PDA Paralysis

[Jerry Raia]

In the past we have discused people distracted using phones while driving. We are now hearing talk of theaters wanting to block cell phone usage. I thought this would be a good time to bring up my new pet peeve. I call it PDA Paralysis. I spend a lot of time in airports. Picture if you will a busy terminal packed with people. You are moving along with the throng towards baggage claim for example. Suddenly the person in front of you comes to a grinding halt. What are they doing? They have stopped because they are trying to figure out something on their PDA or phone. They can no longer walk and chew gum. Something has so overwhelmed them they have to stop to figure it out. Of course the result is disaster. The chain reaction of people either stopping or swerving with their Winnebago roller boards in tow is truly a sight. I am curious as to how many of you have noticed this growing phenomena either in airports or anywhere else. Share your stories!

[Darius Wey]

I am curious as to how many of you have noticed this growing phenomena either in airports or anywhere else. Share your stories!

I see this everywhere - airports, CBDs, lecture theatres, hospitals. Thankfully, it doesn't happen on the roads - yet. 8O

[edgar]

These are the same idiots that stop at the bottom of the escalator at the shopping mall and look around. Or stop in the middle of a packed sidewalk to look for the nearest starbucks - dont step to the side you idiot! The only difference is we've given them technology to get confused by instead of, uhm I dunno, air, their own thoughts, ... ??

Like Darius said, its everywhere. Just in an airport its tight quarters and you are probably hyper aware of your surroundings as you try to get to your gate.

Here in San Francisco - Like LA, people have total disregard for the 3500 lb vehicle you are driving at 30 mph down the street. They step right out in traffic and/or are more than happy to walk across the street when the red hand is up and the light is counting down from 3 seconds.

I want to carry a fire extinquisher filled with red dye, and squirt each one of them. Mark em with a "D" for DORK!

-Edgar
ps More and more Its not a PDA or a phone - its a damn Blackberry. I feel they are neither a phone, nor a PDA. They are an annoyance. And I'm an IT executive who's had one of these alabatrosses for nearly 8 years now. HATE IT - use it, but HATE IT. Until a year ago carried my original 954!

To tie this back to Mike's note on the theater and your comment. It's nothing more than etiquette, awareness and common courtesy. They have none of these.

[edgar]

Darius

Of course it is - read mbranscum's comment here from a previous post: http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10622&highlight=cingular

The big thing that pulled me back to a smartphone was the dedicated keypad. My wife likes to send text messages and I have to send a few during the day. It is just down-right inconvenient to sent a text on a ppc any way you cut it...it takes 2 hands. I do a lot of operations in my car while I'm driving. Yes this is unsafe but it's reality. I found I was getting pretty good at driving with my leg when I was using the 8125 ppc. When using the 2125 I could do the same things easily with one had while driving...things like surfing the net and texting.

Don't get me wrong. Mike had a perfectly acceptable answer and I think he's a great member. But, more and more I see it on the road too. SURFING THE NET AND TEXTING WHILE DRIVING!!!??? What the heck, pull out a book while you're at it.

Jerry,

Thanks you got me worked up, I'll have to break out a bottle of wine to settle down. (now I have an excuse :wink: - like I needed one)

-Edgar

[Mike Temporale]

These are the same idiots that stop at the bottom of the escalator at the shopping mall and look around. Or stop in the middle of a packed sidewalk to look for the nearest starbucks - dont step to the side you idiot!

:rotfl: So true!

I see these people all the time. I don't understand why it's so hard for some people to walk and look at their device at the same time. :roll:

[Kris Kumar]

I am glad that I am never in crowded places. And even when it gets crowded, the only gadget carrying person is me, and I don't PDA and walk.

[gerlinda]

Oh my God! Do NOT get me started on these people!! I see them constantly...and they always seem to be RIGHT in front of me!! :(

[edgar]

Kris is always down gettng a garbage plate at the hours these people are out.

Ask him what a garbage plate is - if he's truly in Rochester he'll know.

:)

-Edgar

[Jerry Raia]

Ok I'm curious now. What is a garbage plate Kris?

[Janak Parekh]

I am glad that I am never in crowded places.
That's because you're up in Rochester, along with the three other people in New York outside of the NYC metro area. :P (Just kidding, Kris, I'm playing up the good ol' stereotypes. Except for the fact that like 3 people live in Rochester, we all agree on that. ;))

New Yorkers are, in general, better about this -- we're used to doing 10 things at the same time. Of course, in a city of millions you're going to see this behavior too. Sometimes, it's people who could not care less that they're impeding everyone else... but most often, it's the tourists -- the kind who stand in the middle and gawk at all of the tall buildings. :lol:

--janak

[ctmagnus]

I am glad that I am never in crowded places.
That's because you're up in Rochester, along with the three other people in New York outside of the NYC metro area. :P (Just kidding, Kris, I'm playing up the good ol' stereotypes. Except for the fact that like 3 people live in Rochester, we all agree on that. ;))

I can count at least five people in Rochester - the four I've seen on Fox Rochester news, plus Kris. ;)

[Kris Kumar]

Kris is always down gettng a garbage plate at the hours these people are out.

How did you know that? :oops:

Actually, love garbage plate (my wife doesn't approve it), infact wanted to have one today for lunch but then decided against it; too heavy; couple of my colleagues and myself had a meeting to attend and wanted to be awake and available. ;-)

Here is the official trash on garbage plate. (http://rocwiki.org/Garbage_Plates)

[Jerry Raia]

What the heck is a garbage plate already???

[edgar]

Here's the REAL garbage plate with a picture. No place beats
Nick's.

http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/GarbagePlate.htm

I've been around - I think I remember this place around 3am... :beer:

-Edgar

[Kris Kumar]

BTW...folks this thread is about PDA Paralysis and not to guess the official Rochester census. :oops: :( :lol:

Since this site is committed to delivering information and to end all speculation, the official Rochester population is 6; ctmagnus you forgot to count the cameraman. ;-) :lol:

[edgar]

We ARE on topic... If Nick's garbage plate doesn't cause paralysis - nothing does. 8O

[Jerry Raia]

Here's the REAL garbage plate with a picture. No place beats
Nick's.

http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/GarbagePlate.htm

I've been around - I think I remember this place around 3am... :beer:

-Edgar

That looks damn good :) I want one!

[Kris Kumar]

What the heck is a garbage plate already???

You have to land in Rochester first. ;-)

I've been around - I think I remember this place around 3am...

:beer:

[edgar]

ROAD TRIP!

Jerry, swing up by the Bay area and get me.

Dib's on Kris' guest room. We can tour the Kodak and Xerox plants!

:drinking: *burp*

-Edgar

Now officially off topic....

[Jerry Raia]

You have to land in Rochester first. ;-)

Oh I do from time to time when I fly out of Chicago. I have to have one of these. :lol:

[Janak Parekh]

What the heck is a garbage plate already???
BTW, Jerry, bookmark Urban Dictionary (www.urbandictionary.com). It's great for this stuff. I didn't know what garbage plate meant either until I looked it up (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=garbage+plate). ;) I particularly like the second definition: "A disgusting dish popular to upstaters that consists largely of cholesterol and cheese covered heart attack." :lol: BTW, we downstaters never use the term. To me, it sounded like something a homeless guy eats until I saw the first Urban Dictionary definition. 8O

And now we can go ontopic. (/me thinks quickly of something to say...) Part of the problem, I think, with PDA paralysis is the emphasis on styli. I think as devices get more one-handed this problem will improve. What do you think? Are people still paralyzed when cell phoning, or more so with stylus-ed PDAs?

--janak

[edgar]

I agree with the stylus comment.

Why in the world they ever stopped usign the Jog dial. It's the number one item that Blackberry users like. I loved it on my old Casio and it really helped with one handed operation.

Did it cause the side to be too crowded? I'm not sure I require a dedicated Camera button - I'll set that up otherwise. Take it away and give me back my Jog Dial!

_Edgar

[Jerry Raia]

What the heck is a garbage plate already???
BTW, Jerry, bookmark Urban Dictionary (www.urbandictionary.com). It's great for this stuff. I didn't know what garbage plate meant either until I looked it up (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=garbage+plate). ;) I particularly like the second definition: "A disgusting dish popular to upstaters that consists largely of cholesterol and cheese covered heart attack." :lol: BTW, we downstaters never use the term. To me, it sounded like something a homeless guy eats until I saw the first Urban Dictionary definition. 8O

And now we can go ontopic. (/me thinks quickly of something to say...) Part of the problem, I think, with PDA paralysis is the emphasis on styli. I think as devices get more one-handed this problem will improve. What do you think? Are people still paralyzed when cell phoning, or more so with stylus-ed PDAs?

--janak

I need that dictionary and I might have to try the garbage plate cause it looks darn good to me. :lol:

Your observation of the stylus is right on. Just about every person I have seen seize up with PDA Paralysis was using a stylus at the time!

[Janak Parekh]

Why in the world they ever stopped usign the Jog dial.
Because everyone fell in love with the iPAQ 3650's look and decided centrally-mounted dpads was the way to go. (Palms didn't use dpads then, if you may remember.)

The good news is that the jog dial is making a slow comeback. Well, if the Q or the Samsung ever hit the market. :roll:

--janak

p.s.:
_Edgar
Is your name _Edgar or Edgar_? :lol:

[edgar]

My Nick-

It depends on the board :( on SPT it has the "_"; on Brighthand there is no "_" etc.

I've used "Edgar" for 15+ years and it was gone on SPT - so I slapped a "_" on it during registration. If the other FAKE! "Edgar" is not active can I have that back? :)

If you look at the block to the left instead of my Sig - it has it correct for whatever board I'm on.


Jog Dial:

My Casio E200 had a Dpad AND a jog dial. It rocked. The DPad was actually the speaker as well. It was a brick sized unit for sure - but had some great features as well.

-Edgar*_* :lol:

[Mike Temporale]

_Edgar
Is your name _Edgar or Edgar_? :lol:

I think Janak was asking because you signed your name backwards on one of the posts above. ;)

[Mike Temporale]

I've used "Edgar" for 15+ years and it was gone on SPT - so I slapped a "_" on it during registration. If the other FAKE! "Edgar" is not active can I have that back? :)

I just checked, and there is no username "Edgar" on SPT. There is a Edgar_ ;)

[edgar]

Thats a simple Caps typo

I usually sign out with -Edgar or -Edgar_

I'm a spaz typist :oops:

Maybe if I wasn't lazy I'd just set up a sig :)

Anyways, Mike, it's Friday night. Do you remember what your kids look like? They're those 2 little midgets running amuck in your house. Sign off! I have no kids, just an over working wife.

-Edgar_

ooo anyway to change it to "Edgar" and not lose subscriber and sooper eleet status of my great posts?

[Mike Temporale]

Kids are in bed, wife is falling asleep on the couch, and I'm busy working away on the computer. Same old, same old. ;)

I'll take care of your account issues, and email you with the details.

[ctmagnus]

The forthcoming MDA Vario II will have a scroll wheel. :) Unfortunately, it will also have a microSD slot and no headphone jack. :(

[Jerry Raia]

The forthcoming MDA Vario II will have a scroll wheel. :) Unfortunately, it will also have a microSD slot and no headphone jack. :(

No headphone jack? Now that is paralysis! :lol:

[Janak Parekh]

No headphone jack? Now that is paralysis! :lol:
Well, maybe it'll force HTC/T-Mobile Europe to actually support A2DP on the device... unlike the existing ones. :|

--janak

[edgar]

yea well, do you need one if it has std BT? Ok, no stereo but it is a phone primarily, right?

[kiwi]

I its often cell phones or Ipods as those damn Blackberry things.. agh!

In Europe, espcially London on Regent St its tourists with Maps ;)