The Self-phone Generation

 Jeremy and Elinor were sitting at a coffee-house on Jaffa Road one spring evening, on their fourth date. Jeremy looks deep into Elinor's eyes, takes a deep breath, and says, "Elinor, there's something I've been meaning to tell you from the first time that I set eyes on you. I feel –" DEEENG!

Elinor flips open her phone. "One second, Jeremy, just let me see who's looking for me…"

 

Anat reaches the kindergarten to pick up her daughter, Moriah. The kindergarten teacher is beaming. "Moriah had a very special day in kindergarten today," she tells Anat. "I'll leave it to her to tell you all about it." Moriah skips and jumps excitedly as she leaves the kindergarten with her mother. "Oh, Mommy, you know what happened in kindergarten today? I – " DEEENG!

Anat pulls her phone out from her pocket. "Half a minute, darling, the neighbor is calling me…"

 

Yair Cohen is a successful businessman. The only weekday that he has time to sit home at breakfast with his wife Ora is Friday. So Ora tries to make Friday breakfasts really special, sometimes with pancakes, sometimes with different kinds of omelets and salads…finally, she thinks to herself, a time we can relax and talk together. Ora smilingly pours the coffee, they take their seats, and – DEEEENG!

Yair gets up and lifts up his phone from the nearby shelf. "Sorry, dear, this is a contact that I've been trying to reach for days, it'll only take a few minutes."

 

All the years that I was working (since the cell phone was invented), I had no need for a cell-phone. After all, I had a phone at home and a phone on my desk at work, and when driving to and from work I couldn't use a phone anyway, since there was no speaker in my car. So what did I need a cell-phone for? Even when cell-phones were distributed to the workers free of charge, I requested – and was granted – permission not to take one. I had such a sense of freedom!

But then when I retired a couple of years ago, you know, the social pressure and so forth, I got myself a cell-phone. But I don't answer the phone when I'm driving (because there's still no speaker in the car), or when I'm riding a bus or train (because I don't want all the people around me to hear about my personal affairs), or when I'm walking outside (because I want to concentrate on the walking and looking around me), or when I'm with a friend or a relative, or when I'm eating, or when I'm listening to music…so, you may well ask, why on earth do I possess a cell-phone? Well, you know, as I said, social pressure and so forth….and after all, I have to be available!