Are cell phones negatively affecting social behavior?

I think that cell phones are great for people to keep in touch with each other, and for emergency purposes. Other than that, it's just another way for people to find you. It used to be nice to be able to hop into the car and not have anybody know where you were, because you didn't have a damned phone connected to the hip at all times. Now, it's almost necessary to have a phone with you at all times. I don't enjoy talking on the phone that much, and I often won't answer my cell phone at first, because it rings at some of the most inconvenient times. I also think that people shouldn't be talking on the phone while driving, as their attention spans are greatly reduced, if there's any attention span to begin with. Also, it's rude when you're working and trying to demonstrate the worth of your product, only to have your customer talking on the phone with somebody else. It gets even more irritating when you have to repeat what you just said because they were too busy with some trivial phone conversation. Don't get me wrong, it's great to be able to call your spouse to make sure that you get the right items at the grocery store, but you shouldn't be doing it while you have a clerk trying to help you out. In retail, I see this behavior all the time, and often times it annoys the hell out of me. And people really shouldn't have their ringers turned up so loud that it sounds like something's getting ready to explode. And when people answer their obnoxious phones in obnoxious tones of voice, shouting into the handset next to their heads, it just irritates the hell out of me. That's all I have to say. Cell phones may be great to keep us in contact with loved ones and people that we need to stay in touch with, but they shouldn't be the driving force of people's everyday lives. It's also irritating to see people in restaurants talking to people on their phones while they're there instead of talking with their spouses. My girlfriend and I will occasionally call our respective brothers, but it's usually to see if they want to come have dinner with us or if they want leftovers we'll have from dinner. Then we'll go back to actually having a conversation, which is becoming an apparently dying art. Overall, the future of society looks bleak if people just continue shouting and being obnoxious when using their mobile phones, taking the people they're with for granted.

People are getting ruder and ruder. Most hated: Cell phone talk -a- holics at the Library. One bitch just turned her back on me but did not move an inch kept talking loudly. Apparently these stupid kids want someone to listen to their stupid conversations.

Well I would have to say I am guilty of text messaging while holding a conversation with someone in person, but what grinds my gears is when 13 year old little tommy son of a bitch is behinnd you in a restraunt and every 2 seconds his phone is going off with the lasted played out pop or pop/rap song because he's marathon texting. Put your damn phone on silent/vibrate when in pulic places. Also, just as bad, that annoying douche bag Johnson from work decides that inside the break room is an acceptable place to make a phone call and then procides to yell at his cell phone like he's talking someone hearing impaired in a crowded bar. Volume control people you do not need to yell at your phone it can hear you just fine if you talk at a reasonable indoor voice.