HOW often have you asked yourself: Whatever did we do without mobile phones? I mean there was once, not so very long ago, a world in which people did not walk around, drive cars, eat meals, etc., with one hand holding a small metal box next to their ear. It was a world in which bizarre ringtones did not erupt in the middle of classrooms, concerts and conversations. It was a world without mobiles and even though it might be hard for some younger people to imagine, it really did once exist. How, in those days, did we ever give and get directions, keep track of our children, tell someone to pick something up at the supermarket for us? In short: How did we ever survive? It may seem amazing to some that an age bereft of cell phones ever existed. Here in Saudi Arabia more than half the population grew up with these little gadgets each year morphing into more convenient and sophisticated models. These young hi-tech savvy people would be the first to shudder at the thought of an entire planet inhabited by people who walked around only ever putting their hand to their ear to now and then give it a good scratch. But such a world there once was, as any of us of a certain age can attest, and although it may now seem to some like the stone age, actually we survived very nicely, getting on with our everyday lives never knowing what we were missing. If, however, not so very long ago we could survive without mobile phones, why is it that so many people today feel that their world would fall apart if all the mobile networks failed or if these phones, like the dinosaurs 60 million years ago, simply vanished from the Earth? It is because our way of life has changed as people have become more and more addicted to these ubiquitous little metal monsters. In the pre-mobile past, if we were arranging to meet someone at the mall, we would take care to give specific instructions and to set a time and keep to it. Each person made certain that he exactly understood the meeting location and the time was duly noted and adhered to. The wrong floor, the wrong shop, the wrong time would lead to an apparent no-show as the two parties waited for each other at different locations. These days people agree to meet at the mall around a certain time and to call each other when they get there. The mobile can be used to re-negotiate the time at any point: “Sorry, I'm in a lot of traffic. Looks like I'll be late. See you in a hour or so.” And the little phone will also be used to pinpoint the final meeting place: “I'm standing in front of KFC right next to the cutout of Colonel Sanders. Oh, you can see me? Oh, yeah, now I see you too!” None of that was possible in the old pre-mobile days. And yet, strangely enough, somehow we did survive. We made appointments to meet friends at malls and we went there and met them. There are, of course, more serious advantages that mobiles have brought. We can call for emergency help from anywhere, at any time, which is especially useful when one is having car trouble. And, of course, in some places mobiles are now the only form of telephonic communications as land lines are nonexistent or hard to come by. However, this is not to say that these little phones have not brought disadvantages along with them. As our world becomes more hectic and our lives more stressful, peace, quiet, solitude and simply getting away from it all become more important everyday. Who wants to constantly be able to be contacted by all and sundry at any time of the day or night? There are times when we simply need to be alone and out of contact. Of course, you will say that mobile phones do not prevent that; people just turn them off or do not answer them. However, as with the introduction of any new technology, a social etiquette has grown up around the use of these little wireless wonders. These days everyone expects instant communication, and if you do not answer, call back, respond to a miscall, everyone's nose (or ear) gets out of joint. And white lies, little white mobile lies, have been introduced into our society. People are now forced to tell others: “My phone wasn't working; the battery was too low; I never got your miscall; my little boy wiped out all of my text messages; I deleted your number by mistake; and, finally, my mobile was stolen!” Unfortunately, as creative as we might be, there are only so many mobile-related fantasies that can be spun, and since everyone uses them, we never really believe them even when they are probably true. Mobiles, after all, do get stolen. In the “old days,” if you didn't show up for an appointment, when you later met your friend, you might also offer a somewhat suspect excuse: “I had a flat tire. My house burned down.” But these days, if your friend calls you from the appointed meeting place to see what happened and finds that your mobile has been turned off, you are going to have a hard time convincing him that he has not been snubbed and stood up! Really, you have to laugh. __
