This past weekend, my phone fritz-ed out on me. I went to the Verizon store and they told me 2 things. "The good news, is that your phone is under warranty so you don't have a buy a new one, the bad news is that we don't have any in the store so we need to ship one to you, and it will probably come on Tuesday at the earliest...."
My initial thoughts were....cool I don't have to drop $200 on a new phone, and dang I won't have a cell phone for 5 days??? How am I going to update my twitter account, and what if I miss a text message? I eventually embraced the idea and it has been really freeing. I was on my weekend away so it kind of added to the fact that I didn't have any real responsibility for the weekend. During the weekend I had a flashback of what it was like when we didn't have cell phones. I was trying to plan to meet up with my friend Ryan. We had to plan ahead and stick to our word. We made plans to meet at a certain place at a certain time and we couldn't call any audibles. So I waited a few minutes at our meeting spot but he eventually rolled in. Compared to nowadays when we would have been like...alright I'll call you after church and we'll figure something out, and then texts and calls immense (very dangerous while driving btw) and eventually we rendezvous.
One of the big things that I get frustrated with about college students is that they are non-committal. You can plan a meeting or an event and they don't commit to going to it, and if they do there is always the fear of getting a call or a text a few minutes before saying..."hey, something came up so I can't make it." Maybe cell phones have helped create this mentality. You couldn't really do this back in the day because there wasn't a way to instantly access someone. You could call them at there house or work, but if they already left to meet up with you then there was no way to get in touch with them except to meet up with them.
I'm not saying I'm going to be one of those "freaks" that don't have a cell phone, but I do miss the simplicity of not having one. Access to a phone means that you can call anyone at anytime virtually, but that also means that someone can access you immediately. No matter what you're doing. You could be in a really important meeting, going to the bathroom it doesn't matter because your phone is always on you. Also with these new smart phones....which I have, you get texts, but can also get updates about twitter, facebook, and emails. My phone is constantly going off all throughout the day because of emails, and throughout the night too. It's almost like I can't ever get away. (I just had a realization that I am old...and I am having a "back when I young" moment....)
Have we created a system that is too busy and cluttered for our own good?
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