Use mobile phones wisely

Mobile telephones have become a powerful and important tool in our lives.
We can talk at any time to friends, relatives, loved ones, business clients and just about anyone else at the touch of a button.
In fact they have revolutionised the way we view and do things.
We can keep abreast of the latest news and, for those who have the facility, can even surf the internet on their mobiles and receive emails while miles away from a computer or an office.
It’s small, multifunctional and very easy to use.
And for many of us, it’s affordable.
The mobile has become such an integral part of our everyday lives that it’s difficult to imagine how we can manage without it.
Of course, we don’t have to.
The mobile is here to stay with all the many benefits it has brought us.
And the technology still promises more wonders in the not so distant future.
Everything is available at a glance on one’s hand.
But unfortunately with all those wonderful benefits come a few problems.
It has also bred cybercrime with people including children using it to bully, defame, or degrade people, even friends and relatives.
Children given phones by their parents to use in cases of emergency may access adult sites or learn stuff that they are too young to fully understand.
And there are the drivers we see behind the wheel on the road every day with a phone stuck to the side of their head.
It is illegal and they know it.
But they continue to do it putting lives including theirs at risk.
Because a phone is ringing, we – or most of us – think that it must be answered regardless of where we are or what we are doing.
And that can be dangerous.
There is evidence that the use of mobile phones could be a contributing factor to road accidents, for example.
There are laws against using mobile phones while driving a vehicle but they appear to be at best randomly enforced and at worst completely ignored.
It is difficult to control a motor vehicle with one hand, particularly on our roads here in Papua New Guinea.
It is very difficult to maintain the required concentration while conducting a conversation with someone at the other end of a telephone.
There is evidence that accidents have occurred in this way.
That’s not the fault of the mobile phone.
It’s the fault of the user.
For while hands-free attachments are available for most if not all mobile phones, many of us find them an expensive extravagance and continue to chat away while driving with one hand.
As we have seen, this can be dangerous.
And if people refuse to be more responsible in the use of this marvel of modern technology, it’s time for the authorities to encourage them to be so.
The laws already exist, they simply need to.
The next time you receive a call while driving, find a safe place to pull over before answering. Better still, reach the end of your journey and then call back.
If you are driving a taxi, bus or other public service vehicle, have someone with you answer it.
Mobile phones have impacted our lives much.
We need to use them and not be used by them.