Blowing in the Wind

Why is it so much more annoying to have to overhear someone's cell phone conversation than, say, a conversation at the next table? Is it because people tend to shout into their phones, that we can only overhear half the conversation, or that the half we can hear is so long and boring why would anybody want to be overheard having it?

Maybe it goes back to something David Brashears, a well known climber and documentarian of climbers once said, "People show their true character when they think nobody is watching them." Interesting thing for a film maker to say.

Anybody who has a phone conversation in a public place, or posts things on Facebook, or tweets or blogs (mea culpa) is well aware that people are overhearing them, looking at their posts or reading their tweets. Some people, celebrities, for instance, create an entire persona this way. Most of us have a "public persona" and a "private" one--have even grown up with the knowledge that there is a difference. I can recall telling my son when he was a small boy that it was alright to use some word around his friends, but it would not be appropriate to use it in front of, say, his grandmother.

Are we voluntarily giving up our right to private moments and individuality? For convenience? Because we're so busy? Why then are we so shocked at the shallowness of our culture? Or the fact that government is eavesdropping on us? Like the grasses I blipped today, we all seem to be blowing in the same wind....