The cell phone is ringing worldwide

I'm not sure if any expansion in technology will ever match the cell phone. In what seems like virtually overnight, cell phones are as much a part of our lives as any single advance in technology. And the statistics prove it.

Global sales of cell phones will top 800 million this year and in less than five years there will be an estimated 2.6 billion cell phones in use. That pretty well covers the population of the world.

I've complained before (but I'll lose the argument) that cell phones are everywhere. People from the lowest rung of the economic ladder have cell phones. Kids have more cell phones than bicycles. And you cannot go anywhere without spotting dozens, hundreds or thousands of cell phones.

Increasingly, however, cell phones do much more than the imagination can grasp. They are personal computers capable of unlimited functions. It's easy to see the day when wire-based phones in our homes will no longer exist.

The "emerging" markets for new cell phones are places like Brazil and India. Millions upon millions of refurbished or new cell phones are sold in these two countries each day. It seems an odd statement on mankind when some countries cannot feed their population but cell phone sales are exploding. I'm just not sure what that message is.

You can do your banking from a cell phone, send photos on a cell phone and, in some instances, readjust your home air-conditioning with your cell phone. Just imagine the upgrades in skills that are just on the horizon.

I remember well when cell phones were promoted as a safety device. If you had car trouble late at night in some remote area, a cell phone could actually save your life. But the days of that simple communication are long gone. Now you can track your kids' whereabouts, feed your dog and water your plants by pressing the magical keys of a cell phone.

Two of my children have no home-based telephone service. They are not the exception. Now with competition and time, cell phones are affordable to virtually everyone. Cell phones will soon have more of a market share than televisions, microwaves and refrigerators. Only toilets will outnumber cell phones in the world.

Mankind does not control technology. Technology controls mankind. If almost 3 billion cell phones will soon be in use, it's clear they have and will continue to change our lives.

Having said all of that - I hate the darned things. They further remove personal contact, they virtually assure that peace and quiet are things of the past and they ruin my golf game.

Ain't technology great?!