Not a fan of cell phones on the playa at all. One of my favorite aspects of the playa is that it is a 'world away', and the fact that I'm out of contact has a major impact on my experience there. Burning Man, or any playa trip for that matter, is supposed to be hard and challenging. Cell phones are an unnecessary convenience out there.
14Mom18
· 3 months ago
My son is going for the first time. I know he is in his 20s but a Mom is a Mom. I am happy there is a way for him to call once in awhile just to let me know he is OK. I understand you guys go there to get away from it all, but a Mom is a Mom.
inktea
· 4 months ago
I.... don't like it. But, then again, I'm not there?
Karen
· 4 months ago
It's appropriate with the theme of the year. I am somewhat opposed to it, only because I hate those awkward events where everyone feels compelled to stare at their phones because they have nothing worthwhile to say or do. Given that the cell service is still quite limited, we are still a few years away (hopefully it'll never happen) from Burning Man turning into one of those events.
justinaugust
· 4 months ago
Uh. Well. Honestly, what do you expect from a gathering that's half yuppies and half techno-geeks?
spotman
· 4 months ago
There was a similar project last year, and I believe they had something like 200 successful calls all week. It sounds like this is just one step above that with the capacity they are stating. It will probably be a rare thing still to have common cell phone use on the playa. I certainly hope so. It would be awful if you are watching the man burn down and there is someone on a cell phone screeching 'oh you have got to come see this! NO really! seriously, this is unbelieveable!!' I guess it will happen on a large scale sooner or later, but I would rather later.
Rubin110
· 4 months ago
Cell service was so last year. I'm using the city wide municipal free wifi!
M.C. Otter
· 4 months ago
It's been a lifesaver for me. My husband is out doing DPW, and there's lots of stuff going on back home that needs input from him. Without cell phone service, our communications would be toast. Then again, being out there for a month is a bit different than being out there for a week.
erinwilcoxxxx
· 3 months ago
please call me 509 995 5218 my bf is out here and im despreetly trying to reach him please help me
Catwoman69y2k
· 4 months ago
*sigh* As it has been said,"You cant stop progress".
I am kind of disappointed that Verizon and AT&T are closing in on that area personally but I see some potential of the geek factor to tech being part of the experience. Interesting how that evolution comes about.
Kat
PirateLola
· 4 months ago
This is so disappointing to hear. If this is true and I have to hear rings on the playa and watch people more in connection with their phones then the those around them I might as well stay in L.A. Please say it is not so because if it is I unfortunately won't be back.
audreyobscura
· 4 months ago
Well, from someone who is on playa communicating from a phone and is one of the earlier mentioned volunteers - so far the city seems only to be using Internet, which has been available for years, and not using their phones for calls. People are genuinely reluctant to make calls, the idea seems too foreign.
I am yet to make a call. It just feels like a bad idea.
glenncampbell
· 4 months ago
this is BS. EVERYONE knows the best part of the event is NOT BEING CONNECTED!!! i hope the the space cowgirls are confiscating phones during the event, get a ticket and have your head shaved! find your phone in a fishbowl of hundreds of phones...
PLAAAYYYAAA!!!
glenn campbell
Dizzee
· 4 months ago
Anyone who I see yapping on their phone to their friends back home will get smacked and their phone broken. Period.
Monkey Boy
· 4 months ago
I won't commentate for the big picture, but I can say that the idea of cell service definitely takes the event down a few notches for me. There are a few big things that truly differentiate Burning Man from other festivals, and one of them is the removal from the rest of the world. For me, that means the absence of everything from cell phones to blue jeans, billboards to USA Today, plumbing to public transportation. So while I understand the argument of the "evolution" theme and the fact that the event is highly techie-geeked out, it goes beyond that kind of rationale for me. It would just make me sad to see people gabbing on their cell phones anywhere on the playa, period. And that comes from my gut, not my head.
evilpippi
· 3 months ago
The impending avails of cell service has long been hated on by most playazens. Very sorry to hear it will work a bit better this year. I can see the yuppies tweeting now! I know there are tons of crafty technopranksters out there who will bring their jammers, and that brings comfort. Burning Man is best enjoyed as separate from the rest of the world.
codexico
· 3 months ago
the future is upon us. though we still have a choice. PRESS OFFFFFF!!!!!!!
jujuthefishmonkey
· 3 months ago
DO NOT LIKE. I think this is one of the saddest bits of news I have heard about Burning Man. It's my first year and now I feel almost gipped that I never got to experience Burning Man when it truly was "a world away." Please, PLEASE let this not last!
2playpolo
· 3 months ago
You will be fine my dear, sorry its your first year and there are cell phones. You will still have a wonderful experience, get out meet your fellow BRC citizens and participate in the making of some art and you will be so far ahead of the game of 'experience burning man as it was back then'..
Helpful tip: soak your baby wipes with some vinegar as it will help take off the playa dust.
Best to you! Bunny
dancingnancy
· 3 months ago
Interesting how resistant to change we are.
2ndtimer
· 3 months ago
Bad news. Thought of someone tweeting or taking phone pictures gives me the same violent impulse as the thought of theft. For volunteers, provide a landline messaging service (with paper and pencil) as if it was still the 1980s but for everyone else, you should have to disconnect entirely in order to attend.
popeshady
· 3 months ago
wi-fi with VOIP would work for anyone with an ipod touch. "you can't stop progress." so it's a choice to use the phone, not a restriction imposed by the condition. that said, if you have a nice phone (an iphone for instance) that can use VOIP over wi-fi, do you really want to subject it to playa dust for much of your experience? seems like texting out to people who are coming in to say where you've landed or to ask for extra beer is useful, but once on site, using it to get in touch with others on site seems pretty inane. eventually, though, yeah, we'll all have the option to buy cheapie phones to destroy on the playa along with our wal-mart tents that we don't mind subjecting to the corrosive elements. (my north face tent zipper is permanently fucked due to a decade of burns.)
smacking someone for having a phone is just setting yourself up for drama. ya never know, they might be closet ninjas camping at death guild.
mateovegas
· 3 months ago
Some of you whine too damn much. Seriously, seeing someone on their phone is going to ruin your burn? REALLY? Amid all the other distractions out there, a phone ringing is going to kill your buzz? We ALL have cell phones, and know how useful they are. You have the CHOICE to use it or not, don't hate on other people who want to use theirs! Sure, if I see someone out there gabbing, I'm probly going to give them a dirty look, but that's IT! I might turn my phone on to call my family back home and see how they're doing, now I don't have to take the shuttle to town to call! But I'll make that call in my tent, where nobody has to see or really even hear me. Maybe I'll tweet, maybe not, maybe some of you will also. Progress is GOOD, people. Stop whining.
caitran
· 3 months ago
NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There is something to be said about the disconnect that the playa creates. People unleash out at Burning Man and every media camera has to be tagged and registered for this reason. Lawyers become drag queens, CEO's wear fishnets and neon wigs, and your Mom runs around topless.
Having a tagged media camera does not mean you publish everything you see and capture, including your boss's butt and your teacher getting spanked, because you head home, upload onto your computer, and in the real world have time to reflect and reconsider what people see. BUT if people can twit pic and tweet whenever they want that re evaluation of what is seen and said is gone and suddenly your getting fired because your CEO is now known for their fishnets and your Mom's boobs are twittered around in a trending topic.
You have heard the drama about having children at burning man. Your walking down the street in your panties with a beer in hand and a 7 year old skips by and the illusion is shattered. You remember your naked and drunk in front of that 7 year old. How do you think twittering and texting and calling out to the real world will effect this illusion of a free world called Black Rock City?
I understand Black Rock City aims to be 100% fully functioning city but it also is an illusion of what the world COULD be like, not what it IS like. Why don't they make a Cell network that only makes/receives calls within BRC and an upload center for your personal thoughts and images that you can access once returning to the world. If you need to twitter, write it down and type it in later.
It is not as if there is no way to reach out to the people who have phones and internet (I used the media mecca camp last year to get on the internet for a minute) but you have to pick yourself up, speak coherently, and be able to explain what you need from the phone or internet to somebody in control of those outlets. Its about control, and at Burning Man people plan to loose that control and it is socially acceptable and encouraged.
Its not just about calls out at Burning Man, its also about the incoming. Do you want your Mommy (the one who is not topless)calling to make sure you packed enough clean underwear and you boss checking in to see when you can start work back up?
After all that. All I am saying is NO SERVICE ON THE PLAYA!!!!!!!!
johneglass
· 3 months ago
I miss events at Burnungman all the time because I do not have a time peace. I use my phone to tell time. If I had cell service I would keep my phone on me and then I would not miss events and My friends would know how to find one another .
Isophane
· 3 months ago
In the default world, I use my phone to check the time. On the playa, I use a watch. As for finding your friends, this is one of the fabulous challenges of the event. Make plans ahead of time, camp near them, or ask your mom and dad how they picked people up at the airport before cell phones. And if you dont meet up with your friends, you'll all have wildly different stories to share when you get home.
Stringbean
· 3 months ago
Time on the playa? It could simply be called "now" or "playatime" miss events? geez you left the scheduled default world behind
If you put your cell on airplane mode it neither receives or dials calls and you can still use your clock and alarm.
And there's the off button.
lmh143
· 3 months ago
The LAST thing I'll do is turn my cell phone on. When my cell goes out of service as I am making that final drive, I get gitty inside knowing I am off the grid.
I've already heard of a renegade group of people picking up cell phone users (thing of the Animal Control out there!) and capturing them. I'm all for it. NO CELL PHONES.....
jean66
· 3 months ago
the only reason i want cell service is to check in with my kids/family while im gone, otherwise it would stay off. im hoping i can do that with wifi, otherwise i will be busin it into town..
2playpolo
· 3 months ago
Take your family and kids with you! Kidsville is great and a wonderful family experience. Share
Kristin
· 3 months ago
I would be stoked about cell phones on the playa, but only because my birthday is on the 5th (the day the man burns!) and I want to be able to talk to my family. Otherwise I suppose I wouldn't care either way. I suppose it would be nice with no phones, but being a techno geek I really can't commit to that opinion!
Marino
· 3 months ago
I don't believe in the "toughing it out" aspect. What it means is people spending tons of money, energy and resources to recreate what the comforts they have "back home". Bringing food, shelter, refrigeration, generators, amplifiers, trucks, buses, motorhomes, steel, lumber etc and then hauling it back after a week. A colossal waste.
Phone/internet access would be another such comfort, no more, no less "evil than a motorhome or a generator but a lot less wasteful than a pile of firewood.
I'm not going to BM because of the lack of internet access. Not all of us are clock punchers working on someone else's business and can take "time off". Some of us have lives where every day is both a vacation day and a work day and the "work" part cannot be accomplished without internet access.
It's the next step in evolution where "work" is not necessarily drudgery and can easily blend with "leisure".
2playpolo
· 3 months ago
Marino,
Sorry you can not make it and leave your computer. I do understand the need to make a living and owning you own business.
Its not about "toughing it out", its about realizing you can actually "do without" aspect on the experience. As well as if you are in need of something, your neighbor might have it to lend or gift it to you. This causes a human interaction with someone you might never have met. This is the beauty of community.
This is a foundation, one our explorers who dared to go west experienced and offered.
Just a different view point and sometimes its necessary to change perspective even for a brief moment.
Lets not homogenize this event like so many other even experiences are.
Thank you for reading, and wishing you more leisure. Bunny
louisceci
· 3 months ago
I have to say that since I'm leaving my wife and 2yr old son at home, I like it.
guywire
· 3 months ago
I added "The Man" in black rock city to foursquare. Although it looks like they moved it from a location in Las Vegas to it's own city location "Black Rock City." They also added several camps and locations, like center camp. Cool.
spotman
· 3 months ago
there will probably be a whole myriad of folks with something like this I bet:
If my husband is on the phone asking for my help with our special needs son at home, and somebody "jams" me, I'll be "jamming" my fist into their head. Nuff said.
You don't want cell phone service? Don't use it. You want to escape? Enjoy.
Not ALL of us are there to escape our lives: some are trying to enhance and refuel our lives. You should live YOUR life by your philosophy. but you don't have the right to limit MY life being lived in accordance to MY philosophy.
So much for radical self-expression. Only if it means saying and dressing what's popular to those around you, huh?
miac
· 3 months ago
The greeters should take phones at the gate! LOL!
this sucks... i want out of the matrix!!
2playpolo
· 3 months ago
Wow, it has finally arrived on Playa. As a person that was first introduced to Burning Man as a Media participant (hired to film out there) and we had a satellite hook up truck to broadcast live the night of the burn (1999). It was major tech geek fest then. One of the first things I so enjoyed about BM was the ability to talk to someone without interruption from a phone or beeper (yes dating myself).
To me BM is about the human connection and interaction. Over the years that has begun to fade a bit as its gotten bigger. This might just be the 'tipping point' for BM and its attendees of years ago to newbies.
How we choose to keep our community growing, interacting, etc. will be up to us. I just hope we do not forget to be and live in the NOW while at BM.
Walking and Talking at BM with the outside world means your not at 'HOME'. Listening to your community, your potential new friends, your new partner, your new experience of art.
I so wish we do not 'dis-engage' from our community while we are at 'Home'. We are there so briefly to make such lasting memories, friends, art, etc. I fear being on a phone will allow for these "now" moments to slip away unbeknown to the cell user.
How sad then as the event and its foundation is lost to that person.
I wish for all to consider putting down their cell phones and listen to your fellow human... lets be together in one space, even for just a brief moment, which in the scheme of life is all we have to link together to look back and feel we have lived and led a worth while existence.
Sappy yes, but it is about the human experience together interacting in the now
Much Burning Man Love Bunny, aka white rabbit
Slutsy_Goat
· 3 months ago
Generally, I don't like the idea.
But, my mother is having surgery on September 2 and it would be really nice to see how she's doing and to let her know that I care.
If I have cell service, I will turn my phone on for that one call ONLY and then turn my phone off for the rest of the event. AND I will make that call from the privacy of my own tent if I can.
Your average dedicated Burner isn't going to walk around with a cell phone strapped to her/his head at the whole event. Of course, yahoos who have no appreciation for the Burning Man culture attend every year. They will walk around with a cell phone glued to their ear. But yahoos will be yahoos whether they have their cell phone with them or not.
izzyfizzy
· 3 months ago
I'm not digging it. It's a good thing to have in case of a REAL emergency but even then, that's why there are rangers and others there to help if needed. I prefer to put all gadgets and anything that ties me to the outside world away from my time on the playa. That's the whole point, isn't it? To get away from conventional life and restraints? It would definitely take away from an authentic experience and the growth that comes from surviving it. I just can't love it, no matter how furry, fuzzy or lit up it might be.
Come on people. It wouldn't be the end of the world to disconnect for one freaking week!
Marino
· 3 months ago
I understand I'm outnumbered. Have fun you all. What's depressing to me about all these comments about the need to be "isolated", "cut off" etc is the brevity of the BM experience and it's lack of continuum with the outside world. The fact that BM exists in such an isolated bubble is a reminder of the failure of its wonderful participants to affect change in the world "outside" its borders.
It's like; "I have one week of the year where I can be free so the rest of the year I can be a slave."
What happened to being free 365 days a year? LOL. Just trolling. Love you all. See you outside the fence.
Mars
· 3 months ago
You're not alone, Marino. This is the same debate that existed during the 1960's. Do we try to change the world, or do we tune out and drop out?
I'm in total agreement with you. That being said, I'm not going to judge those who want to be untethered on the playa. They should feel free to leave THEIR cell phones at the Gate.
I respect my fellow Burners enough to not invade their space by using the phone for anything other than an urgent matter and letting my son know mommy still exists and loves him and will return in a few days.
When I do return home, it'll be to continue making life better for those around me and all those I can reach -- not just for myself. And not for a limited one freaking week out of the year.
Here's to the future end of wage/mind/soul slavery for EVERYONE. And ALL year.
Jim Lucas
· 3 months ago
Terrible evolution of the Playa ideal.
Jim Lucas
· 3 months ago
Terrible evolution of the Playa ideal.
Toulouse
· 3 months ago
Don't like cell phone service, but it will be nice to get a text from fellow campmates regarding the location of our camp (I am the last to arrive).
female_2009
· 3 months ago
Of course a lot of people, including me, come out to forget everything and don't want 50,000 people on their cell phones. But really 35 users on At&T and 23 on Verizon is nothing so chill out. Next year may be a different story you might as well worry about it then.
It would accept it if it was limited to a certain area that way burners would have to choose to be around it.
playa guy
· 3 months ago
i can see a number of art projects developing here to do with cell phone jamming. imanmy folks i know would absolutely fund and build a big jammer on the quiet that would stop cell coverage over the 4 square miles if this happens. i hate the idea of cell phones out there. i've been going out since 94. if there is an emergency, then the rangers etc have you covered. really.
Mars
· 3 months ago
From the Burning Man Survival Guide:
Q: What if friends or family at home need to reach me for an emergency?
A: Unfortunately, given the nature of the event, finding a participant on the playa is usually quite challenging.
(...)
Q: What can prevent me from getting the message?
A: Just a few of the variables that can get in the way: your camp relocates, or nobody's ever in camp when we come seek you out; your camp spot is obscured from view by other camps; the 20 foot inflatable duck deflates due to a leak; there are three camps with 20-foot inflatable ducks, and none of the neighbors know anyone named "Chris" because you have been introducing yourself all week as "Captain Underpants, Lord of the Duck People!" You get the picture.
In other words, you're heading to the middle of the desert, and there is no guarantee that we'll be able to deliver a message in an emergency; it's important to weigh that before you leave home. If you are awaiting news, you can actively check in at Playa Info, and in truly dire circumstances, you can take the bus into Gerlach to use the pay phone there.
Any further questions can be addressed to 911(at)burningman(dot)com.
Bob
· 3 months ago
What is really bothering me is the number of folks already saying what a 'lifesaver it is' to have cell service on the Playa.
So much for 'radical self reliance' if you're excited by cell service on the playa. Count me as one of the folks that is happy to go without it for a while.
oceanwishes
· 3 months ago
This is horrible!!! Part of the great thing about burningman is that you are secluded in the middle of the desert with no outside contact. If you can't find someone to talk to there you shouldn't be there! I personally don't want to hear anyone's phone ringing while I am enjoying my time at home, much less be standing next to anyone yelling into their cell completely disconnected from the environment. We spend enough time tuned out to technology and disconnected from humanity. Leave your cell phones where they belong back in reality.
BoobooBumble
· 3 months ago
No cell phones! Ack! One of the best things about BRC is the lack of contact with everyone who isn't there. And I can't imagine how annoying it would be in center camp cafe to listen to some frat boy yacking to his bros about all the nekkid chicks he sees.
paisleybanana
· 3 months ago
Good deal. I'm leaving behind a disabled relative who has never been on her own for more than a few days, and I've been worried about the "what ifs" should she have an emergency.
Homiesinheaven
· 3 months ago
HORRIBLE. talk about not being fully present in an experience! seeing people constantly checking for service at this sacred and spiritual place is going to make me so sad. :(
briancompton
· 3 months ago
airplane mode.
petercrash
· 3 months ago
So much for "Off the grid"..... the pop culture allure of tweeting (or any communication technology) at Burning Man should always lose out to the feeling of being free from the "real world." However, with the growth of technology and the reach of wireless communications, this kind of stuff at Burning Man is inevitable. In which case, I'll turn off my phone and leave it in my glove box. Problem solved.
Moon
· 3 months ago
evolution, i'm all for it, imagine what we can do with the help of technology, the people you don't have to miss, and what you can cocreate in the moment with it
moonigana
· 3 months ago
this is ridiculous to gripe about something that can also bring a whole new co-creative experience, i can call my friends if i get lost or find someone when i don't know where their camped instead of missing them all week, i can let people know of some impromptu performance, its about evolution and technogy is part of it, every one sounds like old grampas complaining about the phone
John
· 3 months ago
Great!!! What's the number for pizza delivery in Gerlach?
Steve
· 3 months ago
Aaaaurgh! I had to be reachable, in case of family emergency. So I RENTED a SATELLITE PHONE. What's more, I had to rent it for a whole bunch of days more than I'll really need it, because I'll be in Reno for a few days before and after.
jeffsullivan
· 3 months ago
At first glance phone conversations could insert too much "reality" into an unreal environment (participants may feel some loss of the freedom they've achieved), but on the practical side I haven't figured out how to connect with others at the event. The 4 mile round trip walk from the far side of the grid to Center Camp made quaint things like bulletin boards ridiculously impractical in 100+ degree heat. Texting capability would be really nice, and availability of Internet for backups would have saved the photos that I lost last year (I tried the existing alleged wi-fi connections last year and was completely shut out, only serving to completely waste my time trying to get to the Internet at all).
In the bigger picture though, it's sad that some people are so small-minded that they can't envision possibilities for interaction outside of BM as a wildly positive thing. Instead of being an escape and insular prison from the evil outside world, let BM escape and infect that outside world in real time, injecting and infecting it with healthy doses of self-expression and freedom. Why not let burners interact through art that simultaneously interacts with people outside? Let the 50,000 onsite attendees spread the culture to 5M outside. A robust Verizon-to-Internet connection will make such advances possible.
In another example, if Burning Man ever effectively takes on the theme "Focus on total global carbon emissions", exposing the ridiculous fallacy that CO2 reductions in developed countires alone can slow global emissions growth (while corporations simply move jobs to, and hide their emissions growth in, China and India), a globally networked BM event could literally change the world, perhaps save humankind. Open your minds, save the planet (or at least yourself and your children). Set Burning Man loose.
lalagogo
· 3 months ago
no way i want to be on my cell or available while on the playa. that said, it wouldn't hurt to be able to see my email on my iPhone.
Mars
· 3 months ago
I think it's sick that people want to jam the cell coverage in order to impose their view on all Burners. Very dictatorial in spirit. That just gives a good chuckle to those with no outside commitments, and it harms those of us who do need to be accessible in some fashion to dependents etc. If I had Verizon or ATT, I'd be a lot less nervous about leaving a young child at home for a week. And less nervous equals more freedom to be myself and relax and unplug. Which I will not have. Why do YOU get to force that on others?
That's simplistic to say just bring all your dependents to Kidsville -- everybody cannot handle the tough environment -- plus it's hard to feel comfortable with your family when lots of Burners don't even WANT kids on the playa at all.
Instead, how about art projects and events that promote the value of turning off the phone unless really needed? How about an Unplug Parade with announcements like those at a theatre telling you to please turn it to vibrate so you do not let your phone disturb the event? How about an official sign that camps can choose (THEIR choice) to post at events saying no cell phone usage and no photos inside? It is certainly the right of an event host to say no photos in here, no tweets etc in here either.
iindecisive
· 3 months ago
Then don't go. If you're nervous about your kid, then stay with your kid instead of doing both things half-ass, and ruining the experience for those around you by imposing your voice into my environment, how very dictatorial. All these people bitching about how it's gonna help with them being connected to their families are full of it. You are addicted to your cell-phone, period. Have some trust in the universe, isn't that what burning man is really about? If you're meant to find your friends on the playa, then you'll find them, if someone in your family needs you, hopefully, if you're connected, you'll sense it and get the fuck out of dodge. I am a cellphone destroyer, fear me. Then you will learn to love me.
Mars
· 3 months ago
That is an extremely judgmental and self-centered reaction, iindecisive. HOW DARE anyone tell me not to go to Burning Man!!!!
I belong there JUST as much as you. Perhaps more so -- because I care about the rest of the world, not just my own fun like you do ("ruining the experience for those around you.") I hardly see that attitude as part of building community.
You don't know anything about me, so how would you know how often I use my cellphone? Leaping to conclusions and stereotyping people based on lack of information is at the root of every form of oppression on this planet.
You called people who are trying to be as RESPONSIBLE AS POSSIBLE to their loved ones "full of it." Are you kidding?! Appreciating that our families etc can reach us if they need us makes us "full of it"??? Then, what outlook do you suggest -- that of running away to have our own experience without care for what may happen to those who cannot come with us?
If we take your argument to its logical conclusion, then:
1. Parents should not be Burners (unless their children are able to handle the desert for a week.)
2. Teachers, doctors, therapists should not be Burners, because if a client needs that person's gifts for a moment on that one week out of the year, it proves that person is "addicted to cell phones."
3. True artists of the Burner persuasion should never have children or make other serious commitments. Because doing so eventually creates a problem for the Burners around us who are trying desperately to pretend they live on Planet Claire without any care for the rest of Earth.
So you proclaim yourself "a cellphone destroyer" and that I should "fear" you. Listen up:
I am a 47-yr old cancer surviving, incest surviving, domestic abuse surviving, rape surviving, stalker surviving, single mother, African-american woman and NOBODY threatens me without being warned to back off. I don't know who the hell you think you are, Child, but do not tell me to fear you. If I can fight through all the challenges I've already beaten, then I should have no trouble with somebody whose main gripe is that a phone call within earshot will ruin his buzz fantasy.
That just proves what kind of person YOU are.
iindecisive
· 3 months ago
1. Parents should not be Burners (unless their children are able to handle the desert for a week.)
2. Teachers, doctors, therapists should not be Burners, because if a client needs that person's gifts for a moment on that one week out of the year, it proves that person is "addicted to cell phones."
3. True artists of the Burner persuasion should never have children or make other serious commitments. Because doing so eventually creates a problem for the Burners around us who are trying desperately to pretend they live on Planet Claire without any care for the rest of Earth.
Exactly! Now you're getting it! Isn't this fun! ?
I was really just trying to be antagonistic. I guess it worked. yay!
Stephen Kosciesza
· 3 months ago
Whoa, whoa, whoa! It seems to me that most of the threatening is coming from you! Not to mention some border-line racism! What's the fact that you're an African-American woman got to do with anything? Because an African-American woman Has Spoken, everyone with a different opinion should just shut up?
You remind me of those women in the Senate a few years ago (I hate to dignify them with the term "senators") who surrounded the desk of a long-time senator who said something they disagreed with--getting all up in his face. Later, one of them proudly said, "I know how to street fight!"
She didn't belong in the Senate; she belonged in jail. And perhaps you don't belong at Burning Man; nothing to do with cell phones, but you just don't understand community.
notmyname
· 3 months ago
Wouldn't we just be better off with microchips implanted in the back of our necks instead?
notmyname
· 3 months ago
But that spreadsheet has to be submitted to head office by friday!
notmyname
· 3 months ago
TWEET: I'm in the porta-potty right now. Bloody dark in here, where is my light?
notmyname
· 3 months ago
Can I drive an art car and talk to my GF on the cell at the same time?
notmyname
· 3 months ago
Remember the days of public sex acts, catapulting old televisions across the desert and bringin' the ol' shotty to the playa and blasting off a few rounds? Man, why can't we bring THAT back?
notmyname
· 3 months ago
While we're on the topic, could the folks that run BM find it in their hearts to cap ticket sales at 35-40,000 maximum? In 2007, people were rolling in for the burn with F350s, massive campers, and no idea what BM was all about. The outer ring is the outer ring for a reason, not for overflow parking the night of the burn...
fmrbrnr72
· 3 months ago
Burning Man? I thought that died, like, three years ago. Everybody's going to Bonnaroo and Coachella now, right?
moonrunner
· 3 months ago
never been to the playa - an awesome idea, but like most maybe it is growing out of itself? maybe not. I personally think cell phones there would be a distraction. I would think the idea of BM IS TO CONNECT but not by electronic means. By meeting, talking, experiencing it/people/events in real time in the real world with the people WHO ARE THERE. unplug playazens just for your own joy. happiest thoughts for a great burn for you all!
ekai
· 3 months ago
I'm all for intra-playa cell coverage as long as the phones were made before 1950 and installed in phone booths,
ammre
· 3 months ago
as someone who can not go to the burn (what's up being bedridden due to a spinal injury! at a burning man regional event no less!) I appriciate the texts, tweets and other burningman updates.
This year especially because my sister is going and it's her first time. While it may seem like a walk in the park, and almost played out for you west coasters, to us east coasters it's still a rather difficult event to get to and manage. I kinda wanna know that's she's saf, ok, having fun, and have some little way of experiencing this with her.
daveray
· 3 months ago
Not being connected is one of the great things about burning man. OTOH my mom, who has a medical condition, can reach me in emergency. I can text someone who was supposed to camp with us but got lost. Think of how much resources it saves, how it improve our safety and of others. So I have to support having the connection. There needs to be a healthy discussion how to use a little discipline in not using the connection gratuitously and leaving the line available for people with real needs. Personally I'm not into twitter or any reason to beam out anything about the general goings on. I know if I didn't go to the burn I would be very curious to see reports and images, but I could live with waiting, if I knew the lines shoudl be restricted for important matters.
Stephen Kosciesza
· 3 months ago
Well, as I said above, I needed to be reachable by my family because of an elderly relative. So before this news came out (I don't own a cell phone, anyway), I rented a satellite phone.
The "discipline" came, first, from the price of using the telephone: second, the awkwardness of using it. Finally, there was the inconvenience of lugging around a rather heavy, clunky gadget--trying to keep the antenna pointing up--while I was spending virtually the entire week completely naked.
loupiote
· 3 months ago
do you think that this AT&T Billboard looking like "The Man" and prominently posted near a San Francisco freeway is just a coincidence?
As a Burner who has terrible panic attacks, especially if I'm feeling isolated (i.e., airplanes, hiking, out of cell range) I am so happy there might be some cell coverage. The occasional SMS from a loved one on the outside can be all I need to be soothed out of the beginning of an attack, reminded of my enthusiastic support system, and to get out of my tent to boogie down in the dust :)
missfirestarter
· 3 months ago
Let's not alter "the call of the playa" to "the cell phone call from the playa". I was surprised to hear this news. I had not the means to make it out this year after four years of going and I had basically accepted that fact. However today - a fresh fall-ish day in New York - a feeling swept over me and I could sense the playa very strongly. I am now seriously forlorn about not being there. One of the best things about the burn is that you make plans to meet under the big flower at dusk, not by calling someone, and if you or the other person(s) doesn't make it, it's all cool. No one will be texting "Where r u??!!"
maureen_m
· 3 months ago
Two comments: One- I hope someone has planned some phone booths for those cell-phone users to slip into (if they feel the need) when they use their cell phones so as not to disturb the techno-phobes. Two- How are people going to practice using their intuition and telepathy if they keep depending on cell-phones?!
jzimmyzz
· 3 months ago
Ed is Cute!
thinkaboutitlill
· 3 months ago
I think its completely stupid. the main reason of burning man [in my opinion] is that you communicate with people who are around.
WHY IN THE HELL would you want to call your friend sitting around doing nothing when all this excitment is happening right in front of you. I, for one, will not use my iphone to call random people. i will use it to take pictures and call someone in case of an emergency.
sarastanford
· 2 months ago
I went to Burning Man for the first time, and have to say I liked having cell service. We got to call a friend who we had to drop off in Reno with a broken foot and check on him and say we missed him. I got to send a few text messages to our blog for the unfortunate people who could not attend. Other than that I left the phone in the rv, and I didnt' see anyone walking around the Playa talking on their phone.
To be honest we left the 'default world' at the greeters station, we found Burning Man does that to you. Face it we are a connected world now, (note we are all posting on a blog right now), you could say it is Evolution!
All Comments
I am kind of disappointed that Verizon and AT&T are closing in on that area personally but I see some potential of the geek factor to tech being part of the experience. Interesting how that evolution comes about.
Kat
I am yet to make a call. It just feels like a bad idea.
PLAAAYYYAAA!!!
glenn campbell
Helpful tip: soak your baby wipes with some vinegar as it will help take off the playa dust.
Best to you!
Bunny
smacking someone for having a phone is just setting yourself up for drama. ya never know, they might be closet ninjas camping at death guild.
There is something to be said about the disconnect that the playa creates. People unleash out at Burning Man and every media camera has to be tagged and registered for this reason. Lawyers become drag queens, CEO's wear fishnets and neon wigs, and your Mom runs around topless.
Having a tagged media camera does not mean you publish everything you see and capture, including your boss's butt and your teacher getting spanked, because you head home, upload onto your computer, and in the real world have time to reflect and reconsider what people see. BUT if people can twit pic and tweet whenever they want that re evaluation of what is seen and said is gone and suddenly your getting fired because your CEO is now known for their fishnets and your Mom's boobs are twittered around in a trending topic.
You have heard the drama about having children at burning man. Your walking down the street in your panties with a beer in hand and a 7 year old skips by and the illusion is shattered. You remember your naked and drunk in front of that 7 year old. How do you think twittering and texting and calling out to the real world will effect this illusion of a free world called Black Rock City?
I understand Black Rock City aims to be 100% fully functioning city but it also is an illusion of what the world COULD be like, not what it IS like. Why don't they make a Cell network that only makes/receives calls within BRC and an upload center for your personal thoughts and images that you can access once returning to the world. If you need to twitter, write it down and type it in later.
It is not as if there is no way to reach out to the people who have phones and internet (I used the media mecca camp last year to get on the internet for a minute) but you have to pick yourself up, speak coherently, and be able to explain what you need from the phone or internet to somebody in control of those outlets. Its about control, and at Burning Man people plan to loose that control and it is socially acceptable and encouraged.
Its not just about calls out at Burning Man, its also about the incoming. Do you want your Mommy (the one who is not topless)calling to make sure you packed enough clean underwear and you boss checking in to see when you can start work back up?
After all that. All I am saying is NO SERVICE ON THE PLAYA!!!!!!!!
It could simply be called "now" or "playatime"
miss events? geez you left the scheduled default world behind
If you put your cell on airplane mode
it neither receives or dials calls
and you can still use your clock and alarm.
And there's the off button.
I've already heard of a renegade group of people picking up cell phone users (thing of the Animal Control out there!) and capturing them. I'm all for it. NO CELL PHONES.....
What it means is people spending tons of money, energy and resources to recreate what the comforts they have "back home". Bringing food, shelter, refrigeration, generators, amplifiers, trucks, buses, motorhomes, steel, lumber etc and then hauling it back after a week. A colossal waste.
Phone/internet access would be another such comfort, no more, no less "evil than a motorhome or a generator but a lot less wasteful than a pile of firewood.
I'm not going to BM because of the lack of internet access. Not all of us are clock punchers working on someone else's business and can take "time off". Some of us have lives where every day is both a vacation day and a work day and the "work" part cannot be accomplished without internet access.
It's the next step in evolution where "work" is not necessarily drudgery and can easily blend with "leisure".
Sorry you can not make it and leave your computer. I do understand the need to make a living and owning you own business.
Its not about "toughing it out", its about realizing you can actually "do without" aspect on the experience. As well as if you are in need of something, your neighbor might have it to lend or gift it to you. This causes a human interaction with someone you might never have met. This is the beauty of community.
This is a foundation, one our explorers who dared to go west experienced and offered.
Just a different view point and sometimes its necessary to change perspective even for a brief moment.
Lets not homogenize this event like so many other even experiences are.
Thank you for reading, and wishing you more leisure.
Bunny
http://www.infostream.biz/mini-cell-phone-jamme...
You don't want cell phone service? Don't use it. You want to escape? Enjoy.
Not ALL of us are there to escape our lives: some are trying to enhance and refuel our lives. You should live YOUR life by your philosophy. but you don't have the right to limit MY life being lived in accordance to MY philosophy.
So much for radical self-expression. Only if it means saying and dressing what's popular to those around you, huh?
this sucks... i want out of the matrix!!
To me BM is about the human connection and interaction. Over the years that has begun to fade a bit as its gotten bigger. This might just be the 'tipping point' for BM and its attendees of years ago to newbies.
How we choose to keep our community growing, interacting, etc. will be up to us. I just hope we do not forget to be and live in the NOW while at BM.
Walking and Talking at BM with the outside world means your not at 'HOME'. Listening to your community, your potential new friends, your new partner, your new experience of art.
I so wish we do not 'dis-engage' from our community while we are at 'Home'. We are there so briefly to make such lasting memories, friends, art, etc. I fear being on a phone will allow for these "now" moments to slip away unbeknown to the cell user.
How sad then as the event and its foundation is lost to that person.
I wish for all to consider putting down their cell phones and listen to your fellow human... lets be together in one space, even for just a brief moment, which in the scheme of life is all we have to link together to look back and feel we have lived and led a worth while existence.
Sappy yes, but it is about the human experience together interacting in the now
Much Burning Man Love
Bunny, aka white rabbit
But, my mother is having surgery on September 2 and it would be really nice to see how she's doing and to let her know that I care.
If I have cell service, I will turn my phone on for that one call ONLY and then turn my phone off for the rest of the event. AND I will make that call from the privacy of my own tent if I can.
Your average dedicated Burner isn't going to walk around with a cell phone strapped to her/his head at the whole event. Of course, yahoos who have no appreciation for the Burning Man culture attend every year. They will walk around with a cell phone glued to their ear. But yahoos will be yahoos whether they have their cell phone with them or not.
Come on people. It wouldn't be the end of the world to disconnect for one freaking week!
What's depressing to me about all these comments about the need to be "isolated", "cut off" etc is the brevity of the BM experience and it's lack of continuum with the outside world.
The fact that BM exists in such an isolated bubble is a reminder of the failure of its wonderful participants to affect change in the world "outside" its borders.
It's like; "I have one week of the year where I can be free so the rest of the year I can be a slave."
What happened to being free 365 days a year?
LOL. Just trolling. Love you all. See you outside the fence.
I'm in total agreement with you. That being said, I'm not going to judge those who want to be untethered on the playa. They should feel free to leave THEIR cell phones at the Gate.
I respect my fellow Burners enough to not invade their space by using the phone for anything other than an urgent matter and letting my son know mommy still exists and loves him and will return in a few days.
When I do return home, it'll be to continue making life better for those around me and all those I can reach -- not just for myself. And not for a limited one freaking week out of the year.
Here's to the future end of wage/mind/soul slavery for EVERYONE. And ALL year.
It would accept it if it was limited to a certain area that way burners would have to choose to be around it.
Q: What if friends or family at home need to reach me for an emergency?
A: Unfortunately, given the nature of the event, finding a participant on the playa is usually quite challenging.
(...)
Q: What can prevent me from getting the message?
A: Just a few of the variables that can get in the way: your camp relocates, or nobody's ever in camp when we come seek you out; your camp spot is obscured from view by other camps; the 20 foot inflatable duck deflates due to a leak; there are three camps with 20-foot inflatable ducks, and none of the neighbors know anyone named "Chris" because you have been introducing yourself all week as "Captain Underpants, Lord of the Duck People!" You get the picture.
In other words, you're heading to the middle of the desert, and there is no guarantee that we'll be able to deliver a message in an emergency; it's important to weigh that before you leave home. If you are awaiting news, you can actively check in at Playa Info, and in truly dire circumstances, you can take the bus into Gerlach to use the pay phone there.
Any further questions can be addressed to 911(at)burningman(dot)com.
So much for 'radical self reliance' if you're excited by cell service on the playa. Count me as one of the folks that is happy to go without it for a while.
I had to be reachable, in case of family emergency. So I RENTED a SATELLITE PHONE.
What's more, I had to rent it for a whole bunch of days more than I'll really need it, because I'll be in Reno for a few days before and after.
In the bigger picture though, it's sad that some people are so small-minded that they can't envision possibilities for interaction outside of BM as a wildly positive thing. Instead of being an escape and insular prison from the evil outside world, let BM escape and infect that outside world in real time, injecting and infecting it with healthy doses of self-expression and freedom. Why not let burners interact through art that simultaneously interacts with people outside? Let the 50,000 onsite attendees spread the culture to 5M outside. A robust Verizon-to-Internet connection will make such advances possible.
In another example, if Burning Man ever effectively takes on the theme "Focus on total global carbon emissions", exposing the ridiculous fallacy that CO2 reductions in developed countires alone can slow global emissions growth (while corporations simply move jobs to, and hide their emissions growth in, China and India), a globally networked BM event could literally change the world, perhaps save humankind. Open your minds, save the planet (or at least yourself and your children). Set Burning Man loose.
that said, it wouldn't hurt to be able to see my email on my iPhone.
That's simplistic to say just bring all your dependents to Kidsville -- everybody cannot handle the tough environment -- plus it's hard to feel comfortable with your family when lots of Burners don't even WANT kids on the playa at all.
Instead, how about art projects and events that promote the value of turning off the phone unless really needed? How about an Unplug Parade with announcements like those at a theatre telling you to please turn it to vibrate so you do not let your phone disturb the event? How about an official sign that camps can choose (THEIR choice) to post at events saying no cell phone usage and no photos inside? It is certainly the right of an event host to say no photos in here, no tweets etc in here either.
I belong there JUST as much as you. Perhaps more so -- because I care about the rest of the world, not just my own fun like you do ("ruining the experience for those around you.") I hardly see that attitude as part of building community.
You don't know anything about me, so how would you know how often I use my cellphone? Leaping to conclusions and stereotyping people based on lack of information is at the root of every form of oppression on this planet.
You called people who are trying to be as RESPONSIBLE AS POSSIBLE to their loved ones "full of it." Are you kidding?! Appreciating that our families etc can reach us if they need us makes us "full of it"??? Then, what outlook do you suggest -- that of running away to have our own experience without care for what may happen to those who cannot come with us?
If we take your argument to its logical conclusion, then:
1. Parents should not be Burners (unless their children are able to handle the desert for a week.)
2. Teachers, doctors, therapists should not be Burners, because if a client needs that person's gifts for a moment on that one week out of the year, it proves that person is "addicted to cell phones."
3. True artists of the Burner persuasion should never have children or make other serious commitments. Because doing so eventually creates a problem for the Burners around us who are trying desperately to pretend they live on Planet Claire without any care for the rest of Earth.
So you proclaim yourself "a cellphone destroyer" and that I should "fear" you. Listen up:
I am a 47-yr old cancer surviving, incest surviving, domestic abuse surviving, rape surviving, stalker surviving, single mother, African-american woman and NOBODY threatens me without being warned to back off. I don't know who the hell you think you are, Child, but do not tell me to fear you. If I can fight through all the challenges I've already beaten, then I should have no trouble with somebody whose main gripe is that a phone call within earshot will ruin his buzz fantasy.
That just proves what kind of person YOU are.
2. Teachers, doctors, therapists should not be Burners, because if a client needs that person's gifts for a moment on that one week out of the year, it proves that person is "addicted to cell phones."
3. True artists of the Burner persuasion should never have children or make other serious commitments. Because doing so eventually creates a problem for the Burners around us who are trying desperately to pretend they live on Planet Claire without any care for the rest of Earth.
Exactly! Now you're getting it! Isn't this fun! ?
I was really just trying to be antagonistic. I guess it worked. yay!
You remind me of those women in the Senate a few years ago (I hate to dignify them with the term "senators") who surrounded the desk of a long-time senator who said something they disagreed with--getting all up in his face. Later, one of them proudly said, "I know how to street fight!"
She didn't belong in the Senate; she belonged in jail. And perhaps you don't belong at Burning Man; nothing to do with cell phones, but you just don't understand community.
This year especially because my sister is going and it's her first time. While it may seem like a walk in the park, and almost played out for you west coasters, to us east coasters it's still a rather difficult event to get to and manage. I kinda wanna know that's she's saf, ok, having fun, and have some little way of experiencing this with her.
The "discipline" came, first, from the price of using the telephone: second, the awkwardness of using it. Finally, there was the inconvenience of lugging around a rather heavy, clunky gadget--trying to keep the antenna pointing up--while I was spending virtually the entire week completely naked.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/loupiote/3868635103/
I was surprised to hear this news. I had not the means to make it out this year after four years of going and I had basically accepted that fact. However today - a fresh fall-ish day in New York - a feeling swept over me and I could sense the playa very strongly. I am now seriously forlorn about not being there. One of the best things about the burn is that you make plans to meet under the big flower at dusk, not by calling someone, and if you or the other person(s) doesn't make it, it's all cool. No one will be texting "Where r u??!!"
One- I hope someone has planned some phone booths for those cell-phone users to slip into (if they feel the need) when they use their cell phones so as not to disturb the techno-phobes.
Two- How are people going to practice using their intuition and telepathy if they keep depending on cell-phones?!
the main reason of burning man [in my opinion] is that
you communicate with people who are around.
WHY IN THE HELL would you want to call your friend sitting around doing nothing when all this excitment is happening right in front of you.
I, for one, will not use my iphone to call random people. i will use it to take pictures and call someone in case of an emergency.
To be honest we left the 'default world' at the greeters station, we found Burning Man does that to you. Face it we are a connected world now, (note we are all posting on a blog right now), you could say it is Evolution!