Cell phones are indispensable

Where is Superman when we need him?

Certainly not changing in phone booths (which, along with slide rules, VCRs and floppy disks, are pretty much obsolete).

Telephone land lines may soon follow a technological death. The cell phone rules!

A tiny phone has become the link to our world.

My husband and I were with our friends, the Rosenbergs, last night, and they were showing us all the apps on their iPhones. Shari has one that can read the stars in the sky, and she has one that helps her train for a mini-triathlon.

Not a morning person, the iPhone wakes her up; she then programs it and straps it on her upper arm and off she goes for a training run.

She is so intrigued she doesn't even mind setting it for 7 a.m.

Gadgetry at its best.

These days, most people don't leave home without cell phones and are surprised when someone they encounter doesn't own one.

Especially now that many devices can adjust the temperature of a house from Hawaii or turn on the toaster.

What an amazing invention. Alexander Graham Bell's 1876 patent, along with satellite technology, has literally transformed our world.

Sure we complain about it. Church leaders ban them from camp, parents use phone privileges as leverage, spouses and children get jealous of the time their loved one spends gazing at a phone, and we all are greatly concerned about people who text and drive.

Just like television, a phone is now equipped to be a mind and time stealer and a diversion from what we should really be paying attention to.

I think it is called compulsive communicating.

My husband, Grit, and I went to Europe last fall, and because we were going to be on a cruise most of the time, opted not to worry about changing our service.

We managed without a phone, but barely.

It was really inconvenient, and I particularly felt isolated from the world.

The funny thing is most people don't really use their iPhones to talk. They like to text and use their apps.

"E-mail is far more convenient than the telephone, as far as I'm concerned," Tom Hanks said. "I would throw my phone away if I could get away with it," he added.