I am comforted by the fact that in the past we have shown ourselves to be a gently yet continually civilising species. In the face of new practices and technological advances we have, given time, modified behaviours and laws to change the new society for the better.
Take mobile telephones.
In the beginning there were brick-sized phones, and because it was still a nascent technology it became common to see someone with a phone on one ear and a finger in the other yelling at the top of their voice about stocks and shares in the middle of Woolworth's. A ringing mobile cut across conversations. People at a distance took priority over people nearby.
Over time most of society came to realise that this was, to put it lightly, fucking obnoxious.
So people are much, much better these days. The technology is better, so conversations can be had at a volume level well below the pain threshold, and people are polite about interrupting conversations to take calls, even to the point of shortening or delaying calls to be civil.
So.
Why the hell are walkie-talkies taking off so much? To go from a cellphone to something where the entire street can listen in on both sides of the conversation, each side being heralded by a resounding and penetrating high pitched tone, strikes me as nothing short of a big, deliberate and anti-social FUCK YOU.
It is twice as bad as the old mobile phones and then some. With the walkie-talkies you get the aural affront of two people yelling, with beeping and static thrown in for good measure.
Bah, humbug, all this were fields, young people today, raaaaa, it were better in the old days, and get off my land.
I'll take the pipe and slippers now, if you please.
The next phase will be really annoying. I can see the court cases racking up already.. public garotting is just ONE side effect of tin cans and string.
Sorry, mobile phone technology just gets more and more annoying for me. What I hate more than anything... you're in a meeting and the bloke you're meeting with suddenly says "Hello". And you stare at him as if he's a moron because why say hello when you've already been talking half an hour. And then he says "I'm in a meeting" and you think, well duh! And then you spot the black wire emerging from his ear. It's usually at that point I get the urge to politely punch them in the face.
I still, after all these years of cell phone technology, respond "hi!" to strangers when I hear them near me beginning a call with just a wire in their ear. Luckily they usually don't notice, or pay me any mind. The world would be a much nicer place if strangers really were greeting me as much as I thought they were, I suspect.
It's taking off because it's very cheap. Apparntly.
Irrelevant.
It's annoying.
I'm not disagreeing that's its annoying (in the extreme), I'm explaining the socio-economics behind it.
I hate those walkie-talkie things. I don't get it. AT ALL. I couldn't believe that they existed, in fact. When I moved back to the U.S., I kept jumping at the sound of them, and then I thought: "Dude, that's weird."
I still think, at first, that it's a police officer.
Fair enough it's cheap...but the fact that it exists, and it's annoying....is annoying. It's been made that way, and Adrian as an engineer that's the point I'm getting at.
I'm obviously out of the loop in rural sussex where the mobile still reigns supreme (especially on the trains - why go through your entire ringtone collection - why??). The only reason anyone would have walkie talkies here is so they can listen to the police!
P.S. as an aside to an earlier post I have only just read regarding your recent excellent reading choices - try 'The five people you meet in Heaven' next. Mitch Albom. Cracking story.
It must be an American craze... I haven't seen it here in England at all..
I can see how it could be rather annoying!!
It's not exactly a very secure form of communication either is it? anyone could tune in to your frequency.. and I guess the range isn't great either... in fact, what the hell is it useful for?
coordinated bargain hunting in shopping malls?
"kssssscht abort abort.. abort the queue in foot locker, I've found the same shoes here on level 3 for 2 dollars less...kssssscht..."
taking with you to the local shops in case your other half remembers something else you needed...
"kssssscht... come in darling, don't forget to get that lotion for your crabs will you.. kssssscht.."
or is it mainly used by those idiots who think its fun to stand just round the corner from each other (no more than three meters apart) screaming loudly into their palm:
"kssssscht.. COME IN, DO YOU READ ME, OVER.. kssssscht.."
"kssssscht.. YES, I READ YOU, OVER.. kssssscht.."
"kssssscht.. ROGER THAT, OVER.. kssssscht.."
I think you must be able to dial to other devices and stuff, and it's not just short range - I see ads boasting that you can do it between here and Mexico (nothing wrong with a little targetted advertising)...although shouting might be only slightly more socially annoying and only slightly less effective.
It uses the cell phone network, as normal, but instead of being a point to point connection, it sends the voice message more like a text. So because the network doesn't need to guarantee instantaneous connection, it's very cheap. And the networks will work any revenue stream they think can make them money, even if it annoys the world. And the mobile manufactures will make any device that networks ask for, even if it's annoying.
I still fail to see why someone would want to hold a conversation this way, but then I don't understand most people.
The buggers.
I can't see them convicting you for becoming a "PTT Vigilante". I'm sure you can use that Lycra outfit you keep for the bedroom as the basis of your vigilante suit.