Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Breakthrough or Bondage?


I often get random, interesting thoughts when I can't write them down. Tonight, when I was in the shower, I had one such thought. We are so lucky to have such advanced technology at our fingertips. A lot of us can accomplish everything we need to take care of from our cell phone. At first thought, this realization was quite freeing! After thinking it through, I changed my mind. It isn't freeing at all, but actually quite the opposite.

If you try to call someone on their cell phone and they don't pick up, you're automatically frustrated. "Where is she? What could he possibly be doing, that he couldn't answer? Did she leave her phone in the car again?!" We want instant gratification. We WANT to know where the spare set of keys are. We WANT milk from the grocery store. We WANT to meet an hour later than what was planned. We WANT, WANT, WANT! This technology has allowed us to forgo waiting patiently, be poor planners, and change plans at a moments notice. Before cell phones we had to wait until a person came home to ask about the spare keys. We either thought about the milk before leaving for the grocery store or it didn't get bought. We had to drop what we were doing to go meet the person if we said we would be there.

Besides being frustrated with others for not picking up, we feel we need to be available 24/7, so that we ourselves don't become the frustration. This realization hit me today when I made sure to take my phone when walking my dog for five minutes.

People sometimes get worried when we don't answer. They even get worried when they can't get a hold of you for 15 minutes. "Well where were you? I've been calling and calling". It's just strange to think how many generations got by just fine, without cell phones. Also strange to think there's a generation of young people that has never known a time without them.

So I suppose it's up to the user, just how bound to their phone they want to be. If you're always available, callers might get worried when you don't answer. However, if you can't always be reached instantly...Maybe try leaving your phone where you can't hear it for a few hours. Warning, this could be a dangerous experiment. Please do not try this if:

1.Your friend is getting their wisdom teeth removed and you're their emergency contact
2.You have your phone alarm set for when you need to take your Lipitor, Yasmin, or Ritalin
3.You need to watch for and de-tag/delete questionable photos and wall posts on Facebook

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