Everyone having a cell phone is a relatively new phenomenon but in this day and age, cell phones are everywhere. People use them to email, text, tweet, photograph, game, research, facebook, and oh yeah… call.
My observation this week is how it has become a social norm to be constantly tied to your phone. A whole new set of social rules are still being laid out for what is considered “correct” and “socially acceptable” but I feel until society agrees on a set of rules, anything goes. Our obsession over comfortable communication argues us into an “other-oriented emotional economy” (although I’d use the term society instead of economy because economy is usually strictly about monetary distribution and financial dealings). We are constantly attempting to keep up with the mass of data thrown at us through emails, calls, and texts from our coworkers, friends, and family. If someone doesn’t reply in an hour or two, we get impatient. Just as we expect a friend to text back right away, people constantly check their phones to see if they need to do the same. It has become a body practice to whip out the cell phone and glance at it throughout the day, sometimes even unconsciously so. Culture has argued us into the need of a cell phone because “everyone has one” and uses it so thoroughly. Our cultural practices have expanded to include checking your phone in class, texting someone in an awkward situation, everyone putting phones on vibrate instead of off in movie theaters etc. And what I find so fascinating is that this whole phone culture has literally sprung up in the last 10 years and is continuing to grow and change. And just as we change and mold our phones to be better, faster, and more efficient, our phones mold our behaviors and social norms. Is the technology and cellphone age a pursuit without a terminus?
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