Cell Phones

The first article I chose was Reining in Cell Phone Use" by Derek J. Moore, of The Press Democrat, April 11, 2008. He discusses the false sense of safety people have using hand free options on cell phones while driving, namely blue tooth being potentially the most dangerous of all as there may be latent side effects concerning people's health yet to be discovered. He also suggests that hands free options don't make people better drivers, and that people will continue to be distracted while driving. Oddly enough, the law he discusses in his article does not ban text messaging, which is much more distracting than just talking on the phone.

For my next article, I chose "When Your Brain is Outside Your Car" by Dave Downey, of North County Times, March 31, 2008. The journalist discusses, with confirmation, that talking on the phone while driving is a hazard, regardless of whether you have a hands free option or not. Worst of all, it gives police the authority to pull you over for an incidental occurrence, and proceed how they see fit. Is this America we live in? Or is it some police state in one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's futuristic sci-fi movies?

This next article was very interesting. It is "The Affliction: Technology Created It" by Jose Astorga, blog in Seattle Post Intelligencer.com, April 8, 2008. Not only does he highlight, yet again, the dangers of talking on the phone and driving, but he also brings up a psychological issue he is developing that is manifesting physically, that when he gets hungry his stomach vibrates as his cell phone does. I found this to be humorous and bazaar, however, when I'm watching a movie at home and phones ring on the screen, I oddly enough reach for my phone to see who is calling. Aside from these newfound phantoms our over stressed, over worked, under payed, and under rewarded society is developing, he also mentions the rudeness factor. How it has been adopted that it is OK to interrupt people in conversation when the phone rings, or text message other people while you are speaking to someone in person. Nobody is paying attention to anyone anymore. I wonder what other kinds of psychological drama will unfold as this phenomena of the cell phone continues into the future? Where will we be as people?

This next article seems to answer my previous questions a little bit about where we are heading. It is called "Text Messaging as Toy or Tool" by Naomi S. Baron, of OUP.blog, Oxford University Press, March 25, 2008. She discusses what the youth of the world is doing with this technology that they were born into. So our future as human beings may look to be as though there is a high regard for privacy and personal space, but a want and a need to communicate with others, as long as the communication is one sided. This has a slew of pros and cons. On one hand, you have the comfort and control of privacy. On the other, you have a serious detachment from others, which is socially dangerous. A divided people is much easier to control, and though this technology in my generation has a potential of bringing us closer together and coordinate efforts, if future generations take it for granted it will serve to separate people more, and desensitize them easier. Another interesting thing in this article is since when is spying on your children good parenting? What happened to nurturing and open communication from the start so you've laid the ground work for them to trust you and come to you with their problems or questions? Yes, it is good to know what is going on in their lives, however all you need to do is listen or ask questions like the drug talk, the weapons talk, the who's your enemies talk, and who's your friends talk. It is important to teach children to be self reliant and show them respect so they don't need to rebel. In this regard, maybe cell phones will bring parents and children closer together.