Hi-tech mobiles make West FM's Alan feel sad

Aug 1 2008

I’VE never been massively into mobile phones.

Yes, I’ve had one for 10 years – in fact, until a few months ago, I had the SAME one for 10 years.

I only upgraded because people were starting to snigger whenever I had to use it in public. Young children were scared by the strange device.

I’ll not deny it’s come in useful at times. If I’ve broken down by the side of the road I can call for help (going by my car history, that’s where half my credit goes). I can even arrange a night at the pub, all by text of course. But as far as I’m concerned, that’s where its uses end.

I don’t want a camera that takes incredibly bad photos. Or even worse video.

I don’t want a built-in MP3 player which holds half a dozen songs, unless you reduce the quality to the verge of unlistenable.

What I really don’t want though, is the internet.

Email seems to be the last medium left where I can use the excuse “Oh, I didn’t get your message”. Everyone assumes that we all carry our mobiles everywhere, so whether it’s a call, voicemail or text message, the sender usually expects an instantaneous reply.

At least with emails, if I’m genuinely busy or just don’t want to reply right away, I don’t have to.

Unfortunately for me and others of the same opinion, I’ve read a report which predicts the amount of email and web-surfing mobile devices is about to rocket. In less than four years, there’s expected to be over a billion of them. In other words, we’ll probably all have one.

So, like a text, if you don’t reply to your emails within a fraction of a nanosecond, your inbox will quickly fill up with the predictable “are you not talking to me” and “why aren’t you replying” messages.

Except they’ll be written in ‘txt spk’. So, practically undecipherable. I think I’ve just found my new excuse for not replying.

I’ll talk to you on the West FM Breakfast show, Monday to Friday from 6am. All this week we’ve got some great competitions on air, so whether you’re a big Killie fan or, ladies, fancy winning your way into the Water Aid Ladies’ Night at Ayr Racecourse, listen in!