Akous?

I hate cellphones. I loathe them. I resent the fact that someone had to invent a way to reach people no matter where they are or what they are doing. Then again, I am one of those people who won't answer the landline if I am busy doing something. I despise the interruption of a ringing phone, in any situation. I do, however, acknowledge the convenience of having a cell phone. I carry one out of sheer paranoia, in case I get into an accident or something happens to me. But for the most part I keep it shut off or I ignore it. It is also a good way to get in touch with my husband while he is at work, since he is usually doing rounds in the hospital and not situated in a nice little office.

When I left America, cell phones had not quite infiltrated the market. I'd say maybe 20% of people had cell phones at the time. I think I only had one friend who had a cell phone, and he had it in lieu of a landline. Imagine then, my utter amazement when I arrived in Athens and realized that everyone had a cell phone, from the ages of 8 to 80. When I travelled to Thessaloniki to visit the family for the first time, there were often times when I saw 4 or 5 cell phones on the coffee table at one time (and of course, the men of the family were always playing with them). There are times at holidays when I suspect there to be upwards of 16 cell phones in the apartment at one time. This can't be healthy.

It is particularly enjoyable going to a coffeehouse only to find that everyone around you is either talking on their cellphone or sending text messages. I'll see tables of 4 or 5 teenagers, ostensibly there to hang out together, all of them fixated on their cellphones and not paying one lick of attention to one another. Oh the irony - this technology meant to bring us together, seems to be pushing us apart, condoning anti-social behavior in normally social settings.

Particularly annoying about this cellphone culture is having to hear everyone's conversations all around me all the time, every day. It seems that some predominant psychology causes people to speak abnormally loudly when they talk on a cellphone, and we are talking about Greek people here, so it can be like there is shouting all around you. Trust me, I don't want to hear your conversation. I don't care about the inane things people waste their precious cell minutes jabbering about. The only saving grace is the fact that I don't understand spoken Greek as readily as written Greek, so for the most part I can't pick up the details of their sordid little lives. It is easier to ignore what you can't understand. But it is really hard to ignore the guy who speaks so loudly you can hear him with the doors closed, six stories up. Especially when he is shouting akous? (can you hear me?) into the phone at 150 decibels. Yes, as a matter of fact, I can hear you. So hang up and call back when you have better reception.

The only time I would have actually encouraged the use of a cellphone was the other day, when a guy was outside shouting hello to a neighbor a couple floors up. A simple wave and hello is fine, but these two proceeded to have a conversation! I guess he forgot his cellphone. Imagine that.