Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Mita Italian Restaurant and Bakery, A typical weekend in the LinGuang MRT area of Taipei City




I am now back in the USA and will try to catch up on my blogs from Taiwan.
I stayed 5 months in a nice condo rental just minutes from the LinGuang MRT Stop on the Wenhu (Brown Line) MRT line.  



This area surrounding the LinGuang MRT station in Taipei is like so many small communities or neighborhoods in this metropolitan area of Taipei City and New Taipei City of over 6.5 million people. So many people make their living selling their own prepared or cooked food in the streets, market areas, or on the first floor of their home along the street.  Of course, many others have other types of commercial business also on the first floor of their homes in the same areas.  At meal times the streets get crowded with people looking for a place to eat their favorite local Taiwanese food, or to purchase and take it home to eat or share with their family. 
Most of these neighborhoods have local streets or alleys used exclusively as a day or night market selling a wide variety of food and products. 

This is approaching the LinGuang station.  We stayed at one of the brown high rise buildings in the "Left Center

The LinGuang weekend market has more than 100 “stalls” with people selling nuts, vegetables, fruits, raw meat, fresh seafood, prepared food, bagged food and snacks and so much more.  Rain or shine, from just before noon to about 2pm, these alleys are packed with people walking from vendor to vendor, buying or sometimes sampling the “wares”.   

This main weekend market goes on for blocks!




Leaving the Weekend Market and walking to Mita Pasta



My favorite local restaurant near Mita, for "POT STICKERS" & great price at ONLY $5 NT (US $0.16) each

Occasionally a car, small delivery truck, or mopeds “worm” their way slowly down the alley.  The prices for most of the product sold in these markets are much less than in super markets or local grocery stores.  




Adjacent to this weekend market are a few local streets that are packed with small stores such as drug stores and restaurants serving local and more. 

One of my very favorite restaurants in this area is Mita Pasta and the attached Mita Bakery. 


 




First the Mita Pasta Restaurant.



This local neighborhood restaurant seats about 50 people or so and is clean and inviting.  

One view of part of the restaurant

The staff is great and well trained, and Jacky is especially attentive to all of his clients including me.   Jacky can be seen trotting back and forth when he is busy, and his English is good enough to communicate with anyone speaking English.  More about Jackie’s great service later, now the menu and food.


Jacky taking an order

The menu is not extensive, but every meal I tried was very tasteful, and one of the better local places to eat Italian food in Taipei.  I have eaten here about 15 times or so and have tried many of the dishes on the menu including the Garlic & Oil, the White Cream, Traditional Tomato, and Pesto sauce & pasta entrees.  Their baked dishes, Risotto and fried appetizers are also better than average.  

The Menu

My favorite meal is their traditional spaghetti with tomato vegetable sauce.  Adding meat or seafood is also an excellent choice, but the beef with basil is so very tender sliced thin that I highly recommend this choice.
 
A Great value at $68 NT - Soup, Salad, Bread, Drink, and the desert (in photo below)


Can you tell how much I loved the Pumpkin soup????

The spaghetti sauce is delicious!

Not a big serving size, but Very big on taste!

The entrees are very generous servings and quite filing for a price of $98 NT (New Taiwan) dollars to $288 NT dollars (from less than $3.00 USD to about $7.00 USD).  You cannot find a great tasting Spaghetti meal in the US for $3.00.  (Even a large can of terrible tasting canned spaghetti costs more!)   



But the best deal is to upgrade your meal for $68 NT dollars (a little more than $2.00 USD).  For this upgrade you receive four (4) items worth over $200 NT dollars First is a great salad with a choice of 4 dressings and my favorite is the yogurt dressing with passion fruit….simply awesome.  Second best choice is their Japanese dressing that is better than anyone I have bought in a store.  Next is a soup choice of Beef or Pumpkin.  Both are tasty, but the pumpkin is by far the best choice.  Next is a selection of four deserts, and the Crème Brulee is wonderful.  Finally you can chose from 8 different drinks from Tea, Coffee, Hot chocolate, Iced Coffee, or one of three delicious and refreshing Iced Fruit Teas (Cumquat, Chamomile with Pomelo Green Tea, and Peach with Melon Green Tea).

Mita Pasta is a very nice neighborhood Italian restaurant, with excellent service, great food, generous servings, and a great value when you upgrade your meal.  If you stop buy ask for Jacky and tell him I said hello!




Now the Mita Bakery!




As I stated in a few of my earlier blogs, there are many hundreds of fine local bakeries scattered all around Taipei.  They abound with fresh baked breads, cookies, cakes, muffins, pastries, buns, rolls, sandwiches, and more.  They make most or all of their fresh baked goodies on the premisis.



Many of the variety of sandwiches are actually buns stuffed with meet such as wieners, hams, and more along with cheeses, corn, and other vegetables,  just great for a snack or light meal on the run. 



The selection of breads are a delightful variety compared with the US, and include such combinations as cheese & nuts, fruit and nuts, multi-grain with seeds such as sesame, sunflower, pine nuts, garlic, etc. 

 
   
 

After tasting a nutty cranberry and strawberry bread at Mita’s Pasta Restaurant in my first few weeks in Taipei, we have been back almost 3 or 4 times a month buying their backed goodies.   One of my many favorites is their cranberry coconut twisted roll (about 10-12 inches long) full of taste and satisfying sweetness.   

 

We also like their cheese roll which is about 16” long, and so very soft.  It has a rich cheese and buttery taste that goes along very well with their Pasta dishes (as does their garlic bread) that I often by to go.  The pictures below were taken just a few weeks ago, and show some of their wonderful offerings.   Stop by often as the baked goods variety change almost daily.







Edward C.

“Everything in Moderation”: Data Phone Addiction, Data Phone Obsession; Nomophobia, Cell Phone Usage, Mobile Urbanites; Mobile Apps; Mobile Games; Text Messaging; Music & Video Downloads





This article is about the changes in usage and the associated behavior of people that are so attached to using their cell/data phone, that they are forming a personal addiction or obsessive use.  

Cell Phone Generations - Courtesy of Wikipedia


There are many reports in the news and online talking about data phone addiction based primarily on the fast growing increases in data downloads.  There is also research that I found on line at phonearena.com.  This web site has published the following:
“While certainly not as debilitating as other chemical based addictions, nomophobia has its first recovery center in southern California.  Nomophobia is the term created by British researchers in 2008 to identify people who experience anxiety when they have no access to mobile technology.”  

They also go on to say:

“70% of women, compared to 61% of men, worry about losing their cell phone.  However, men are more likely than women to have two phones, 47% to 36%.  Not surprisingly, the younger age groups have higher numbers of people that would feel distress of being without their mobile phone.  In the 18-24 age group, 77% revealed nomophobia.  In the 25-34 group, that number drops marginally to 68%.  What may come as a surprise is that the third-most nomophobic group was the age-55 and over group.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Courtesy of news24.com

Courtesy of openequalfree.com

Courtesy of businessinsider.com

Ok, my survey is more about statistics I have observed, and the resulting behaviors I have observed in Taipei, Taiwan from November 2012 thru February 2013.


Clockwise from top: Taipei skyline, Grand Hotel, FarEastern Plaza, National Palace Museum, National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Taipei Metro (Jiantan Station)
Courtesy of Wikipedia


The busy streets of Taipei's Ximending at night - Courtesy of Wikipedia
In my daily life in California over the last 13 years or so, prior to my trip to Asia/Taiwan, I seldom ever used mass transit means of transportation.  In Northern California, from the Sacramento, San Francisco, to San Jose Regional areas, there is high quality public transportation systems, but not necessarily world class.  The area has BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit – Train Service), Light Rail Transportation, Metro bus systems, etc.  In essence, I drove my car or traveled by car with others daily.  During peak travel hours, I was just another automobile commuter stuck in traffic jams.

My limited exposure to younger generations using phones was limited to public areas such as shopping stores and malls, movie theaters, entertainment events, etc.   Of course, I did see people, mostly teenagers and young adults, “glued to their phones” from time to time, or at least carrying them in their hands wherever they walked.

Always carrying Data Phones in their hands!


I was seldom in a stationary location more than a few minutes, so it never occurred to me that this could be an addiction or obsession.

After my arrival in Taipei, Taiwan, it did not take long to see a significant difference to data phone usage.   People of many ages carried data phones in their hands or used them while eating in restaurants, walking down streets, in shopping areas, on mass transit, ….. everywhere.  The following are a few glimpses of a busy day in downtown Taipei near Taipei 101.   







An early observation was that almost everyone had their eyes and hands “glued” to their data phones, and was unaware of what was going on around them.   This also seemed to me to be an anti-social behavior.  

Courtesy of bangkokpost.com

 I thought it would be an interesting idea to collect real data and see if my initial instincts were correct. ……. Is this a fad? Is it a trend?  Is it an addiction?  Is it an obsession? Or is it NOT really an issue at all?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OVERVIEW

I decided that since I used the Subway/MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) or the Metro Bus services almost every day, that I would keep a record of my observations in my small pocket notebook.  On crowded buses and subway trains, it is almost impossible to collect data from the entire bus or train car. 

 

So, I decided to only count data from my immediate area that I could clearly see what they were doing and what they had in their hands.  My minimum sample was to be 5 people, and a maximum of 15 people and I tracked all people in the group vs. those in the group hold/using a data/cell phone in their hands.  Furthermore, I decided I had to collect a minimum of 500 people in this survey over a 2 month period of time or less, starting in early November.

I also would track gender (male/female); age groups; and what they used their cell/data phones for.   The Age groups are of course my best perception of their age including: 15 to 30; 31 to 45; 46 to 65.  Many users I could see what they were doing on their data phone screens, especially if I was standing, and I tracked that information.  If it looked like they were texting or if I was not sure what kind of mobile APP they were using, I grouped all of these in one category.  The other categories are Games, Music, and making a voice phone Call.  Music is accurate data because they had to have ear phones, or Bluetooth devices in their ears.   Similarly making voice calls is accurate data because I had to hear them talking.  Games was easy to quantify.

Based on early observations, I quickly elected not to include Senior Citizens (over the age of retirement), because I seldom saw these elderly people using a cell phone on the Bus or MRT.  So, all people over my perceived age of 65, has been excluded from this data.
NOTE: I did take a few candid photos, then I started asking a number of people if I could take their picture using their cell phone for my blog and all declined.  Since many cell phone users did not speak English, or were to shy to reply or agree,  I decided I would only take a few more photos, and rely mostly pictures from internet sources for this blog article.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DATA SOURCE, AND STATISTICS

So, I explained the type of data, except for one last data set.  If a person was using the cell phone, and then either put it away, or just cradled it in their hands, but stopped using the data phone, then they appeared to me to be a Non-Addict.  Those that were “glued to the data phone’ from the moment I first observed them until they were no longer in my line of sight, then I considered these people as “Data Phone Addicts (I also refer to them as DPA’s in this blog).



First, the following are interesting data sets that might be of interest:

1.  Only 0.72% of users had text only of flip style voice only phones.

2.  Less than 20.0% of users had cell phones with screens that appeared to be about 3” diagonal or less.

3. Much more than 50% of the younger generation users have bright/decorative cases, and most of those have “trinkets/miniature toys/gadgets” dangling from the phones.  A small percentage (less than 25%) of those categorized in the 31+ age groups may have colorful cases but never had “STUFF” dangling or stuck to their phones.  I did not start tracking this data, but it is an interesting observation.

4. A much higher percentage of users are female, and my perception of Data Phone Addict’s (DPA’s)are primarily female.


One of my candid photos


5.  Men seem to use phones to make voice calls more than females.

6.  Surprisingly, more than 50% of game player DPA’s are female.


Courtesy of rawstory.com

7. Groups of two or three from the 15-30 age groups (mostly under 20 years of age) may rarely have only one DPA in the group, and usually the others are also “glued to that one DPA’s data phone”.   This is somewhat social behavior sharing data phone content.  I did observe many groups where more than one or all had cell phones and used them.

8. This Addiction or Obsession is everywhere.  I did not add those I observed walking down the street, in department/grocery stores, or restaurants, etc. to this survey.

9.  I have observed people with more than one data phone.  A few used one for music and the other for data, while others used one primarily for data and used their second data phone to answer a phone call.

10.  Most DPA’s are so focused on their data phone, that they interfere with others and act selfishly since their data phone is more important than people around them.

11.  I only observed one woman with young children that used a cell phone in an obsessive way.  Only two others used a cell phone at all.  All the rest (more than 30) focused all their energy on their children and their surroundings.


 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Ok, now the statistics:

In 2012, there are several reports that estimate there are over 6.0 Billion Cell Phone Users in the world and the estimated population is only 7.012 billion.  This number is based on active SIM Cards, not actual cell phone sales.  The tabulated data below was compiled from numerous sources, and reported by Wikipedia.  (See Wikipedia for more details).  

The top ten countries in the world are as follows:

Rank      Country                    # Cell Users        Population          % Pop.  Date Last Reported

1              China                   1,046,510,000     1,341,000,000      75.3       June 2012
2              India                      908,358,714        1,210,193,422     75.1       October 2012
3              United States      327,577,529        310,866,000        103.9     June 2012
4              Brazil                    261,780,000        192,379,287        136.1     December 2012
5              Russia                  256,117,000        142,905,200        155.5     July 2011
6              Indonesia             236,800,000        237,556,363        109.3     September 2012
7              Pakistan              122,060,799        178,854,781         68.83      Dec 2012
8              Japan                  121,246,700        127,628,095         95.1        June 2011
9              Germany             107,000,000          81,882,342         130.1      2009
10           Nigeria                 101,271,578        140,000,000         72.3        May 2012
11           Bangladesh           98,470,000           73,973,000        130         February 2012
13           Mexico                   92,900,000          112,322,757         82.7       Dec. 2011
14           Italy                         88,580,000           60,090,400         147.4     Dec. 2008
15           Philippines            86,000,000            94,013,200          91.5      October 2011
16           Gr. Britain              85,750,000            61,612,300       122.9      Dec. 2008
17           Vietnam                72,300,000           90,549,390           79           October 2010
18           France                  72,180,000           63,573,842           114.2      Dec. 2008
19           Egypt                     92,640,000           82,120,000          112.81 
20           Thailand                69,000,000           65,001,021           105         2010
21           Turkey                   66,000,000           71,517,100           92.2        2009
22           Ukraine                 54,103,347           45,579,904           118.7      April. 2012
23           South Korea         52,510,000           48,580,000           108.1     2011
24           Spain                    50,890,000           45,828,172           111.0      Dec. 2008
25           Argentina              50,409,800           40,134,425          125.6     2010
26           Poland                  47,153,200            8,186,860           123.48   2010
27           Colombia             46,147,937           45,393,050           101.6     2011
28           South Africa         59,474,500           50,586,757           117.6     2011
29           Algeria                  33,000,000           35,000,000           94.2       2011
30          Taiwan                 28,610,000           23,197,947           123.33   Sept. 2011
31           Kenya                   28,080,000           42,000,000           71.3        2012
32           Venezuela            27,400,000           28,200,000           98.0        2008
33           Peru                      33,000,000           30,000,000           110.0     Oct. 2012
34           Romania              22,800,000           21,438,000           108.5     March 2008
35           Canada                25,543,862           34,482,779           74.1       Q3 2011
36           Morocco               36,550,000           31,968,361          113.6      Q1 2012
37           Netherlands         20,000,000           16,515,057          121.1      Nov. 2009
38           Australia               21,260,000           21,179,211          100.4      Jun 2007
39           Saudi Arabia       46,000,000           27,137,000          169.5      Jun 2010
40           Malaysia              30,379,000           28,250,000           106         2010
41           Chile                     21,000,000          17,094,270           122.9      Dec. 2010
42           Nepal                   18,240,670           26,620,020           68.5        Mar. 2012
42           Ethiopia               18,000,000           85,000,020           21.8        Dec. 2012
43           Guatemala          17,571,895           14,713,763           119.4     Jun. 2010
44           Sri Lanka             17,359,312           21,000,000           80.95     Dec. 2010
45           Ecuador               15,900,000           14,300,000          111.18   Jan. 2012
46           Portugal               13,400,000           10,562,178           126.87   Nov.  2012
47           Hong Kong          13,264,896           7,008,900             187.9     Nov. 2010
48           Belgium               11,822,000           10,414,000           113.6      2009
49           Hungary               11,833,000           10,020,000           118.3      Sept. 2010
50           U.A.E.                  11,540,040           8,264,070             139.6      Nov 2011
51           Sweden               11,194,000           9,103,788             122.9      July 2012
52           Bulgaria                0,655,000            7,600,000             140.2      2008
53           Israel                     9,319,000            7,310,000             127.5      2008
54           Denmark              7,000,000             5,543,819             126.2     Feb. 2008
55           Azerbaijan           7,000,000             8,900,000             78.7        Nov. 2009
56           Jordan                  6,010,000             5,950,000             101.0     March 2010
57           Singapore            7,289,000             5,076,700             143.5     Dec. 2010
58           New Zealand       4,620,000             4,252,277            108.6     2008
59           Estonia                1,982,000             1,340,602             147.8      April 2009
60           Lebanon              2,720,000             4,224,000              64.4       Oct. 2010
61           Lithuania              4,960,000             3,341,966             148.4     Feb. 2010

This global data is interesting to go through, but difficult to analyze for many reasons.  The only clear statistic is that cell phone usage is global, and most countries have more active cell phones than the number of people living in their country!

My data summary is in the chart below.  Let me restate some of my definitions.

Users:  those people using a cell/data phone but stop using it while I observed them.  Some Users continued to hold the phone, and others put them away in a pocket or purse or “man purse”.

DPA: " Data Phone Addict", a person addicted to constantly using a data phone under my observation, and may only glance up occasionally, or NOT at all. 

Age Groups:  This data is very subjective on my part.  I estimated their age based on looks, clothes, and others in their group.  I believe my estimates are within a +/- 5 year range.

Music or M/V:  This category only includes those data phone users or addicts that used earphones that was attached to their phone.  It is difficult to tell the difference at times, but if the user looked around, it was most likely music.  If the user was “glued” to their data phone screen using it was usually video movies, youtube, and occasionally a game.  

Data Phone Applications: I have only tabulated the various uses of the data phone based on behavior or actually seeing the screen.  If I was not sure, I added these individuals in the “Data/Text/Unknown Apps” category.


CATEGORY
%
#
Total People (vs. Users)
61.4%
598
Total (15-30) Age Group)
51.3%
307
Total (31-45) Age Group)
30.3%
181
Total (46-65) Age Group)
18.2%
109
Total Males
42.3%
253
Total Females
57.7%
344



Total Users

367
Total Users (15-30) Age Group)
40.3%
241
Total Users (31-45) Age Group)
16.6%
99
Total Users (46-65) Age Group)
4.5%
27



Data/Text/Unknown Apps
65.4%
240
Talking on Cell/Data Phone
9.3%
34
Listening to Music/Video  (M/V) on Data Phone
15.3%
56
Playing Games on Data Phone
10.1%
37
Total Male Users
34.6%
127
Total Female Users
65.4%
240



Total DPA (vs. Users)
87.2%
320
Total DPA (15-30) Age Group)
70.0%
224
Total DPA (31-45) Age Group)
26.6%
85
Total DPA (46-65) Age Group)
3.4%
11
Total DPA Males
31.6%
101
Total DPA Females
68.4%
219



DPA - Data/Text/Unknown Apps
60.1%
192
DPA - Talking on Cell/Data Phone
10.5%
34
DPA - Listening to M/V on Data Phone
17.5%
56
DPA - Playing Games on Data Phone
11.9%
38

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

MOST IMPORTANT OBSERVED DATA

1.  Total Sample size of 598 people using the Metro Bus and MRT (Rapid Transit) seems to be a valid sample size.

2.  In this sample, a total of 367 people used their cell/data phones or 61.4%.

3.  Young people in the 15-30 years of age group represented 51.3% of the people in the survey.  The Young generation relay on mass transportation in Taipei.

4.  Women (57.7%) seem to use this means of transportation more than men (42.3%).  This is even higher in the two older age groups, but I did not track that data.

5.  Users of data phones are mostly women representing 65.4% vs. men at 34.6%.  This is slightly less than a 2 to 1 ratio.

6.  The most shocking statistic is that 87.2% of the data phone users seem to be addicted to using their data phone!

7.  Those people mostly addicted to data phone usage in this survey are women (68.4%) vs. men (31.6%) by more than a 2 to 1 ratio. Also, 70% of those addicted to data phone usage are in the 15-30 years old age group!

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NORMAL OBSERVED BEHAVIOR

As a young boy, my father gave me some wise advice.  He said to me “Son, to live a quality life, remember one simple thing from me as your father…. Do Everything in Moderation!”
I have used cellular phones for over 20 years mostly for business.  This included the early Motorola Cellular phones with large, heavy transportable battery packs and receiver/transmitter wired to the headset.  In 2007, I upgraded from flip phones to Blackberry text phones, but seldom used the test messaging more than occasionally.  In 2011 I got my first Data Phone with a maximum 1GB then later a 2GB plan from AT&T, and have never even come close to the maximum download program.   Sure it is convenient when time permits to use mobile apps, games, surf the net, etc., but never did I become addictive to this service.  One could say, I use cell and data phones in moderation for business and and personal pleasure.

I also want to point out that I have been traveling to Taiwan for more than 15 years.  During that time, I came to know many Taiwanese people on both a business, professional, personal, and social basis.  As a result of these many trips to Taiwan, my perception is that for the most part, Taiwanese people are intelligent, friendly, polite, peaceful, humble, kind, loving, respectful, giving, hardworking, generous, and even shy or timid at times.  These are the traditional core values that makes it easy to love, trust, respect, and make long lasting friends in Taiwan.  They are NOT argumentative, pushy, aggressive, greedy, mean, violent, rude and it is difficult to find “genuinely bad” people or even those with just “bad” tempers in Taiwan.  
  
That being said, I started this survey observing that many of the younger generations that are addicted to data phone use are losing some of their wonderful, traditional Taiwanese core values.   I also believe that this behavior is not limited to Taiwan.  It appears to be prevalent in most urban societies worldwide.  So, let's talk about what behaviors I observed as a direct result of excessive use of data phone technology.   

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OBSESSIVE/ADDICTIVE OBSERVED BEHAVIOR

These behaviors are in no particular order, and selected from the many notes I recorded over the survey period.  This behavior is limited to people “glued to their data phones”, with primary disregard for the world outside of their data phone screen.

1.  Addicts walk around with their head pointed down towards their cell phone, and only quickly glance up when walking.

A young girl almost walking into an MRT Train support focused only on her Data Phone

2.  On buses and the MRT (subway) most do not even look up until they hear the announcement for their stop, or they hear a disturbance nearby.

3.  Many addicts stand near the door of the subway restricting others from entering or leaving.  I believe they do this so they can quickly get off at their stop without losing much time on their data phone use.

4. Many addicts aggressively push into the bus or MRT car to get a seat and will push others aside to get the open seat.  It is easier to use their data phone sitting rather than standing. 

5. In the MRT and Metro Bus, seats are marked in a special color for the elderly, disabled, pregnant women, etc.  The MRT has many announcements requesting passengers to give these seats to those in need.  Addicts sit in those special seats and do not look up and acknowledge those in need.  When they look up, rarely will they give up their seat.  Many non-data phone users give up their seats in Taiwan, because they are observing people around them, not focused solely on their data phone.

6.  Addicts will push their way off the subway at their stop while keeping most of their attention on their data phone.  I saw many, many instances when these addicts bump into others, and they DO NOT offer any apology.

7.  One young female addict stood in line with others waiting to get on the MRT train at the Taipei Main Station.  While she was “Glued to her data phone screen”, others got on the train, and the young lady missed her train!  A similar situation also occurred on Taipei’s Heping East Road at a Metro Bus stop and the young lady missed her bus.  The driver would not wait for her.

8.   A decade ago a large number of people and mostly the younger generations used iPods and similar devices to listen to music, but they were still aware of people and things going around them.  With data phone addiction, these people really do not care what is happening beyond the screen on their data phone.

9.  DPA’s carrying bags, put their bags on the floor of the MRT between their legs so they can use both hands for their data phone.

10.  In restaurants, as soon as a table of 6 girls sat down, they quickly ordered and then 5 out of 6 picked up their data phones and seldom talked to the others.  This is anti-social behavior.  Even as food was served, several held the phone in one hand still using it while eating there lunch with the other hand.

11.  Just a few days ago, again on the MRT train, two young people, a man and woman (~early 20’s) was sitting in the reserved seats for the elderly or disabled.   Both did not take their eyes off their data phone, even when an elderly man stood inches from them.  Finally at a major MRT stop, the young man got up and then offered his seat to the elderly man as he was leaving the train at his stop.

12.  On multiple occasions I noticed this addictive/obsessive behavior with people walking into elevators, onto escalators, or going through payment “gates” where they stopped or slowed greatly and as a result held up others from using the escalator, elevator or payment gate at the MRT stations. 

13.  In the Taipei MRT stations, there are very few places to sit down while waiting for a train.  Almost every day that I used the MRT, young people (mostly from the youngest age group) sat using their data phones on these benches, not allowing elderly or those in need a chance to sit while waiting to board their train.
 

CONCLUSION

With billions of Cellular/Cell/Data Phones in use globally, this obsessive/addictive behavior will not go away in the short term and will most likely become even more common worldwide. Cell/Data Phones and their usage is here to stay for generations to come.   In no way am I condoning the behavior or even suggesting that it should be controlled or discouraged. 


Courtesy of tradestation.com

Data Phones are the best way people stay connected with other people and with information or entertainment.  Much like the advertising on radio, TV and published media for the dangers of texting and driving, I think it might be a good idea for the press or at least friends and family to encourage one another to be more polite to others when engaged with their data phone.  At least, be more aware of people around you for their safety and the safety of others.  Rarely should obsessive or addictive behavior using the data phone be more important than showing courtesy and respect for others in need or those around you.  Of course, in emergency situations, short term perceived obsessive behavior is expected.

The survey detail in this blog is soley my observed data as described above in this blog.  The views and opinions expressed in this blog are purely my opinions and comments, and therefore should not be construed as being judgmental or a personal insult to anyone and everyone that use data phones.  I wrote this blog to share my travel experiences here in Taipei, Taiwan and hope that all my readers find it interesting, informative, and inspirational to encourage others or themselves to use data phones wisely while respecting others around them.

REMEMBER EVERYONE, as you travel the journey of your life, one chapter at a time, if you want to lead a quality life and improve the quality of interactions with those people around you,  

DO EVERYTHING IN MODERATION !


Edward C.