A few years ago, a local and somewhat high ranking member of my Faith in Vegas asked me what I thought was the biggest catalyst of change and seemed surprised when I blamed cell phones. When I left for my missionary service, I knew maybe a handful of people who had them, and then it was only for work. When I returned two years later, cell phones were ubiquitous, so much that people never seem to put them down or put them away. Although it makes it easier to keep in touch, I am not sure that technology becomes the boon we assume it to be. You've heard cliches like "at a time when we are all connected we have never been so distant", and this is true of every technological advancement. For a time at least it divides us, but it's been almost 15 years, and I don't think we'll see it get better. I think it gets worse.
1. people no longer commit
Since you can contact people any time, people no longer seem to know how to make plans and keep them. I had plans to take a friend out last Friday, and when my cell phone battery died, we were no longer able to communicate. This person unwisely chose not to coordinate until the absolute last minute, and by the time we got together we missed the show and ended up with a mediocre night. I was supposed to join some different folks to hike this weekend, but I know from prior experience not to show up early. The time changed from 9AM to 10AM to 11AM, and by then it was too late for me to also attend graduation. It's a good thing I wasn't at the meeting place waiting for them for TWO HOURS. I'd be angry. We make plans, we make promises, and we make purchases, but we upgrade our phones constantly, and we change our plans on the fly.
2. people no longer pay attention
Cell phones distract people from other things around them. A young lady would have walked straight into me this morning if I had not been paying attention because she was focused on her phone rather than on where she was going. There's another young lady I see Tuesday and Thursday that I don't even know what she looks like. Her face is always pointed to her phone in her lap, and she never even looks up to see what is coming or who is there or what's happening. A few years ago, my buddy and I went hiking in Snow Canyon UT and shook our heads when the youths of Utah (Utahrds) came around the bend playing dissonant music from their cell phones. All too often, when I see errant driving on the freeway, the driver is using a cell phone, which is illegal in Nevada while driving, but they put me at risk anyway. I used to have phone numbers memorized and I still take real photos, but now people cannot do anything it seems without their phones, and when the phone crashes they risk losing all of their data and information.
3. people no longer know how to interface like people
Phones dehumanize the people with whom and to whom we speak. We assign cute ring tones and program pictures in, but all too often I think we forget that there's a person on the other side of the line. A friend gave me her phone years ago when mine died, and it was programmed with her vocabulary and guessed words in texting that I would never say to anyone. Type is not anonymity. Our phones are devices to make ourselves popular. We update our Buttbook page, our fanstagram image files, or our atwitter postings to let people know we are cooler or busier. We use them to brag. When there are problems with people around us, rather than assist, we take pictures and post them to social media. Rather than have substantive conversations using proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation, we confine their remarks to the 140 character maximum per message. People assume that I have a smartphone and send me emails instead of calling me, despite the fact I provide my phone number and even when I request that they call me directly. We know because we can see posts that people have their phones, but we sit and wait for people to call or contact us back and wonder why they hate us. We stratify ourselves based on the exposure that we get in terms of likes and shares from our peers who have phones and judge ourselves based on how or if our friends use their phones to boost our egos.
No single change in our technology, sociology, or society carried the power to change civilization like the cell phone. Like so many other technological constructs rather than being a boon it's been corrupted by elements that hurt more than they help. Our phones transfer germs through touch screens, transfer personal data on an insecure cloud, immediately share private details, immediately and irreversibly offend with emotional outbursts, and that's not to mention the chemical and electrical interference to our physiological well-being! Since we can get almost instantaneous feedback, we demand it, and when we don't get it, it causes emotional trauma for many whose egos depend on information that comes through that small box in their pocket. We feel ignored, left out, and unimportant sometimes, and at others we read too much into the apparent approbation and approval of people who provide quick albeit vapid validation. At least in part cell phones catalyze the decline of our species and our civilization. I am not convinced they are a blessing even though they could be. When they force me to get a smart phone, I won't have a phone at all.
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