Cell Phones

Cell phones have made a lot of things easier. But with all the ease they have afforded our lives I think there's a price. People become so indoctrinated to cell phone culture so attached to their cell phones something is lost.

People shouldn't be available for communication at all times. Being in contact is great but being in contact with people all the time detracts from your sense of self. The more we are in constant communication the more we define ourselves through other people as opposed to having a clear sense of who and what we are. I walk around and I see people on their phones constantly, talking, texting, or surfing the net. We need to be alone with our thoughts from time to time. Having a constant stream of information gives us no time to reflect and grow.

In the past ten years or so cell phones and email have become more prevalent which has built this expectation of a quick response to any question or attempted contact. People frequently get resentful or put off if they don't receive a response from someone in a timely manner. This is unreasonable.

We don't have to communicate with someone just because they want to communicate with us. If you are doing something, if you are involved with something socially or romantically or professionally people can wait. That may be a couple hours or a day. Just because we have the ability to communicate with each other almost instantaneously does not mean we should do so. And quite frankly it can be rude. When I'm in conversation with people and they are periodically halting our conversation to respond to a text, that offends me.

I urge people to, every once in a while, leave the phone at home.