Got a light? Sure, let me open my cell phone for you.

This past Tuesday I went to a concert featuring Death Cab for Cutie and Franz Ferdinand (as an aisde, the concert was good, particularly Franz Ferdinand, who I hadn't previously seen in concert--it was my third time with Death Cab). As I had expected, Gobo and I were the oldest people there, other than the parents escorting their 13 year olds. Of course, all the kids there were crunchy granola--peasant skirts, Birkenstocks, scraggly hair, dreamy expressions. Everything was as it should be at a pseudo-indie rock concert.

Until Death Cab decided to play a ballad.

The ballad is a staple of any rock concert. When the band plays it the audience hushes and suddenly thousands of little flickering lights fill the venue as everyone takes out their lighter and waves it in the air.

But this is 2006, and the lighter is no more. No, now, the anti-establishment, screw-the-man, peace, love and happiness set use...their cell phones. Yes, instead of cigarette lighters (the ultimate in anti-establishment cool since at least the 1950s) these kids now open their cell phones so that the light shows and wave it in the air.

Sure, it's great that these kids aren't carrying around lighters--it probably means they aren't smoking. But holding up your cell? How much more big business can you get? Where is the rebellion in your Sprint/Nextel device? How does one find nonconformity with a Motorola Razr with Cingular service?

Good thing they still wear those peasant skirts. Purchased at Urban Outfitters.