It's really amazing when you think of the advances in communication technology. I remember the days when you were cool because you had a pager, or were considered part of the elite because you carried around the first mobile phones that were as heavy as cement blocks.Here in the Philippines, the only people who do not own cellphones are the dead. Pinoys are the top users of text messaging worldwide (and Friendster, but that's another story). From the affluent to the blue-collar worker, from CEOs to the jobless, all can be seen carrying an I-phone, Blackberry or a Nokia 32xx.
But what if the mobile phone wasn't invented? What if Nokia decided to sell hamburgers, instead? My bet is we would be exhibiting extremely different behavior due to its absence. What if we lived in a world without cellphones?
1. You're dead if you're late. "Hell hath no fury than a woman made to wait." If you didn't have a means to tell your wife that you'll be arriving 30 minutes late for your date because you had a flat tire, expect an empty seat waiting for you (and the cold shoulder the next day). On the other hand, it can make you be conscious of time, as you should.
2. Snatchers would lose their livelihood. It's a lot easier to grab a cellphone from the user's hand than engage in a tug-o-war with the owner of a gold necklace.
3. Back to the traditional way of courting. In the old days, a budding Romeo had to woo in person - call up the object of his affection on the telephone or pay her a visit in her home. Nowadays, you can just plagiarize cutesy messages to send over SMS. Today's would-be suitors would be forced to man up and get their leading ladies without hiding behind technology. It would also bring back the practice of writing love letters and burning the edges of the paper with a cigarette (yeah, yeah, I've burned a few before).
4. Less proliferation of scandalous videos. With no medium with which to spread them around, couples who sex up on camera would feel a bit safer. But expect more peepholes in motel rooms.
5. People would think 'Bluetooth' is a dental condition.
6. Movie or TV heroes wouldn't look as cool. Imagine Jack Bauer constantly looking for a phone booth to contact CTU, or the Men in Black communicating by carrier pigeon. The only guy who would benefit from a world with no mobile phones is Clark Kent, who wouldn't have to look very far for a place to change.
7. Places like Greenhills and Metrowalk would lose sales because they would be limited to selling pirated DVDs only.
8.On the other hand, we would have a lot more money. The P20,000 that we save up to buy the latest model would instead be spent on, well, less important things - like food.
9. The word 'jejemon' won't exist because people will spell words properly. No more missing vowels ("pnta k d2?"); no more substituting '2' for 'to'; no more wrong sentence construction ("go na me").
10. And most importantly, My pager will be cool again! woohoo!
