I still have a few friends who don't own cell phones. One of them can't afford one, the other doesn't want one. My friend who doesn't want one says it's superfluous. She says matter-of-factly that she wouldn't want her life dominated by silly calls and texts and a reliance on a weak substitute for human interaction (At that point I didn't have the nerve to even think about bringing up facebook).
And in many ways, she's completely right about cell phones dumbing-down our lives. I can list numerous times I've walked out of a Budig class next to a someone having a conversation that went something like this: "Dude, hey. Yeah. I just left class. Yeah. I'm going to my next one. Sweet. See ya. Oh wait, [insert inside joke here, such as, "that's what she said!" or, "choc-late rain!"]! Haha. Yeah. Bye." Click.
In all fairness, I must admit that I too have made calls like that. I guess sometimes you just want to know what someone's up to. Cell phones help us feel connected.
But besides wasting little snippets of my time here and there with unnecessary calls and texts, cell phones have also made my life much more efficient. Almost every day my roommates and I call each other about rides to and from campus. When executed properly, it cuts about 10 minutes each off of our daily commutes.
And gone are the days when I had to actually plan a Friday night. Nowadays, I simply pick up the phone when I feel like hanging out and call and meet somebody en route to an activity. Gone are the days of the phonebook. I don't know how I used to do it, sitting at home, thinking of ideas, queuing up my evening's planned events and then calling everyone involved. I actually had to use paper to plan those nights! With my trusty cell phone I can hop from hanging out, to dinner, to a movie, to a party and to a late-night snack, all while I'm in my car driving.
And I don't care if it's a misdemeanor in some places; I'm too attached to calling people while driving. But while we're on the subject, texting while driving is a good way to kill a family.
So what does your cell phone mean to you? Is it a waste of time? Is it an efficiency-creating machine? Is it superfluous? Is it a vital part of your body, like your kidneys? For instance, if you didn't have it for a week, would you die, or at least become jaundiced? That might actually be your liver, but the point still holds.
For me, it's certainly a mix of waste and efficiency, but maybe that's how I would be anyway. Maybe the device isn't to blame; maybe it's operator error. After all, guns don't kill people; people kill people. Maybe the same statement holds: cell phones don't call people; people call people.
Comments (1)
For a long time, I was like your friend who refuses to get a cell phone. I used to think to myself, "Why in the world would I want to be able to be reached at any moment by an entourage of needy and bored individuals?" But after having one for a few years, it's one of those things like the internet and the computer. I wonder how I would be able to get by with out it. This is particularly true of my work as a journalist. Having a cell phone has made me a much more effective reporter and team player.
But I think your entry strikes at something deeper than this. I mean it's obvious how a cell phone could make any one more efficient at their work and allow them to get the most out of their social life.
I think this entry is talking about the debilitating and enabling aspect of cell phones. It's like what you were saying about the people leaving class and making a call just to bullshit about some less than mundane crap. I think actions like this come from an emotional need people have. Some people are scared to death to be alone with themselves for even a moment and thanks to cell phones they don't have to be. I don't know why this is. I've heard some people theorize that it is because if people are alone they begin to examine their own existence and would discover something that would require them to change in some way and most people fight tooth and nail to avoid personal growth and change. I mean take the guy in your example. If people are so needy for validation they call up friends just to tell them they're out of class then how do you think they would react to the idea that they themselves are the only people that can truly validate their own existence. I don't think many people who suffer from these insecurities are willing to take on that much self reliance.
I don't think I formed a very cohesive thought here, but maybe it's food for thought. Good blog.
Posted by Matthew Foster | September 16, 2007 10:13 PM
Posted on September 16, 2007 22:13