#565 Plate of CellCrow

Okay. I’m about to go back on years of tirades.
I think cellphones and driving aren’t such a bad idea.
I know, I know. This from a person who was first to complain about rude cellphoners and has kept up a consistent data stream of criticism ever since.
But I changed my mind.
It seems to me, the folks who got out there early are getting better at it now. And the rest of us, who dismissed the technology and were only reluctantly drug into the 21st century by the demands of business and road emergencies, are getting better too.
Because humans adapt.
We struggle for a while with a new level of speed and technology but then we incorporate it and adjust.
Remember when you got your first new computer with Windows after that old clunker—the one that you had to boot up with numerous 5 1/2 inch floppies to even install a word program? Remember how fast your new computer seemed?
And how slow you think it was now.
You adapted.
I remember reading how people were freaked out when the first automobiles achieved the hell-bent speed of 25 miles an hour. No one could control that, they said.
We adapted.
The truth is, there’s a lot of down time on the roads these days. Traffic jams—admittedly some still caused by cellphone accidents—make it even worse, so there’s no choice but to get on your cellphone and do some business or catch up with family and friends.
We learned how to juggle fast food back in the sixties. Driving with Big Macs and Taco Bell burritos—not to mention juggling paper cups of Coke without lids and without cupholders.
But we adapted.
We braved the onslaught of Starbucks on the road and learned how to juggle lattes and frappacinos without getting frap on our lap.
And now here we are. Adapting to cellphoning and driving.
But hey. I still think other electronic things on the road are a bad idea.
Like the next generation—Generation Text. Instant messaging and yes, even uploading road-trip updates to Myspace.
From the actual road.
America ya gotta love it