I have noticed an epidemic on campus. It’s a piece of metal and plastic, the size of a credit card, attached to students ears as they stream out of classrooms and meander down hallways. I am referring to those crutches we call cell phones. Are we really so important, as we sit through fifty minutes of lecture, that the phone call to save the world will come flying over the airways and be blinking in our message box?
I admit…I have a cell phone and would not be without it. It is my link to my children at school and my savior should I ever break down in my car. I will also admit to using it for the “honey, can you pick up some milk on your way home” call, but this consistent reliance on this communication device is worrying.
Conversations flow in restaurants, theaters, stores, and cars. It is hard not to overhear people’s phone calls, and I find they usually consist of “what ya doin?” and I bet the reply is “nuthin”!
Take yourself back to the ancient mid-eighties, when mobile phones were only for the rich and famous. We seemed to manage just fine. Cell phone use has increased at an alarming rate, and technology has now equipped us with the ability to take pictures and send text messages that will soon warrant a new foreign language class here at RWC! (PMFJI translates to “Pardon Me for Jumping In,” and RME means “Rolling My Eyes”).
I challenge you to voluntarily switch your cell phones off for a while, to not become a slave to a piece of metal and plastic and to notice the world around you and enjoy true peace as you breathe unharrassed by ringing and beeping. SIG2R (Sorry, I’ve got to run)!