By Christine Chacha
“Hey this is John . . . um, and we once dated…um…,” I just called to say, I love you." I mean it from the bottom of my inebriated heart…sob… sob…I just want you back . . . I miss you so much…..hey guys am in the bathroom . . . OK, I am looking for my shoe . . . and I, uh, drank a lot of Serengeti  but am definitely not drunk.”

This message is one of those ill communications that jam the telephone lines on especially weekends; it’s a typical example of the trend of drunken dialing that is fast becoming a quick pop culture.

Have you ever had a couple too many and decided it was just the right time to call your boss, mother and tell them something you could never tell them when you are sober? Or your ex-girlfriend/ boyfriend to tell them you are sorry and want them back?  If you answered, “Yes;” Then you are a drunken dialer.

As they say, you know you're an alcoholic, if you wake up clutching an unopened beer can in the morning and a drunk dialer when you wake up clutching your cell phone in one hand and have no recollection of last night’s conversations.

What is it about alcohol and cell phones? Between fifteen shots of tequila, countless beers and you automatically turn to your cell phone and woe unto the person you dial. It’s like all the alcohol goes to your fingers, and therefore urges you to call everyone in your phonebook.

If you have not done then you have probably been a victim. Infact, a research conducted among the youth found that 95per cent had drunk dialed at one time in their lives another research has rated drunk dialing as the No 3 cause of break-ups in reletions.

Drunk dialer will never know how a terrible it is until they are on the receiving end. Just like I have come to learn, it is no fun at all! My pal Davie could not remember calling me and giving a chronologic order of his life and was pretty embarrassed when I told him what he had told me. Drinking and dialing can get a little messy, and absolutely embarrassing .

I know of people who have gotten drunk and called their bosses blabbered nothing, their exes begging for a second chance some have even called their parents or worse still in-laws.

However, thanks to technology you can now avoid those embarrassing moments. Phone manufacturers have been designed applications that can detect if you are drunk and avoid those itchy fingers from making calls or sending the text. The application can block selected numbers in the address book bosses, moms, exes, in-laws -if the breath analyzer records a high blood-alcohol concentration.

It can also lock away your contacts for a certain period of time.
But since such will not reach Tanzania anytime soon, I suggest doing what I do, switch off your phone before you start drinking.  If after a few drinks, you ring up someone you shouldn’t, then make sure your phone is off before you get stoned.

I know this might work with some but not all. This is why I believe there ought to be designated dialers something like the designated driver.

Why not assign a designated dialer early in the night to handle all your calls too? Designated dialers would be responsible for preventing drunks from pushing buttons on their phone, and if necessary, for literally breaking your hands off to prevent embarrassing situations.

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