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	Vol.7, No 32, October 25, 1999
	Cell phones for calls, not surfing Technology has really taken over our lives. Computers run our world, cellular phones and pagers are everywhere and information is transmitted in nanoseconds.   Now cell phone makers are taking the need for information to a higher level.  Ken Hanson They are introducing wireless Web services in their phones to facilitate their customers need to access information at any time and anywhere.   Really, do we need that much access to the Internet?    This can only lead to longer working hours, less quality time with the family and higher phone bills that will lead to more people with poor credit.   These wireless services do have some amount of utility. They can help us journalists who are under constant time pressure to find, check and distribute information.    We can use them to get those breaking stories going with the press of a button.    But other than journalists and maybe stock traders, people do not need that much access to the Net.    Cell phones are for calls, not for surfing   What is the point is sitting in your car and deciding you can't wait another six minutes for the stock market report to come across the radio waves?    Are you that hard up for news that you can't pick up a newspaper or change the station on your radio?   Or, is it a matter of Internet addiction? Some people can't go hours on end without hopping on the Net.    Now they can possibly function in the real world and not be tied to a computer all day.   And how are you going to see the information you are looking at? The screens on cell phones are so small you can barely read anything as it is.    How are you supposed to look at a Web site on that rinky-dink screen?   The Net is there for people to use at will.    But we don't need to use the Net or e-mail so often that we need to make them accessible from our cell phones.    If you need an important message, the sender can call your cell phone and actually talk to you, instead of sending e-mail messages.    It is pretty sad that computers and cell phones are able to take the place of hearing a human voice.    When the Internet phenomena first began, people were worried that it would take the place of real, live human interaction.    Now people will even be able to avoid phone calls by using their phones to send and receive e-mail.    Besides, we already know that people who drive while talking on the phone are dangerous, just imagine how accident rates would soar if they were tempted to check the local sports scores, stock prices or e-mail while driving.   Internet access by means of a cell phone is just a bad idea.   People who need that much contact with their e-mail or the Net are over-attached tech babies who can't seem to give up their security blankets.    Ken Hanson is the opinion editor of the Daily Forty-Niner.		Vets battle CSULB Labor Department probes for discrimination, fraud; university denies any fault Veterans talk of groupís purpose, spokesmanís ability   Campus center calms fears of public speech   Farm labor union leader sends call to action   Newly opened lab splashes life into studying Stress eats at students   Cell phones for calls, not surfing Haunted House prepared to scare   Youth illustrator projects talents Big West Conference may crumble Maxson holds meeting to discuss conference's future Six California schools lay patiently in weeds Fall 99 ISSUES DAILY 49ER HOMEPAGE
Forty-Niner Publications, Department of Journalism, California State University, Long Beach ©1999 All rights reserved.