Cellular phones are considered a necessary evil in today’s society. It helps us keep in touch with our loved ones at a moment’s notice even when a regular telephone is unavailable. The technologies packed into the instrument no longer than a cigarette and as thin as a calling card allows anybody to telecommute and keep up in touch with all our business associates on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week basis. It is because of this constant connectivity that the dynamics of polite etiquette in the 21st century society has changed. Using the cellular phone in public is as considered normal, although sometimes, there are places and situations wherein its use is deemed inappropriate. One of these places where the use of the cellular phone is frowned upon is during meal times most especially in restaurants.
Restaurants are usually places where people go to relax and have a quiet meal. For families, it is the place where everybody can bond and catch up with one another’s lives. Business people use this time to close or discuss important business deals. Therefore, when a cellular phone rings or vibrates in the middle of a meal and the owner takes the call, it shows a great amount of disrespect for the person or people that one is having a meal with. Personally, I believe that it delivers the message that there is someone else more important than you that I have to attend to. Meal times, especially in restaurants should not be a multi-tasking chore. Restaurant food is to be enjoyed, not wolfed down because you received a cellular phone call. Additionally, the ringing of the phone with various ring tones also disrupts the meals of the others in the restaurant whose mealtimes are rudely interrupted by a person rushing by behind or in front of him trying to get a good connection or signal.
I believe that cellular phone usage should only be used in times of emergencies when in public or when the parties present at the restaurant have been informed beforehand that I or somebody in the party is expecting a cellular phone call. Once that phone call comes in, I would expect that the person keep his phone on vibrate so as not to disturb the people around him and the other restaurant patrons as well. It would also be prim and proper for the person to excuse himself from the table and take the call outside of the restaurant as a sign of respect for the people he is with as well as the others who might be disturbed by the call.
There are many more reasons to ban cellular phone use in restaurants. But for the benefit of this paper, I would like to present the aforementioned reasons as the main reasons that I have in favor of supporting that action. I agree with all the people who say that cellular phones should be banned in restaurants and most public places because there is a time and place for everything and mealtimes have been respected as private time for people that should never be interrupted for any reason as far back as I can remember. Proper etiquette has always dictated that people conduct themselves properly when in public and while using the telephone. The use of the cellular phone falls under the same regulations and must be adhered to at all times because technological convenience does not give us the right to be rude in public.
In conclusion, there are many more reasons to ban cellular phone use in restaurants. But for the benefit of this paper, I would like to present the abovementioned reasons as the main reasons that I have in favor of supporting that action.
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