CELL PHONES

Anyone else notice how huge cell phones have become in video media today?

I recently watched "The Departed" and was appalled and kind-of disgusted at how much screen time cell phones got. It seemed like every thirty seconds someone was talking on the phone, sending a text message, or receiving a text message. I bet if you deleted all the cell phones scenes in the movie it might be 20 minutes shorter.

This is also getting to be an annoyance in TV as well. Just take any reality show on MTV as an example.

Well, I guess as technology changes, each new technology gets its fifteen minutes of fame. I remember when cordless phones and answering machines were prominent in movies. Then it was beepers for a while. Now it's cell phones and PDAs, etc.

But it seems to be more exploitative now, more of a product placement thing than a part of the screenplay or story.
Has product placement gotten out of hand in today's media? I think so. It's bad enough we have commercials in TV and endless trailers in the movie theaters, but now we get commercials and trailers, and tons of subconscious ads during the movie. It's gross. I think it needs to be toned down big-time.