Constantly I hear negativity from our elders in the way of cell phones. “Kids and their phones,” they say, “They are awful!” In some aspects, I cannot help but to agree. Yes, cell phones have taught younger generation’s poor social skills. Yes, I have yet to meet someone born after the year 2000 who can have a coherent VERBAL telephone or face-to-face conversation (due to the texting phenomenon.) And of course, I do think that maybe social media has taken things a little bit too far. But recently, I have learned that cell phones are not just the problem of our generation.
Last week I went to a movie theater with my boyfriend. We sat down, drank our sodas, and watched as our fellow movie-goers trickled in. A couple about our age came in, a woman with four middle school children came in, a small group of senior citizens came in, and more. The lights dimmed, the previews played, the screen went black, and then the movie began. As the movie began, I looked over to see the woman with the four middle school children on her phone texting. Her phone was actually lighting up her area of the theater! “How rude!” I whispered to my boyfriend, “Doesn’t she know to put it away? Doesn’t she know that her texting is distracting?” Not ten minutes later (as the woman is still texting) a man in the row in front of us receives a phone call. He answers the phone on his way out of the theater, and proceeds to hold the door open as he completes his conversation. The light from the lobby of the theater is distracting as well as the man’s foul language. Irritated, my boyfriend goes to the door to close it. “What was that all about?” he asked me, “People don’t have courtesy anymore!” Finally, before the movie ended, another woman received a phone call in the theater AND PROCEEDED TO HOLD THE CONVERSATION AS THE MOVIE PLAYED.
All of those offenders? Way beyond their 20’s and even beyond their 30’s. All of these offenders grew up before the era of constant communication.
While our generation is indeed, cell phone obsessed, we also carry something that generations before us haven’t gotten: cell phone discipline. We grew up making sure our phones are off and put away during school, hiding emergency text interactions in bathroom stalls, and making sure our phones are silent in the most important circumstances. Teachers took our phones when they buzzed in class, authority figures yelled at us, and soon we learned when and how to use our phones.
To anyone who is reading this: keep your cell phone courtesy close. Don’t give into what the older generations are saying about our cell phone obsessions. Yes, we carry them everywhere. Yes, we may overuse them. But they can be our greatest tools and our most helpful resources… if we use them wisely.
And the next time someone ruins my movie experience with their cell phone antics? Let’s just say I won’t be simply blogging about it.
Chat wisely folks. It can save lives.