Suing as a way of life in the US....

A year ago I had to take a sociology class and the opening statement of the professor was "We are a very litigant society." It is true, America is of the world's largest litigant societies. People and corporations sue each other at the drop of the hat. It is not a big wonder that Attorney's/ Lawyers make a lot of money in this country.

This afternoon while after checking my e-mail I saw a screaming headline on MSN.com talking about some women who fell into the icy waters of a Mall fountain as she rushed in busy texting on her mobile phone. Apparently the woman had been so preoccupied with her mobile phone that she failed to notice that she was walking into a fountain. The security cameras captured the video and it went viral thanks to someone who posted it on youtube. The lady became an overnight sensation across the country.

She grabbed the opportunity with both hands and went on air on CNN and other popular media claiming that she would sue the mall authorities. Well the latest on that is that she has her own set of legal issues.

Anyway the point I wanted to make was that, this woman was foolish enough to get so engrossed on the phone and fall into the fountain. After making a fool of herself, she is now trying make money out of it by suing the mall. That is why I get the impression that suing is a way of life in the US.

Jokes about SMS/ Texting

Our team was asked to give a presentation on text messaging as a thinking assignment in our college. Like everyone else I gathered loads of data from internet (especially Wikipedia). During my online research I found some stunning statistics and really funny graphics, pictures and cartoons.

According to the article on Wikipedia, text messaging is the most widely used mobile data service worldwide, with 74 percent of 2.6 Billion mobile phone users worldwide, actively sending and receiving text messages. The countries where texting is extensively used are as below:

Philippines: 15 texts sent per day by subscriber.
Singapore: 12 texts per day per user
South Korea: 10 texts per day per user
US: 1 text per user per day
Finland, Sweden and Norway: 90% of total population
Europe: 85%
North America: 40%

Just imagine if all 1.92 billion sms users were to send just one message everyday @ $0.20. This means telephone companies and SMS service providers make $380 million every day. Just imagine how big the global sms expense is. There is so much money in this world but concentrated in the hands of few individuals.

Disadvantages of SMS

One of the biggest problems that SMS or text messaging has created is distracting users from whatever they are doing. Seen in the picture is this driver who is busy texting in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
SMS is a huge distraction, especially among students who use it during class to chat instead of concentrating on lessons.
Mobile phone viruses can be transmitted through sms
There is no guarantee that the sms will be delivered
Inconsistency in delivery. For example: person A sends sms to person B in the morning but it gets delivered only in the evening.
People addicted to messaging tend to spend large amounts of money on texting.
Limited number of characters per message restricts free expression of thoughts
Continuous texting can lead to RSI (Repetitive Stress Injury) including Carpel Tunnel Syndrome (CTS)
Texting has been used to commit frauds including identity theft.

Enjoy the cartoons and pictures below