The world's a cell-phone stage-The device is upending social rules and creating a new culture

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 2/27/6 | Ryan Kim

[SmithL]

The phone, TV, personal computer and Internet have found revolutionary ways to connect people, entertain them and empower them.

But nothing has matched the seismic cultural shift created by the cell phone, with its ability to connect and deliver content virtually anywhere, anytime. Although most of us have grown familiar with cell phones during the past 10 years, we often don't realize how much our world has been transformed by the little device in our pockets and purses.

But now a number of surveys, studies and industry statistics provides a better glimpse of how this gadget has pushed us into new realms, allowing us to converse with friends, family and others from the most intimate corners of our lives to bustling public spaces.

In anecdotal evidence that surveys are only beginning to reflect, we are starting to see how cell phone use is upending existing social rules and creating a new culture that worships mobility and modifying -- if not replacing in some instances -- many long-held social rules that govern the use of landline phones.

That rapidly evolving culture is evident in instances where people think nothing of engaging in a cell phone conversation in a bathroom or a restaurant; couples flirt via text messaging and say they have interrupted sex to pick up a cell phone call.

"I don't think there is a precedent for something that has spread so quickly around the world to so many individuals; we're talking about 2 billion phones around the world," said Howard Rheingold, digital journalism professor at Stanford and author of "Smart Mobs."

"It's an intimate technology that has the capability to reach into your intimate zone and it brings up a lot of emotions werifit."

[martin_fierro]

[dfwgator]

It was a better world before cell phones. And I'm no Luddite. It's just that now there is the expectation that you always have to reachable. Granted, it's nice to have if your car is stranded or other emergencies, but other than that, I try to use it as little as possible.

[Publius6961]

Literally, technology in the hands of cultural gorillas, of all social levels...

[kcbc2001]

Haven't had a landline since 2002. Looking at getting Vonage though.

[meowmeow]

Twice now, we have seen young couples sitting in a restaurant, each on their cell phones...for the whole dinner. We wondered if they were talking to each other or calling around for a better date!