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Car Alarms And Cell Phones Are Junk
Posted by riverstyxxx • 11/19/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: hang up and drive
My opinion is that car alarms just serve as a false sense of security and nothing more than a mere annoyance to both those who have to tolerate them and the actual owners of car alarms. Cell phones are even more of an annoyance and a complete waste of money. What they have in common is that they share the same concept. Check this out:
It all took off about 10 years ago, car alarms were expensive and a newfound technology. If it's anything that we love, its something that buzzes, beeps or whistles. 20 years ago, cellphones were expensive, clunky, ugly, and cost five dollars a minute to use. Rules of technology state that as time drags on, it becomes cheaper to produce said electronics. It doesn't matter if they worked or not, all that matters is making a buck and being the first on your block to own a new expensive gadget. Problem is that they become less efficient over time, and technology has to make further upgrades to be able to shine in the open market.
That's exactly the problem with phones. The phone was originally invented almost 150 years ago, and very little has changed with it. Regarding sound quality and efficiency, it's just as lousy now as it was back then.
Feel like an idiot knowing that you're "Stuck in the 1870's?" yet, shelling out all that money? You should be. All they did was took a perfectly good turd, polished it and spray painted it gold then resold it over and over. The telephone was a bad idea to begin with, with all those phone poles and poor sound quality, we don't even know who first invented the damn thing. All they did was throw in more useless bells and whistles. If you prefer shelling out 60-100 bucks a month just for the privilege of cyber-texting a fuckbuddy and making your own obscene ringtones, then you're obviously in the right place.
And who can possibly say that they don't get annoyed when you're in the elevator or riding the bus and the jerkoff next to you has to sound off his evening shopping list to his pig of a wife for the 67th time because the other 66 calls got dropped due to "Technical Difficulties" (According to customer service, assuming you can reach them when called. That's one area of technological advance that will never happen.)
Now, as for car alarms. (Bear with me, this is a compare and contrast..I'm getting to it.) I used to understand the concept, broken down into a few steps:
1. "X" tries to break into your car to steal the diaphragm out of your glove box and your collection of country music cds.
2. Car alarm rings off, the lights start flashing.
3. "X" gets scared and runs off.
This used to be a valid argument, but over time it got watered down because everyone bought into the same concept. The problems that developed to nullify that were these:
1. 99% of the time, it's a malfunction.
2. Car alarm rings, everyone inside (Assuming they can hear it) thinks it's their car. Big distraction because people can't tell if that alarm is theirs or someone else's. They usually start relying on the flashing taillights and even more goofy shit like the window wipers flailing back and forth.
And the final reason: When car alarms were new, very few thieves knew how to deactivate them. Being that technology gets cheaper, so does the expertise put into them. On any given street in my neighborhood, there's a handful of car alarm installers working for next to nothing, you really think they're smarter than the thieves? Well, whatever. The industry tried to adjust by installing more bells and whistles like kill switches and even air bag inflaters (wtf?) Some of you might remember, and Carlin covered this, that they used to have "Verbal Warning" car alarms. The idea was simple: You walk too close to a car, the car alarm tells you to piss off. Didn't work, and it only led to keys being used to scratch new lines into their cars for doing so.
So, car alarms only serve as a way for car dealers to make more money (And we all know that car salesmen are just Such Honest People only looking to make a living, right? And the only way cell phones can improve is by adding useless shit like pizza delivery texting and political rantings by assholes like us...Oh wait, they already have that. Nevermind.
But the point I'm making is that both are remarketed from outdated technology with no serious improvements or upgrades. Cell phones sound horrible, Car Alarms do nothing to stop theft, and there's absolutely zero chance of improving these because we ate it all up too fast. I didn't even bother mentioning the number of fatalities caused by traffic accidents related to cell phone use, but California recently passed the law of requiring hands-free use. Did it work? Not really, the fine is a simple 50 dollars and this just falls under the rule of speeding: "As long as everyone does it, I won't get caught".
I wish some people would just grow up.
User Comments
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You wrote a little blog post, there.-
Actually, I said the same thing. Then I put it on my blog. Oops.
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I have to agree with you on the car alarms - as I write this I can hear a car alarm that has been going off for at least 15 minutes. None pays attention and its more of a nuisance than preventing any theft. From my perspective it would be better if they just took the car away as it keeps our kids awake at night.
This may sound a bit harsh but surely with today's technology options we can do a lot better than just make a lot of noise.-
It doesn't prevent theft at all. Out here in orange county, car alarms ring into the night and people don't even pay attention. I mentioned before that as technology gets cheaper, so does the quality. Any moron can make a business out of either making or installing a car alarm, but to be one step ahead of the bad guys is the one part of the equation that doesn't seem to fit.
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Yup, and yup.
I hate my car alarm, but you can't disarm the damn thing. It's possessed, I swear it. It only works when you don't want it to, and when someone's out there messing with your car it doesn't do anything! (I didn't pay extra for it - I didn't pay for it at all, actually).
And while I love being cellphone free, I must admit they do have their uses - a long with road flares and and tools when your car breaks down
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..Or chatting at a ear-piercing volume while riding the subway at 6:30 in the morning, before coffee. Nothing makes me frown more than seeing a business guy with a stupid bluetooth sticking out of his ear. Some other blogger (I forget who) makes a game out of it; They try to guess if its a bluetooth or if the guy is talking to himself. Try it the next time you're people watching, I heard its fun.
Y'know, the bluetooth thing reminds me of an old nightmare on elm street scene. It was the one where freddy finally dies, but this kid had his ear cut off and freddy gave it back to him. When he put it in his ear, the thing turned into a spider and made his head explode. Every time I see one of those bluetooths, I just remember that awful, awful spider. -
Oh I do that all the time! LOL.
Ugh, to me it just screams of self importance. Then again, I'm usually looking at non businessmen/women in the grocery store, at the park etc...
Oooh it kills me when I see people chatting it up on their phone at a restaurant, or in line when the clerk/server is trying to help them. Ugh! -
All praise Subway for being the one to pave the road:
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SWEET!
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Yeah, here's the link if you wanted to comment:
consumerist.com/5030165/subway-says-get-off-your-phone-or-go-to-the-back-of... -
Anyways, the point of the article is that cell phone technology hasn't increased at all because the main function of a cell phone are still the same as when the concept originated. Even regular land lines phones aren't much better, but they're a hell of a lot cheaper and there are still people out there (ahem) who don't believe that cell phones are of any real legitimate use.
You mentioned before that cell phones are important in case of an emergency, but keep in mind that before cell phones were even invented, there were still emergencies and people still made due without them. I think what's happening is people are abandoning any sort of social responsibility (Such as helping someone parked on the highway) and depending on technology to do its thing. There used to be a commercial on tv saying "Hey you, get off your computer and get a life!" and I think they need to dig it up and replay it a few million times again.
I know i'm just bitching, but goddamnit I can't believe people just depend on their ipods, their phones, their bluetooth and anything else that makes their life more convienient in exchange for a monthly payment. You know, I'll bet you that if there was a device that people could shove up their ass in exchange for never having to move a muscle out of bed, people would buy them and brag about them. -
LOL, you're talking to a gloriously cell phone free woman I LOVE not being available 24/7.
However, we do have some very remote areas where I live, and if you get stuck out there...there aint no one to help you for miles..a cell phone would come in handy. But for me, that's about the extent of it.
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If you lived in Mexico you wouldnt think car alarms sucked...
I have noticed that car alarms in Mexico are way more effective and technologically advanced than in any of the countries I have lived (Canada and Germany)-
Do car alarms in Mexico shout "Ay caramba!!!" -
Right, but this is in regards to the dot-commers, the baby-boomers and the Gen-x'ers (Yeah, all three generations are bundled into one happy family) who know more about their car alarms than their actual car.
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NO they sing "La Cucaracha"
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La cucharacha! Ay caramaba!
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When I got my first car I used to know more about my car alarm than the car itself
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I keep wondering why nobody has come up with a car alarm that can dial your cell phone and say "I'm being stolen! Help!" No loud whistles or buzzers, just a silent broadcast to your cell where you can quietly go check and if, indeed, the car is being molested, call the cops.
And, as annoying as those car alarms are, they don't hold a candle to those irritating morons who fill every available millimetre of space with stereo speakers and then boom and vibrate every car in a quarter mile radius. It's one of the things that is thankfully missing in South Africa, although my 14-year-old nephew thinks its cool. I'm trying to convence him that's it's "been done" and to find some quieter American trend to copy!-
People prefer something noisy and alarming. It's not that it hasn't been done (It has, actually. Some company put a GPS thing in the car that does that), it's just that the demand for it probably isn't big enough.
I'm assuming that car alarm dealers know car alarms probably won't stop theft, but the market for noisy alarms exists. -
You have to figure that car alarms, locked doors, and those bars you put on your steering wheel don't do a gosh darn thing to protect your car from an experienced car thief.
Really, it prevents petty theft, and that's about it. you know, it scares the kids away and stops them from having a good time wrecking your car, or the person who wants to steal your CD's, or whatever. And even then, if your car is in a parking lot, and you're waaay inside a building, the deterrent from crime will be gone, along with your stereo and tom-tom -
Yep, The Club was the worst idea. News spread back in the day that all one needed was a small tire-jack to break it. But, people still use it.
Again, I disagree that they prevent petty theft, if you've seen Bumfights as many times as I have. But you're right about the fact that people leaving their cars in parking garages and working on the 4th floor won't hear that alarm (Which sounds like every other alarm out there) at all. And a malfunctioning alarm in a parking garage does two things: Causes a major annoyance because the owner is no where to be found AND it creates a noise disturbance so any other alarm ringing off just serves to desensitize people even further (In case a criminal wanted to steal your radio, for example).
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