This weekend we rented A Room with a View and daydreamed about living in a world with no cell phones, television, cars, and (gasp) computers. Of course, the phone rang 4 times during the movie and DH's cell phone rang 7 times. I know, because I counted.

The worst I ever encountered was at a restaurant where the guy at a table next to us was talking on a cell phone, describing what he was eating to the person he was talking to. "Here's comes the soup, looks pretty good, could use a bit more salt" that sort of thing. This went on throughout the entire meal. I wanted to stab him in the eye with my fork :@

Kay_M, that is a hilarious story. It reminds me of the time I was in Central Park walking the loop - a man ahead of us was jogging - he answered his cell phone and started having a conversation. The funniest is he must have said "I'm running in the park" ten times because his friend couldn't understand him... too funny where/when people talk on their cells phones.

Re: <i>A new law came into force in the UK on December 1st where it is now illegal to drive whilst holding a mobile phone.</i>

Bravo to the UK! We had a incident in the Seattle area last year where a woman driving an SUV rear-ended a car that had been stalled on a freeway, killing all a family of four (she, of course, lived.) While she claimed she was not yakking on her phone at the time of the collision, an investigation by the Washington State Patrol concluded otherwise, although a spokesperson for the Patrol &quot;couldn't say whether [her] phone use might have contributed to the crash.&quot; (She was also speeding.)

&quot;Driver in fatal crash reportedly on phone&quot;

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/...searchdiff=439

I remember the first time I learned they'd banned driving with non-hands free mobile phones in France. Sitting in a movie theatre watching &quot;The Closet&quot; where the guy was pulled over and gave the cop such a sob story the officer let him go. My husband and I looked at each other and said &quot;wow&quot; -- now if they could only get the woman in the seat next to us to turn off her ringer!

The only countries prohibiting use are:
United Kingdom
Ireland
Norway
France
Greece
Malaysia
No others? Let's hear a complete list!

Found a wee list online - I don't think it covers them all... and certainly doesn't say where it is enforced.

Australia, Brazil, Chile, Denmark, England, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Poland, Portugal, the Philippines, Romania, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey. Delhi, India, and Hong Kong also impose restrictions on car phones.