I have never thought of myself as an impatient person, but the other day I discovered, cell phones had made me impatient! Let me tell you how.


When I call someone on the land line and there is no reply, I kind of take it for granted they are out, and I should call back later. But I dont seem to use the same logic when it comes to cell phones. If someone doesnt answer, or they dont return my missed call, it makes me impatient! I consider them impolite or even ill-mannered. My impatience makes me jump to conclusions!


I remember reading a piece about this doctor who was unable to use his cell phone, and his impatience almost drove him from busy to crazy! It drove him nuts to use a land line, and he got impatient waiting for the dial to return to start. He tried to think rationally and tried timing how long it took for the dial to return to start. To his surprise, it only took eleven seconds! Thats when he realized how he had become a man in a hurry even when there was no reason to hurry!Every time my teenaged son mumbles into his incessantly ringing cell phone it makes me mad! Here we are in the midst of a serious conversation and off he goes into a totally different world! This happens at work too. Im just about getting an important point across to my team, when one of them gets a call on the cell phone. Yes, hes put it on silent, but nevertheless I see his attention waver! I have to start all over againPeople are known to disrupt important meetings when they get a call and say oh! This ones important. I need to take it Was there a life before the cell phone? Didnt we have important issues to deal with, those days? How on earth did we manage to?


I often think why is this happening to us? Is it really happening to us or are we doing it to ourselves? Cell phones are just a touch away, they are a status symbol and give one a kind of. Are we afraid to slow down? Is it this innate desire for control that is making people lose it?


- Ritika