Unsettling shutdown of cell sites

Iam not surprised by the fuss over the shutdown of cell sites during today’s procession of the image of the Child Jesus and tomorrow’s Sinulog Grand Parade. Because of the new technology, the way we conduct ourselves daily has changed accordingly. Thus, when we are deprived of it, we get unsettled.

But there were no cell phones until in the ‘90s remember? That’s why in the office, I blurted out, “Nganong maguol man ta kun wa’y signal, uy.” That got an immediate joke of a reply from an office mate: “Wa pa man gud mi matawo sa panahon nga wa pay cell phone.” Okay, let us just say that I once lived in a cell phone-less world.

Funny, but sometimes while watching my sons tinker with their cell phones, I would recall that time when the possibility of having such a phone was still in the realm of science fiction. I would even ask my self when I was younger if it would be possible for people to phone other people without looking for a phone booth.

A primitive man preserved in ice for centuries and who lives again when the ice melted in this era would surely go mad seeing the products of modern technology. How would he react to, say, watching television for the first time? Or how would he conduct himself when riding an airplane or even a car?

It is because of this that jokes are being conjured. One of the popular Max Surban songs is, “Sa Unang Pagtan-aw Ko’g Sine,” which is about a man who watched a movie for the first time. I heard a joke, for example, about a girl clueless about electricity and who, when told by her boss to put on the light got a match and lit the matchstick below the bulb.

I listened to a commentary program yesterday morning and heard the anchors talk about how the radio station could cover activities like the fluvial procession and the Sinulog Grand Parade when the reporters’ communication of choice now, the cell phone, can no longer be used? I’m sure the radio station would eventually come up with a way but the anchors could have noted how it was in “primitive” times.

I was a dyLA reporter in the early ‘90s and we were furnished communication handsets during major coverages. (I think that the current experience will already push radio stations to dust off their handsets or if these are no longer available buy new ones.) But there was also the land line. That deprived the reporters immediacy in the reporting but we managed to do the coverage that way.

Which brings me to my point, which is for people not to put their all into modern technology. This is not a unique call because the idea of voluntarily depriving oneself of modern gadgetry and the internet even for a day has already been advanced. But I think it would be good to reiterate it in the light of the current fuss about the jamming of cell phone signals.

One thing good about being deprived of the use of cell phones, for example, is that families and

barkadas can already go back to good old conversing. How often do we see groups of people who, instead of talking with each other, are tinkering with their gadgets? For me, the worst time when you are talking with a friend is when he reaches for his cell phone and either text a message or receive a call.