Mobile Generation

The mobile phone generation has gone crazy. You, me, everyone. 10 years ago when I was just one year short of passing from my B-school, nobody in my school used to carry a mobile phone. In those days we hardly used to have any mobile phones. The ones that were popular were I think from Motorolla or I don't know remember exactly which handset manufacturer, but I do remember they were surely bulky and almost like cordless phones. It was an upmarket thing to have, but then who'd want to carry a cordless phone in their pockets and why, is what i always used to think. Today eveyone has to have a mobile phone. A collegue's son- a ninth standard student- recently cajoled his paretns to buy him a mobile phone. Why? Because all his friends have it and it's "demeaning" to not have one for himself. Shocking? Not really?

It's easy to blame others, but what about us? 10 years back we could easily stay away from home for hours or even days and still be completely relaxed without a mobile. Today, we can't stay away and out of touch from our loved ones for a few minutes, thanks to our mobile phones. We have to call up our home to check on our kids, we have to send an SMS, and if nothing else is happening, we have to check out our phone atleast once in 15 minutes to double-check if we missed any calls or SMSs or if nothing else, check the time. I forget my mobile phone on an outing and feel lost.

The worst is caller tunes. Now, what I do not understand is why do people spend as much as Rs 15 to Rs 20 on caller tunes. These are tunes that we do not get to hear, but if we keep them on our mobile, the caller gets to hear them. It is purely for their pleasure. We do not derive any benefit out of it. Then, why waste the money? Is the caller calling to listen to our song or to talk to us? I have never understood this.