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1. 

   omQ R said, 3 months ago

   Erm. Only thing that comes to my mind is Lou Reed.

2. 

   jkshaw said, 3 months ago

   Jeff, this is so true, it’s depressing.

3. 

   10ZEPHYR01 said, 3 months ago

   Oh so vapid, this is why I always say “you might want to leave your phone in the car” before going anywhere.

4. 

   parkersinthehouse said, 3 months ago

   my thought has always been, why in the world would you want a telephone in a place you go to get away from the telephone?

5. 

   HUMPHRIES said, 3 months ago

   parker, just like “camping” in a Winnebago with a satellite dish.

6. 

   oldlegodad said, 3 months ago

   hump I wouldn’t do it any other way (if I could afford it).

7. 

   dtroutma said, 3 months ago

   They’re making efforts to replace all those nasty trees with cell towers. Who knows what would happen if someone got three feet from their car and had to call for an emergency supply of sunscreen to be flown in, and couldn’t make contact in the “wilderness”.

8. 

   harleyquinn said, 3 months ago

   Simple and to the point of the flawed thinking of some.
   I love my gadgets! But there is a balance. Maybe you are having that “perfect day” because you were not connected. Look around and maybe connect to what is around you and ,gasps, the person next to you.
   I like being here and stirring up trouble but I Love these simple thought provoking cartoons.

9. 

   deadheadzan said, 3 months ago

   Yes, I agree, this toon tells a simple truth.

10. 

    fritzoid said, 3 months ago

    Eh. Cell phones are always useful to have in emergencies, and lots of things happen on camping trips that are far worse than forgetting your sunscreen.

    “Getting away from it all” implies not spending all day tweeting your friends, certainly, but going anyplace off the beaten path WITHOUT taking your phone along is kinda not-so-smart, if you ask me. It’s better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. It’ll save everyone a lot of trouble when it’s time to send out the search parties.

    Turn the dam’ thing off, but don’t leave it in the car.

11. 

    HUMPHRIES said, 3 months ago

    oldie, try a canoe ‘n tent.

12. 

    fennec said, 3 months ago

    Humph, or a kayak…or (back in the day when I could) a windsurfer on the car top and a tent in the trunk. Wonderful times we had then.

13. 

    meowdam said, 3 months ago

    They have cell towers that look like trees.
    It is great to get away from it all ,but if the kid on the rocks dives in and splits his head open it is great to be able to call for help.
    The fault Horatio is not in our Towers but in ourselves , shut the @%&*#$#$@# thing off .

14. 

    oldlegodad said, 3 months ago

    Hump, been there did that at bivouac basic training and one exercise at white sands 20+ years later, enough for me.

15. 

    ynnek58 said, 3 months ago

    It’s harsh when you have to come out of your virtual world. Ah, reality…

16. 

    vanpelt said, 3 months ago

    It’s a losing battle. The generation being born now will grow up being “connected” every second of their lives. They may not be any better at meaningful conversation, but they’ll be in electronic touch with people all the time. Take that away and they’ll be helpless.

17. 

    parkersinthehouse said, 3 months ago

    it drives me nuts but it fits with the fast pace of change

    found myself being driven and impatient to accomplish

    the students though can be seen on campus in 4s and 5s and 3 or 4 will be on the cell with somebody else - i’ve even seen couples - one or both on cell

    i feel the same about higher ed and high school online courses in higher ed - the human component (part of the education in my op) destroyed - e-questions and answers

    will people in the next 50 years be insecure without? will there be a pendulum swing back? will there be more heart attacks? revolution? vestigial faces?

18. 

    David said, 3 months ago

    Put down the cell phone and enjoy the beauty, folks. Some of the most beautiful places I have been to have no cell signal and I didn’t really care. I wouldn’t have even known if the phone hadn’t beeped at me.

19. 

    omQ R said, 3 months ago

    I had my 1st cell in ‘96, with a year contract but paid for by my workplace in Southern Africa. Promptly lost it. Whenever I was on call I borrowed a colleague’s brick. Thing had an hour’s use and 8 hours standby. Got by just fine and I enjoyed many African sights cell-free.
    Mind you, cellular networks have revolutionised communications in Africa. Copper was just not going to cut it to enable remote areas to come on-line. For the romantics I suppose that’s a tragedy. Meh.

20. 

    Tigger said, 3 months ago

    I love escaping to my Cell Free Zone.

21. 

    dtroutma said, 3 months ago

    Imagine Columbus or Lewis and Clark ending their trips as soon as they lost cell coverage. Hmmmm, might have been a better world.

22. 

    HUMPHRIES said, 3 months ago

    oldie, big difference between maneuvers and going where I like at my own speed. - - fennec you are full of surprises. Don’t have a lot of experience but a couple of years ago had the opportunity spend almost a week on the Danube. Enjoyed it enough that I worked for the better part of a year witha boat builder learning how to make strip canoes. Have my materials on hand and if I’m ever physically able again …

23. 

    M Henri Day said, 3 months ago

    So this is the ontology that has replaced «it only exists if you’ve seen it on the telly» !…

    Henri

24. 

    omQ R said, 3 months ago

    ^ :)

25. 

    cdward said, 3 months ago

    I suspect I feel a little more sanguine about it than others. I just got back from the Grand Canyon and confess that I DID have my cell phone with me. Didn’t use it, but carried it as a safety backup since where I was going did not see all that many people. Surprisingly, the signal was great. Having said that, there was no wi-fi, so I was off line for quite awhile. Neither I nor the kids missed it. After a day or two, you just get used to it. I don’t think the kids of today (who are NOT the creators of these little gadgets, so I don’t want to pin this on them), are incapable of getting by without them. My experience is that, if they have the toys, they will use them and will do so much more effectively than we do, but if they don’t have them, they just move on to whatever is at hand.
    Surely we have learned that new tools for communication do not improve the quality of communication. Just the quantity.

26. 

    rekam said, 3 months ago

    When my sister-in-law fell and broke her ankle on a hike, she used her cell phone to get help. That’s all they’re good for, we feel–useful in an emergency.