Hello? ! i’m speaking on the cellular

To live, you need air, water and food. In Lebanon, to live you also need a cellular phone.

From the moment it was marketed, the cellular became a vital necessity; one can't step out of one's home without it. Like toys, cellular phones are available in a variety of brands, colors, shapes and sizes. People who can barely afford to send their children to school have spared some money to buy one. The rich have one for every member of the family.

Don't you think, that the businessman is the only one in the family who needs a cellular? Mom needs to gossip with her friend about the clothes Mona wore to the last party. Older daughter devotes her line to chatting with her dear boyfriend. Older son needs to call "daddy" from the street to tell him he crashed his Porsche.

To realize the seriousness of the phenomenon, you should go to a dinner party. Each guest has, beside his plate, a fork, a knife, a spoon and a cellular phone. Of course. Even more, interruptions in a movie theater with the typical ringer sound has become a ritual. You see, the cellular phone in Lebanon is not about "connecting people," as Nokia advertises, it is about prestige. They are used to show off, in a society that stresses appearances. This is why you see, in a prestigious university in Beirut, a student on campus phoning his fellow student standing some meters away, to ask him "Shou? Shou Aamel?" ("What’s up," in Arabic). After all, walking two steps burns energy and social status.