By: Rose Albert
Posted In: Opinion
Photo credit: Cindy Yamanaka/MCT
This California teenager racked up 14,528 text messages in a month. As it seems this girl and Mosaic writer Rose Albert found out, cell phones can take over our lives.
Cell phones are seen as essential to the life of many individuals, but I challenged this notion in month of February. As experiment for class, I detached myself from my most precious possession at the time: my cell phone. At the beginning of the experiment I was sad, frustrated and antsy because I was too attached to this piece of metal. I thought to myself, the world will definitely end without me glued to my cell phone.
Contrary to what I thought, I survived. In fact I thrived without this “ball and chain,” of a cell phone. I was able to concentrate more on not only my studies but my surroundings as well. I was able to complete a face-to-face conversation without interruption from a text, and I was also able to complete a thought process without disruption. I realized that all those “urgent” calls and messages that I used to get all the time weren’t urgent after all. Texts that I would send thinking that they were vital to my existence or identity were in fact a waste of electronic air space. I looked in the mirror and saw my reflection without the burden of my cell phone. I liked what I saw. It has been engraved in our minds that in order to survive, the possession of a cellular phone, an iPod and a game player is essential to live a happy life. It seems like Facebook is the collective mind of half of the world’s population. Black Berries are the third arm of so many students on campus. Everyone needs to be connected to everyone and everything in every moment. It’s human nature-or is it? I am not advocating for the complete removal of all technology, but my experience showed me that it can be important to take a step back and reevaluate the essentials of life. My experiment taught me a phone is not a necessity but an accessory. The newest iPhone is not a matter of life and death. We have come a long way to the age of cave men to an age of consumerism, but perhaps not everything is for the best. Take it from me: sometimes it’s a good idea to put down your phone, go outside and enjoy the sunshine.
