You did describe a rude situation, but it has nothing to do with the decency of getting a cell phone. I think the social benefits of not having a cell phone certainly would trump these cases. The rudeness came in the fact that this person talked too loud, and didn't keep personal conversations in private locations. The assumption here, which is now assumed because of the effects cell phone proliferation, is that we even need to talk about stuff like that at work on the phone when we should have enough time in our lives to not worry about it then. Before cell phones there was a time and a place for certain things. Now it's anytime, anywhere (although, as you said, some are nice enough to take it outside)