recycle your old cell phones!

[red]

i just found this link
http://www.collectivegood.com/
for some reason we have like all these old cell phones in my house and here is a chance to get rid of them AND get a tax-write off for the donation.
anyway, i thought it was cool.

[cazort]

Ughh...I hate cell phones. The last thing the "developing world" needs is cell phones. I swear, we would be "developing" our society if we all smashed and trashed our cell phones immediately. Heck. We should get rid of TV, computers, and telephones.

Why?

Because our society has gotten to the point where there is so little face-to-face contact. Think of how much in your average day you talk on the phone, and think of the average quality of those interactions. Think of the quality of conversations you hear in public on cell phones. Think of the quality of the average conversation that happens on AIM or Yahoo! Messenger.

Now...think of the most amazing conversations you've had in your life. What, they were ones that happened in person? I dunno about you all but I certainly feel this way.

I always crave face-to-face contact, and all too often our society doesn't allow it. It's why I buy from local stores instead of shop at mail-order catalogs. It's why I hate telemarketers. I say--knock on my door and sit down, I'll even give you a cup of tea, and I'll let you sell me something! But if you can't talk to my face then get out of my life!

:-) :-) :-)

Just some thoughts.

[pisces2473]

Well, Cazort, all is fine and good with your argument for no phones, but what if your family and friends don't live near you? Most of my friends live at least a 1/2 hour from me, and my extended family is over an hour away. Also, people don't have time to just stop and chat with others (yes, that is a problem) but what can we do? At least we're still talking to people! :)

I donated my cell phone to my Body Shop at Home representative at a recent Girls Night Out part. They give the phones to women's shelters, programmed to dial 911.

[RedHead1420]

As long as you are recycling your old cell phone and not just throwing it away, it shouldn't matter what you're doing with it. :)

[red]

exactly! i know there are lots of places that take donations... as long as the phones don't end up in the trash.
personally, i hate talking on the phone.
and while cazort makes an interesting argument, the phone is the only reason why i am able to talk to my best friend in california as much as any other person who lives in nyc.
as for stores, you couldn't pay me to shop in department stores... esp during the holiday season!
i buy most of my food direct from the farmers (thank god for greenmarkets!) and also manage to avoid the grocery stores most of the time as well.

[cazort]

I'm just an extremist! Of course I talk on the phone to my parent who are 7 hours away, and my friends overseas in Europe via AIM.

But the point is--if we didn't have this technology, maybe we would live NEAR our family, and our friends? MAybe we'd gather together for dinner every evening with our family and our friends?

Maybe small towns would have social parties every night that would bring the whole community together. Maybe churches would have a diverse membership of all ages instead of just old people. Maybe the fabric of our society would still be held together, and we wouldn't be all isolated in our little sterile boxes all day long, staring at some infernal screen.

I'd gladly give up all this technology because I know that people NEED contact, and without the technology, they'd have no choice but to have the type of high-quality contact that really holds society together.