Bluetooth: Lifeline or Loser Tracking System?

By Marty Padgett June 12th, 2008

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I hate Bluetooth. I mean, I love Bluetooth--when it links my mouse to my MacBook, and when it silently hooks me up with my car without a multistep, voice-activated fuss like I've encountered in the last three test vehicles I've driven.

I hate Bluetooth when it's dangling off a human ear, turning them into a Borg slave to their cell phones. But it's about to become a necessity, I think, for the times when I'm driving up the 101 from TheCarConnection.com World Headquarters in air-conditioning-free Palo Alto, into the much cooler City. On July 1, California and Washington are becoming states Nos. 4 and 5 to require drivers to use hands-free devices to talk on cell phones while behind the wheel. And that means either driving home with Sean Hannity or breaking down my distaste for the ear-borne devices. (At least some of the time--Bluetooth's been outfitted on more than half of the vehicles I've driven this year).

So while I'm resistant to it, I actually own a Bluetooth headset now. It's small and it's actually blue, and honestly, I think it makes me look even more like a dork. There is something to its logic, though. Just yesterday, heading north on the freeway, I counted more than a handful of drivers not only dialing and nearly piling into an accident already blocking the two left lanes, I counted my own hand reaching for the phone two or three times when I really shouldn't have.

The new law in California alone will be a boon to companies like Parrot, with its lineup of hands-free car kits. Good thing they have a sense of humor about their impending windfall. Witness this guerrilla video they've posted to YouTube, in which a teen driver burns through five driving instructors, who go all ballistic on him for using his phone at the wheel. It telegraphs instantly where and when Bluetooth is a better idea.

I still don't buy it at dinner parties, coffee houses, or work conventions, where the phone conversation immediately takes precedence over real people standing in front of you. You guilty parties, you know who you are.

While I remember to pack my new headset and charger, check in with your comment and tell us what Bluetooth means to you: is it a lifeline, a nice thing to have, or just a loser tracking system for the rest of us?

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3 Responses to “Bluetooth: Lifeline or Loser Tracking System?”

The truth is its the distracting conversation that causes the problems. Holding the phone to your head was never the issue. Mythbusters proved this already. The only way they could demonstrate the cell phone/accident connection was by having the test subjects do complicated math and logic problems over the phone while driving. Regular conversation only because a problem in so far as they were driving on practically and autocross course which OF COURSE requires two hands, duh.

What moron came up with the idea that it was holding something to your head that was the problem, not the conversation?

“you’re smart enough to have a vote in who runs your state, but not to hold something to your head and drive, but its cool if you use a headset and have the exact same distracting conversation”

We have that law here in Chicago. It’s really quite interesting because half the cops in the city still drive around with their cell phone in hand too.

I own a bluetooth, and I love it. Now I’m not one of those people who walk around the store, airport, resturant, office with it on, that kinda drives me crazy. The bluetooth stays in my car and I sync it up with my phone when I get in the car. It makes shifting easier when I’m on the phone, have you tried shifting/steering and holding a phone to your ear? It’s a bitch!