The use of cell phones has reached new ridiculous levels lately.
I was at a birthday party over the weekend, and one of the guitarists in the mariachi band stopped for a minute in between notes to check his cell phone. I didn't even know mariachi pants had room to hold a cell phone in them.
Walk into any girl's bathroom on campus, and you're bound to find at least one stall being used as a phone booth.
I expect any day now, my priest will take out his cell phone and answer it - mid-mass.
It feels like we've always had the ability to reach into our pockets and make a phone call whenever we want. It is almost impossible for us to wait even five minutes to get done with one activity before going on to the next.
Some states like New York and New Mexico have laws against using cell phones while driving. If you are ever in Santa Fe, N.M., make sure to use the hands-free kind - those New Mexican drivers are crazy.
But it's not just because of how or where people use their cell phones that they have become ridiculous: Spanish police officers now are enforcing ridiculous laws to combat the problem.
Apparently, Spain is so worried about the use of cell phones while driving that police have started ticketing people just for having a hand near their ear.
Recently, a man on his motorcycle was ticketed for driving while using a cell phone.
Actually, he was not on the phone - he was scratching his ear. But the officer still cited him for holding his ear with his right hand in a permanent position.
He was fined $70 and plans to appeal the charges.
According to a study by Harvard University Center for Risk Analysis, about 2,600 deaths a year in the United States are linked to cell phone use. That is up from 1,000 two years ago.
Has the problem become so great that police feel the need to impose laws so ridiculous that they seem made up?
In Spain, they obviously do.
How far are we in the United States from citing people for distracting activities during their commute?
Will we be cited for listening to our radio too loud?
Will women get ticketed for putting on their makeup in rush-hour traffic or men for using their electric shavers?
Will it get to the point where we may get pulled over just for having a conversation with our passenger?
If statistics are what will drive the implementation of cell phone laws regarding usage in vehicles, there is no doubt those statistics will increase.
But perhaps those hikes won't be because of the misuse of cell phones but rather the fact that so many more people have cell phones nowadays.
Catherine Portillo is a journalism senior. Reach her at catherine.portillo@asu.edu.
