Have you ever been on your way to class with your closest pal and, just before you deliver the hilarious punch line to your witty joke, your friend picks up their phone to talk to someone else or do something apparently much more interesting? Well, know this: it’s not your fault. Rather, it’s the fault of the unbelievable increase in cell phone use at places like the University of Miami.
I remember, I was in ninth grade when I got my first cell phone, and I couldn’t have bugged my parents enough to get that small black-and-white screened Nokia. Now, five years into my cell phone-using life, I am pretty much over it completely. Even though we live in a technological age and cell phones are the most effective and practical means of communication, they’re taking over our lives more than they’re making them easier.
While cell phones came about to help us contact people quicker than by flying pigeon or horseback, the whole idea of contacting has been drowned out by the laundry list of special features on every new phone. Now, I know phones like the BlackBerry and iPhone come equipped with widgets and gadgets and applications that are cooler than “Paper Planes” by MIA, they’re taking people away from being humans!
I suppose there is one upside to constant cell phone use by kids at The U – no one is ever lonely because a conversation with anyone in your phonebook is just a few button pushes away. But, at what cost do we placate a fearful aversion to loneliness? Perhaps when we pick up an obsessive addiction to our cell phones? Are we really that worried about walking alone and perhaps not speaking with someone that we must always be in conversation, whether it be via text, e-mail or phone call?
The fact is, people just need to put their fecking phones down and look around! Enjoy what you can’t through technology – palm trees, the sun and even a beautiful boy or girl. So whether it’s just another useless conversation bitching about things that should be kept nowhere else but inside your head, or pseudo-sexual text chats about favorite indie films, try putting your phone aside and see what a day without it is like. Try chatting with that person you were too scared to spark a conversation with, or sit back and just enjoy not holding a six-inch piece of plastic to your head. Either way, keep the cell phone home!