In a city populated by many single men and women, Gulf News asked expatriates whether the ever-increasing reliance on mobile phones was a blessing or curse.
Many thought it was silly to pin the blame on cell phones and texting for any threats to society.
"You can't blame technology," was the common feeling.
Julie Clarke laughed off the suggestion that cellphones are causing marital breakdowns and said: "It works both ways, for good or bad. Some people find it useful to have two mobile phones, one for official affairs, one for personal or 'unofficial affairs."
Mike Ganwani, sitting with two women at a mall, said: "Tell me where you cannot flirt. You can flirt with someone on the road, or you can flirt with someone you meet at a party. You can't stop it from happening. But you can prevent it yourself. You can ignore that person, if you are not interested. I don't get any nuisance calls."
Sanjeeta Chatterjee, his friend, said: "It depends on whether or not you have the number of the person you want to flirt with. You don't give your number to someone you don't know, do you?"
She said she gets a couple of nuisance calls from companies, but felt that SMS on the whole was a more convenient and cheaper way of communication.
Lourens and Lise de Wet said they have been living in Dubai for the past year. Asked whether mobiles make it easier to flirt, they said: "We wouldn't know."
Lourens added: "We just have one mobile between the two of us." But he felt that texting is a "pain". "Obviously, it's hard to tell which call or SMS is meant for whom, so flirting is out of the question."
Sam Joseph, a teenager from Lebanon, felt that mobiles were good. "It's fast, easy and cheap. And a great way to communicate." Asked whether he has send text messages to female friends, he said: "Of course," and walked away with two other teenage boys.
Falastien Zoghayer and Natali Fahmi felt that texting was an "important part of their lives. You try to reach someone on the phone, and they can't answer for whatever reason. You can text a message saying it's urgent and 'call me when you can'."
Zoghayer said, "If a person is shy about calling a loved one, text messaging comes in handy. But blaming SMS for its undesirable effects on people is like blaming the telephone. The technology is just as good as the intention of the user."
She added, though, some text messages can be annoying. "You get excited that you get a message and find out that it's nonsense."
Jarrod Clarke said he doesn't use text messaging often. "I think it is an important communication tool."
He said texting made life much easier for many.
"You can email, but don't know when the person is going to get it. It's much easier than a phone call. I never get nuisance messages," he said.
Kavita Khanwani said that text messaging was "very, very useful".
"You don't need to call. You don't waste money. You can communicate without talking." Asked whether she gets text messages from boyfriends, her companion quickly interjected and said, "She's married."
Kavita laughed and said: "That's a different matter altogether. Mobiles can be used for both good and bad purposes, I suppose."
Patricia Mezu said: "Personally, I find mobile phones make my life easier. But I sometimes find it a nuisance, especially when strangers text you from out of the blue. I usually ignore such messages.
"Easier to flirt? That's something I wouldn't know or think about," she said laughing and holding on to the pram in which her baby was sleeping.
Russell Briggs said texting allowed people in business to send text messages to their colleagues about meetings as well as personal messages to their family and friends.
Dila Weerasinghe from Sri Lanka, shopping with her husband, said: "Oh, I am sure flirting happens. Not me, I don't get nuisance, flirty messages."
Satwinder Singh Sembi said he hadn't received a flirtatious message so far. "Nobody's flirted with me yet," he said, as his wife and two daughters went into quiet hysterics at the side.
Rynell Keller, visiting Dubai from the US, said: "It is pretty stupid. People are going to have an affair regardless of texting and mobile phones."
He felt that texting was "pretty cool".
Gulf News
