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my ears
are RINGING
The millions of cell phone
users in the U.S. might he
pushing talk to new levels
BY AYISIIA \AHYA
NEWS EDITOR
John is cheating on his girlfriend.
Wendy is getting an i-pod for her
birthday. Peter just maxed out his
credit cards and is quitting school.
You don’t know any of these
people, yet you know the most
intimate details of their lives after
being subjected to loud cell
phone conversations, forcing an
unintended eavesdrop.
Cell phones are everywhere.
A quick tour of the EMU reveals
multitudes of students chatting away.
These little gadgets that keep people
connected anywhere and at any time
— except in some campus buildings
where finding a signal is like
searching for gold — have America
talking. Almost 175.5 million people
have cell phones in the United
States, according to the Cellular
Telecommunications and Internet
Association. Compare this to just
about 4 million cell phones in 1990.
And now people can do more than
talk. They send text messages, take
pictures and browse the Internet.
To many, cell phones have become
an integral part of life.
“It seems to make people
accessible,” said associate philoso
phy professor John Lysaker, who
has studied the philosophy of
technology. “It increases our
opportunity for social engagement.”
Lysaker also attributes the cell
phone craze to a “marketing blitz.”
“We’re led to believe that we need
them,” Lysaker said.
Many cell phone users say
they like the connectivity that cell
phones allow.
breshman brancesca MacLorma
ck, originally from San Francisco,
has had her cell phone for two
years. She said she uses it to stay in
touch with people in her home area
— MacCormack kept her California
number so people at home won’t
have to dial long distance. The
phone also comes in handy because
people can reach her at any time, no
matter where she is.
“I’m never in my dorm room,”
she said.
Freshman Mara Harman said she
doesn’t have long conversations,
but she does use her cell phone
frequently. Her cell phone makes
her feel connected.
“I just feel secure,” she said. “I
have to have it with me all the time. If
I leave it in my room, I feel worried.”
She later admitted that she would
probably “go insane” if she left
it behind.
Sophomore Eric Kaltenbacher,
admits he is “addicted” to his
cell phone, which has his favorite
song, “Numb,” by Linkin Park as
a ring tone. He said he talks to
his friends for at least two to three
hours per day.
“I can take videos on it, pictures —
it’s one of the newer cell phones,”
Kaltenbacher said.
Nikki Barker said she uses her
phone to make plans with friends,
although she doesn’t use it very
much. Barker says she does get
surprised at people who spend every
spare moment with phones pressed
to the sides of their heads.
“People have it glued to their ear
s VN ^
when they are walking to class,”
Barker said. “You just want to fill
space with words.”
Lysaker said cell phones make
it easier to have “meaningless
exchanges.”
“I’ve heard these conversations,
they’re not saying anything,”
Lysaker said.
It is this desire to talk all the time
that some say makes cell phones so
intrusive. While cell phones can be
life-savers in emergencies and good
for making plans, the need to stay
connected can go too far.
Some students pick up their cell
phones in the library, strange ring
tones suddenly interrupt lectures,
and some people don’t listen to
professors at all because they are
busy sending text messages.
“I think it’s annoying when it
goes off in class,” MacCormack
said, adding that she has a
classmate whose phone had gone
off at least five times this term.
MacCormack said she has even
been in a class where someone
actually picked up the phone in the
middle of a lecture.
Kaltenbacher said his phone
has brought him its share of
embarrassing moments. During a
business class, the phone rang
and the teacher picked it up and
started talking.
“I always forget to turn it off,”
he said “Teachers definitely don’t
like that.”
Melodious or annoying rings,
followed by conversation, have
been heard at the most inappropri
ate times and places. In restaurants
and movie theaters, in the middle
of a wedding ceremony or at a
funeral sermon.
“I think the best thing about them
is that it gives us this connectivity,”
said Susan Magee, co-author of
the book “The Jerk with the Cell
Phone: A Survival Guide for the Rest
of Us.” That connectivity is also the
downside, she said.
“It’s easy to lose the boundary,
and it’s easy to forget there are
people around you,” Magee said.
Other people’s loud conversations
only serve to stress other people,
she added.
Magee gave examples from the
book of how attached people have
become to their gadgets, so attached
that they will go to great lengths to
save them. One man put his hand
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Bret Furtwangler | Graphic artist
down a toilet to retrieve his phone
and got stuck. Another wanted to
stick his hand in a pot of hot choco
late fondue because his phone had
fallen inside. And in an even more
daring feat, one man in Mexico faced
the jaws of death by entering a lion’s
cage to get his phone.
Many people complain that cell
phone users have no etiquette.
When the Federal Communications
Commission announced it was
considering allowing cell phones
on planes, some said it was a recipe
for disaster.
In an article on CNN/Money, one
person questioned, “What are the
airlines and FCC thinking?”
“Can you imagine being in the
middle seat between two business
people making phone calls for three
hours?” he asked.
“I think people are going to
go berserk,” Magee said, adding
that unless airlines have clear
guidelines, the potential for more
“airline rage” is high.
Some cell phone users don’t only
test people’s tempers, they might
also be endangering human life.
Legislators around the nation are
worried about the dangers that exist
when people pay more attention to
their conversations than to the road.
New York was the first state to ban
hand-held cell phone use in 2001,
according to newsday.com. New
Jersey and Washington, D.C. also
adopted the ban, and at least
13 other states are considering
introducing similar legislation
Cell phones may also affect how
people live their lives in general.
Lysaker suggests that the notion
of being available all the time
expands the workplace into
personal life and the “home is being
colonized by the office.”
“It extends the workplace
everywhere” he said, adding that all
significant technological inventions
impact people’s relationship with
the world. Lysaker said he only uses
his phone for emergencies.
“I don’t know my cell phone
number because I don’t want people
to call me,” he said. There are
numerous stories that illustrate just
how embedded these gadgets have
become in daily existence, but they
will have to wait — this reporter’s
cell phone is ringing.
ayishayahya@dailyemerald.com