions. People do not bother to hang up the phone or switch it to silent; they instead pick up the phones, and say that they are in a meeting.

All of this happens when the eyes of the entire room are pasted on them because obviously the ringing of the phone had interrupted the proceedings in the first place. Where are the common courtesy and respect for your peers?

When people congregate for whatever issue is being discussed, there is usually the time and effort of several people that is put into that coordination; there is no justification nor excuse for people to disregard that and have a little chat on their phones while there are issues tabled among people that have vested interests.

I have even tried to be tolerant of people answering their phones and saying that they are in a meeting. But, if you let one person get away with it, then others begin to follow in their footsteps, and before you know it, you have a regular ring-tone festival in the middle of a meeting.

I do not know what the solution is, but maybe a cell phone police force is one thought the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporations (ETC) should consider.