As it's late at night, it seems like a perfect time to go off on a rant about something. I choose cell phones.
I just wrote about this, but I feel strongly enough about it that I want to write about it some more. Cell phones are leading to the utter depersonalization of our society. This concept took me some time to wrap my mind around it, since cell phones have led to society being more interconnected than ever before. We're constantly talking to one another, whether it be on a cell phone, through the Internet, or whatever. Yet despite all of this talking, we rarely communicate, I think. I see people clutching their precious cell phones in their hot little hands every second they can. As you walk to class, you have to check your cell phone for messages. You have to see if you missed a call in the last 45 minutes - not that you would have, mind you, because you left it on while you were studying in the library. As soon as you get into your car, you get on your phone and call someone; not because the call was especially urgent and you needed to call them right away, but because you feel like you're wasting your time if you aren't talking to someone as you're driving.
We talk to our phones more than we talk to people.
I think that's important, so I'm going to say it again.
We talk to our phones more than we talk to people. I've had the experience, as I'm sure many of you have, of walking and talking with someone (perhaps to and from class), only to have them pull out their phone and start talking. Even if their phone rings, there isn't any sort of apology for cutting me off in the middle of my sentence or their own sentence to talk to whomever is calling them. Rather, they just pull out the phone and start talking, assuming you'll understand that the call is much more important than you. We leave our phones on and answer them in what ought to be a completely socially unacceptable time. The phone becomes more important than the person on the other end. I would imagine many people with cell phones wouldn't be quite as interested in talking to whomever they're calling if they were to run into them in person. The joy lies in talking on the phone; or, perhaps more importantly, the joy lies in being seen talking on the phone.
People of the world, disconnect! Let go for a while! Spend some time building relationships with those around you rather than some sort of electronic substitute! The electronic age is destroying society as we have come to know it. Some of you reading this blog probably have no idea who I really am. Even if you know who I am, you may have never met me or spoken to me except through some sort of electronic means. I understand the irony of saying this through a blog, especially since I spend a lot of my time tied to the Internet, but I think we need to step outside of our precious electronic sphere and experience life. There's more to it than what we see on a computer monitor or hear through a cell phone.
When you're talking to the person next to you, you don't have to worry about how many bars of reception you're getting.
- Optimistic.
2 comments:
Genius. I agree on all points. I almost want to email this to my friend who talks on her phone at least 6 hours a day. Yikes.
Phones are inherently rude. Bell himself admitted this and refused to have one in his study. Phones are inherently rude and as our society has become more and more dependant on them, our society has become more and more rude.
I have the unique ability to ignore a phone when it's ringing. I like cell phones because they tell you who called whether or not they left a message, and then I can call them back when it's not impolite to people with whom I am actually interacting.
Of course, I hate talking on the phone anyway.
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