Turn off your freaking Cell Phone !!

For the most part I appreciate wired technology. I think it's great that I can chat with my mother while riding the bus home from work. When browsing in Duane Reade I skip down the shampoo aisle while blathering to my friends about the events of the day or the most recent episode of Supernatural. Yes, I'm one of those people you probably hate, but what's the point of cellular technology if I can't be connected when walking my dog. I do, however keep my volume down and when I reach the checkout counter I stop talking.
On that note, there are times that the phone should be turned off. I work in the Recovery Room at a children's hospital in Manhattan, New York where countless parents text on their blackberrys as they and their children are getting prepped for Surgery. Why is this? Not two days ago while I was interviewing a parent prior to surgery their phone rang and they answered it. While I was talking, about going under the knife. In the recovery room parents hold their crying children struggling to shake off the effects of anesthesia in one hand and answer their phones with the other. Decked in three piece suits they beg me for wireless access; they want to use our computers. Arggh! My coworkers and I are tired of policing the recovery rooms. We are tired of being the bad guys about an act that is so rude and disrespectful it should never occur. What kind of message are these parents sending to their children? This pain/ stress/trauma that you are feeling is not as important as my job/ friend/therapist. My bluetooth remains fused to my ear so I don't lose one millisecond of my world. In essence, Your life is lesser than mine.
I understand some children have chronic illness and these surgeries/procedures occur weekly or some lucky children are drugged out cold from the anesthesia. Okay fine, text away, but don't answer the phone, the child next to you might be having a hard time. And don't do it while your getting you pre-operative interview-it's rude.
We turn off the phone on an airplane; We turn off the phone during our own dental work or pilates class. We turn off the phone at a movie so why can't turn it off during a major event like surgery. Why must we remain connected all the time. If someone-god forbid-dies while the phone is off they'll still be dead when it's turned back on. If an emergency occurs then a phone call to someone already in a hospital is not the best course of action. Suppose the baby starts crawling, by the time the nanny calls you've already missed the momentous event. They won't stop crawling if you don't answer.
I am all for a wired world, when used in a way that enhances the human connection, not that detracts from it.

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