Common Sense 201??

by Malia Ragan

Recently, I ventured into my mobile phone provider store to upgrade my cell phone plan; that in itself is something I loathe.  A root canal sounds enjoyable compared to how much I detest going into these places.  The young lady assisting me obviously has not been through customer service training, as she asked if she could assist me with about as much zeal and exuberance as a two-toed sloth.  After completing the transaction by giving her my driver’s license and signing a new contract, I was on my way.  We complete my transaction without a hitch.

A couple of weeks later, I am unable to locate my driver’s license.  I figure, as usual, since I do this quite frequently, it must be in another purse or perhaps slipped between the seats in the SUV; it happens. In time, it would re-appear.  Well, it didn’t.  So I head down to the local DMV, another place I detest, stand in line for what seemed like two hours to get a replacement license; pay my fee, have the always dreaded picture of myself taken and off I go.

A few days later after getting my new driver’s license, I stop by the same mobile phone store with my sister.  Well, low and behold, Miss Congeniality was working again that day.  As soon as I walk in, she points directly at me and says “I know you. I have your driver’s license, but I didn’t know how to get in touch with you.” Insert sound of cartoon character doing a double take here.  Well, I for once, was speechless.  I just couldn’t process or fathom what she had just said.  Let me see.... You have my driver’s license, it has my address on it, I’m a current customer, so you have my cell phone number...how is it that you cannot locate me?  My first thought was, this poor soul, how is she ever going to get through life.  My second thought was, unequivocally, there is a correlation between loss of brain function due to radio frequency radiation (RFR) and working around all of these cell phones all day. I look at my sister and she has this funny smirk on her face that I’m all too familiar with, which is usually followed by us both losing it. So I look away, quickly, to avoid a meltdown. We would never want to be rude or embarrass this young lady by giggling, but it took all we had to keep it together.

A 2009 study examined the effects of exposure to radio frequency radiation (RFR) emitted by standard GSM cell phones on the cognitive functions of humans. The study confirmed longer (slower) response times to a spatial working memory task when exposed to RFR from a standard GSM cellular phone placed next to the head.  Not that I’m qualified to discount this theory but, I really don’t think that was the problem in Miss Congeniality's case.  We live in a society where we have to blame someone or something for our shortcomings.  So, why not just blame cell phones for our lack of rationale and just plain ole common sense.  Seems logical, right?   Or, perhaps, we should go back to the basics and  benefit from a good dose of Rationale 101 followed by Common Sense 201.