So why can some people do it, and not others?

I've been taking the reading that doesn't have me tied to a computer out to the pool on occasion, which is just really nice. I read for a bit, and then I hop in the pool, floating there, thinking about the stuff I've just read - it's really a pretty ideal way to study.

But it's not an ideal way to study when there's too much else going on around me. I don't mean the kids playing and splashing in that pool - that's ambient background noise, and having three of my own, I've gotten pretty good at ignoring that stuff. It's conversations that distract me. Probably 'cause they're words. And I like words. A lot.

Now, I don't expect the pool to be a study place - if I want absolute silence, I should stay home (these days with the kids gone, that's possible), or go to the library. So I always bring my walkman. I usually select a seat that's far away from any groups that are already there when I arrive, so that I don't catch conversations, but sometimes people come in after I've settled in and start talking.

But some of them are alone.

That's what got me thinking. Are some people simply incapable of sitting - either sunning themselves or watching kids - without talking? The cell phone has made it possible for a person to never really have to be alone, and there are some people who seem to need their cell phone for that reason. There's one woman who regularly comes to the pool whose cell phone is constantly going off, and she usually comes with another friend, so either way, she's talking the whole time she's there.

Today when I arrived, I chose a spot at the far end - there were two people already there, but they were both regulars. One just lies quietly, not really doing much, and the other guy likes to talk, but after we've exchanged pleasantries, if I pick up my book, he gets the hint and lets me read.

Then a woman and her two children arrived. The kids hopped in the pool right away and she whipped out her cell phone. In response to the callee's response, she said, "Oh, well then I won't keep you long." (Which is why I didn't initially reach for the walkman) But then she proceeded to talk for another ten minutes. When she finally hung up, she immediately dialed someone else and was talking to a third when she called her kids out of the pool and left only a half hour later. She didn't strike me as a business woman trying to multitask by taking her kids to the pool while working the phone, since the conversations were pitched at a loud enough level for me to discern they were of a personal nature, not professional.

I wondered if I see this woman again, will she again be on the phone for the whole pool visit?

I've seen enough bus people and enough students to observe how some people can't seem to sit without doing something at all times, and therefor have to whip out their phone either to call someone or play games anytime they are required to sit still for a while.

I know not everyone likes to read and I suppose my early enforced religious education taught me to sit still and quiet for long periods of time - oh so very long to a young child! - but I wonder if some people just take to quiet activities better than others, who need the greater stimulation of a voice on the other end of the line. And, what did those people do before the invention of the cell phone?