Cell phones

I think you all know that I only have a cell phone and no land line, it's been that way for about 5 years now. I like the convenience, the ability to have a phone when I'm biking alone, and frankly in the house that I was living in my roommates couldn't pick up after themselves, I truly doubt any of them could grasp the complexity of taking a message properly. Since I have been in the states I have noticed that people are on their cell phones nearly constantly. It's surprising to look around when you are outside to see so many people with a hand up to their ear talking away.

Yesterday though I think I saw the demise of society through the use of cell phones. I was sitting out in the quad having lunch on the lawn. I noticed a girl walking across the lawn, talking on her cell, as she approached a guy sitting there, also on his cell. As she got near she smiled and hung up, but he stayed on his phone, there goes the idea that they were talking to each other. It was however quite apparent that they were dating so I was curious to see how long he would stay on his phone before talking to her. Well the next thing I noticed she was on her phone again! Over the course of several minutes the two of them carried on several conversations with others over their phones, whereas they did mouth a few words to each other in lulls in phone conversations. It was truly stunning after the few minutes together they hugged a couple of times and parted ways. All the while I don't think they actually said anything more meaningful than 'Hi' and 'Bye' to each other.

The whole thing has me curious about a few issues:

1. Is there so much that people need to say to each other that they have to be constantly on the phone?
   
2. What kind of a relationship do these two have if they are more interested in their friends on the phone than the person they are with?
   
3. Are people so afraid of being alone or out of touch that they need to get all the most recent information right away?

Now I like my phone, I appreciate being able to be reached just about anywhere. Whether it's to let me know of a party or if someone needs my opinion help, I like to be accessible to others. But I'm starting to think that some are using the phone as a crutch, as a way not to feel isolated. I wonder if these people can cope all alone in the world, to move off to someplace new and not have a network of people to rely on? Who knows, maybe I'm just bitter because these days my phone almost never rings?

* Oh, you will notice now that I have enable the word verification function of the blog, I found I was having to delete a lot of spam comments, sorry for the inconvenience. Blame the spamers, they ruined the system for the rest of us.