Nowadays, cell phone culture has prevailed without cell phone users considering other people's discomfort. We can often encounter tiresome cell phone bells or people speaking loudly on the phone in the subway, in the library and in the classroom. Usually most people feel so irritated when they hear that noise, but this is only a little bother. In the case of driving, that may give fatal dangers not only to drivers but also to pedestrians. It is not too much to call a car with a driver using a cell phone a "killing machine."
        However, most people can't recognize how dangerous using hand-held cell phones while driving is. In several countries, this is also a very serious issue. We can often hear the government's campaigns about the risk of using cell phones while driving to reduce the rate of traffic accidents. For example, the government not only recommends that people  stop using cell phones while driving but also urges people to use headsets or speaker phones because they think that using hands-free phones is less dangerous than using hand-held cell phones. The effect of the campaigns, unfortunately, seems to be rather weak. I think one of the reasons is the lack of a spirit of consideration by people using their cell phones while driving.
        I think that if drivers talking on cell phones while driving go through a dangerous accident, they will never use their phones in the same situation again. Let me tell you about an accident which was almost fatal that involved a cellular phone. There were a boy and a car which stopped suddenly on the road near a crosswalk when I heard a loud sharp sound. It was the sound of a car skidding to a sudden stop. The woman in the car seemed to have been talking on her cell phone while driving. Afterwards, I was convinced it was true because she held her cell phone with one hand and the steering wheel with her other hand. I thought that she could not have noticed the little boy who had run into the road because she had gotten a phone call while driving. The child came close to being run over by the car, but, fortunately, both the little boy and the woman were all right.
        This was not a scene on TV or in a movie. It was an accident that I saw on the road last month when I was on my way to have my own cellular phone repaired. The woman seemed to be embarrassed, but soon she scolded the little boy, pointing to a crosswalk about ten meters ahead with her cell phone. What a ridiculous scene! That woman didn't think it was her own fault. It was obvious that she didn't realize that using a cell phone while driving was very dangerous and might have caused a fatal accident.
        We can also hear phones ringing wherever there are people nowadays. In the library and on the subway, the phone noise is always bothersome. I know that you have seen a public campaign about how to use a cell phone in a theater or other public places on TV. Most people don't recognize yet that they should turn their phone on vibration mode or turn it off completely in public places. I am also one of  the mobile phone users. In fact, I sometimes used to forget to turn off my cell phone in public places. Every time I forgot that, I felt sorry to others. Let us suppose, for example, that a cell phone rings while we are in a class or, especially, during a listening test in our class. Maybe no one would be able to stand it. And if the ringing cell phone owner is a person who wants to be employed and it is during a interview for employment, he will not be able to expect any good conclusion.
        Because mobile phone users have quickly and remarkably increased during the last 2-3 years, most people have their own mobile phone. So cell phone use has caused some problems: annoying other people, harm to the brain by cell phone radiation (there's been growing interest in studies to try to determine if cell phones cause health risks) and traffic accidents. These problems are similar to those caused by vehicles which have resulted in lots of pollution such as smoke, noise, heavy traffic and so on. But the way to solve the problems caused by mobile phones is different from that of vehicles, because the pollution from vehicles is a mechanical problem. But what we need to do to solve the cell phone problems is to have a spirit of consideration for other people.
        In that woman's case that I saw, if she had thought of her and others' safety, she would never have driven while speaking on her cell phone. People are free to use their own phones, and it is not illegal. That's right, but who gives them the freedom to bother other people or put other people in risky situations?
        In short, it is certain that the present dangerous and impolite mobile phone culture should change. In some countries, laws that ban  using  cell phones while driving have been enacted, and some universities in Korea have decided to give punishment of low grades or public services to students using their cell phones in the library or in the lecture hall. These strict laws may be necessary to get rid of using cell phones while driving or to keep them from ringing in class. But another thing must happen prior to this change. That is, people must not have a self-centered attitude but more consideration for others. Then, we will have the advanced country which we hope for on the basis of everyone's considerate attitude.