Or at least, that's the way it seems to me. Before I purchased an Android, when the flip phone rang, I merely flipped open the phone and that's how you answered it. Not so with the Android. Nah, the phone rings, you take it out of your shirt pocket, then you have to touch the icon in the center of the screen, then slide your finger down to answer or slide it up to reject the call. While you are doing all this, your eyes are not on what you are doing, driving your car, or in my case, navigating in a congested waterway where your boat could easily be crushed by a 4,000-ton barge being pushed along by a tug with a 12,000 HP diesel engine. You would think that those folks could come up with something that allows you to shake the phone or something to answer the damned thing instead of having to stare at a touch screen for several seconds to determine what to do when it rings - just crazy!

Here in Maryland, it is illegal to use a mobile device unless it can be voice activated. No handheld devices are allowed, and the fine is $200 for violating this law. Of course, it is largely ignored, and nearly everyone I see driving has a phone either in their hand. It's an obsession, worse than smoking and booze. I see more young people that have that phone in their hand every waking minute of the day and I believe that some of them must sleep with it. Hmmmmmm! Could be a good form of birth control. Some older folks are equally as addicted to their phones, constantly texting everyone they know. They can no longer hold a conversation with another person without having that phone in their hands, interrupting every sentence to text back to the person that just texted them.

Teen Driver Cell Phone Statistics. 11 teens die every day as a result of texting while driving. According to a AAA poll, 94% of teen drivers acknowledge the dangers of texting and driving, but 35% admitted to doing it anyway. 21% of teen drivers involved in fatal accidents were distracted by their cell phones. I can always tell when the person in front of me is texting. They are constantly running off the road onto the right shoulder. The only reason they rarely cross the center line is that most of the state roads here have grooved bumps in the center lines, so it feels like you hitting a washboard.

My wife went to look at new cars last week, most of which have a touch screen in the center of the dashboard -WHAT! ARE ALL THE MANUFACTURERS INSANE? Now she's looking at used cars that do have this feature. I knew I married a smart woman.

The primary reason I gave up my flip phone was for the weather radar app. Now, when I'm out sailing and within range of a cellular tower, I can bring up those frontal systems, see how fast they are moving, and take shelter when a big frontal system is closing in on me. When those fronts pass through, they often bring tornadic winds, sometimes with speeds to 80 or more MPH, which is not good when you are on any kind of boat. Sometimes this is associated with sheets of lightning, heavy rains and hail - not a good thing when you have an aluminum mast sticking 46 feet in the air - big assed lightning rod. If it were not for the weather app, I would still be using my flip phone.

All the best,

Gary