Defending Cell Phones

Jeffrey Tucker does a pretty good job of decrying the recent criticism of the cell phone (e.g., it's an addiction). Link. His main point: The criticism is just more of the intellectual, Commie-tainted, anti-free market psychobabble that we always hear about new technology.

Although he admits that the cell phone can be annoying, he doesn't address any of the issues that McLuhanites might ask: How does this technology affect the user? What is this need to be in constant touch with everyone, everywhere? Is the cell phone just the normalizing of the neighbor who talks just to hear herself talk? Is it an inherently selfish person who uses his cell phone during his "dead time" (e.g., driving in a car) to call someone and take up that person's valuable time with a bad connection that may very well get cut-off?

He does, however, point out that the cell phone has people talking to each other again instead of e-mailing and text-messaging. And that, he correctly notes, is a good thing.