Summary
-Our cell phones, ourselves-
Christine Rosen begins a 15 page essay about cell phones and the human behavior of people all over the world by saying” eventually all people find themselves participating in that most familiar of modern rituals”. She is talking about the unwillingly listen to someone else’s cell phone conversation. Today more people are sending messages over the internet on cell phones than ever. It goes on to project that “sometime between 2010 and 2020, everyone who wants and can afford a cell phone will have one” for the safety and convince.
Christine goes on to talk about how wireless phones encourage us to connect individually but disconnect socially. This is to ignore society but to be connected on another plane with a person in another place. The ability to be able to cut out a human mediator and the delays they might impose on you, to connecting directly to any person of choice. Cell phones offer people a unknown level of convenience and safety. More than ninety percent of cell phone users also report that owning a cell phone makes them feel safer. In 2001 alone, around 156,000 wireless emergency calls were made out numbering the landline calls.(Non-connected cell phones still can make 911 calls)
Christine say’s that “popular culture endorses this image of cell phones as a person’s life line”. With popular movie stars always on t.v. and in magazines showing off their cell phones, it is hard to not accept the cell phone as a fashion statement. Both males and females within the last ten years have been waving the phones around as status symbols instead of instant information and communication devices. Cingular announced that “men talk on the phone about 16% more than women” weather the use is for business or talking to females it helps disprove the common typical stereotype of women and the phone. People are so close to their cell phones that people are starting to name them as if they are family pets.
In today’s society parents are giving younger children wireless phones to maintain a level of communication. It is more of a safety issue for the kids, A instant connection to 911 or to their parents for any time in need. She goes on to talk about how parents get their kids phones for this reason but it doesn’t mean that their kids will pick up the phone with all the excuses that are so easily made up now in days. And goes on to talk about how the kids use the phones that they are given as social devices and trend centers so that they aren’t used for the intended use.
The new century has created has created a time for change, even though we can all remember the older times were wireless phones didn’t exist. Phones allow us to have the internet and unlimited amounts of information that can be accessed quickly and anywhere we need it. This is why new forms of social and political networking are being created. Many political figures communicate over these wireless networks to discuss their political views.
There are many positive uses for the cell phone, There are also many negative problems with having a networked device. The dangers of driving while talking, texting or going over information that is embedded in the phone is one of the main causes of teenage car accidents and is said that 54% of all drivers have a phone with them in the car when driving. Which create great distractions while driving any automobile.
Cell phones also play host to viruses, whether real or virtual an infection could be created from your mobile devise. In Israel the ASMC created a study of phone contamination within hospital system. Around 12%of the phones within the hospital were known to be contaminated with some form of bacteria. The first virus specifically targeting cell phones was discovered in June of 2003. With viruses being around for a little over six years the evolution of these viruses could be limitless infecting an unlimited number of systems with easier infection methods.
The addiction of cell phones has grown as a result of the growth in culture. A survey conducted by HSNV found that “3 out of 10 Korean high school students who have cell pones Claimed to be addicted.” The reports of feeling anxious without their phones and can display repetitive stress from lack of texting that comes from applicable neologisms have entered the lexicon. This can help display the level of dependents that the wireless users.
It is funny how we only care about what concerns us and disregard the needs of others. The Zagat restaurant guide reports that cell phone rudeness is now the number one complaint in dinning establishments. Whitmore suggests that we are in the midstoff a period of adjustment where cell phone technology itself has disrupted our ability to insist on the enforcement of social rules. It is common for people to be so involved with their phone call that they seem to ignore the people around them but to walk in to a person having a conversation can be unpleasant depending what the conversation is about. Failure to demonstrate the presence sends a clear message to others of one’s hostility or disrespect.
