Cellphones - blessing, curse or tool to control us?

ARE we babes in the wood when it comes to cellphones? Are we still in control? Or are we being controlled from beyond by strange forces, some of them probably directed by artificial intelligence? What are these strange configurations that appear unbidden now on our cellphone screens?

- Arthur Koestler

There was a time when the cell- phone was a blessing, far superior to anything available on the telephone line and definitely ahead of the party line. In fact, I can recall only a single occasion when the cellphone of those early days did not emerge triumphant.

It happened when I dropped off my daughter at the High Court in Durban, where she was training to become an advocate. In the court- room, cellphones kept ringing, and the lady judge was getting agitated. She ordered everyone in the court to check their cellphone and switch it off if it was not already off.

“If I hear another cellphone ring- ing, ll confiscate it until Christmas!” she said.