Thursday, January 05, 2006
Cell Phone Nation has hit me full force
Though our society is probably destined to one day appear in a history book labeled as the Technological Age, or something to that effect, I'm narrowing it down today to serve my own purposes (i.e. this post).
We live in a world of cell phones. Ever stop and try to remember what life was like without them? How did people meet each other at places? How did people stay in touch? Well, I'm not going to go into one of those crazy rants about how the "good old days were simpler and better without cell phones and oh how I lament that we can't return to those times." Because I don't lament it. I think cell phones are wonderful. But, I move away from the real reason for this post...lemme get back there.
........................
Okay, back. Brain took a detour. It happens.
Anywho...this world of cell phones that we live in. They're common things these days. They're not just phones, they're entertainment. Accessories galore. Ring tones and games and videos and cameras and text messages and on and on. As I said, we live in a cell phone world. Cell Phone Nation, you might call it [or rather, I might call it...]
Oh, I was very against having one for quite awhile. All through college I strongly resisted. Of course, my college made it pretty easy not to like them. Small campus, lots of outdoor space, lots of things to do. People that I went to college with hid their cell phones if they had them. You didn't carry a cell around campus with you. You only used it in the confines of your room for long distance calls home because that was cheaper. But nobody had (or admitted to having) a cell phone.
I finally got one when I had my first job because I'd be traveling and figured I needed a good way to get in touch with people. And so I joined the Cell Phone Nation. A simple phone. No bells or whistles or cameras or color or anything. This was 2003 people. Like the stone age for cell phones. [Okay, maybe a little less ancient, we certainly aren't talking huge mobile units that were bigger than your head...]
Simple. Sleek. Flip phone. It was pretty. All I needed. Cute little phone, nice big national plan. I was set. And then 2 years passed, and my little cell phone went and grew up and got itself outdated. Go figure. When I went to exchange it, I was looking for something just like my old phone. I didn't need color and cameras and bells and whistles. [Even though now the bells and whistles were commonplace, like Coke in a plastic bottle or 32 flavors of ice cream (and then some...)]
And guess what I found: the flip phone with a camera and a color screen was cheaper, lighter, and thinner than my old phone was. So, I took another step into Cell Phone Nation. The bells and whistles have reached me, too. I haven't as yet joined the world of cell phone accessorizing. I have yet to download a single ring-tone, or buy a single accessory for my phone. I try to keep it simple. Nothing fancy. [Who am I kidding. It's really only a matter of time before I get the hands-free set or break down and download ringtones or something. *sigh*]
Reading this, it may seem to you that I still am not a cell phone fan. You may wonder why I bother at all if I seem so opposed to them. I am indeed quite proud of my ability to resist most of Cell Phone Nation in all its accessorized, decked-out glory. But really, I love my little cell phone. It's the smallest and most easily accessible phone book I've ever owned. It's great for allowing me to keep in touch with old friends. It's invaluable when meeting anyone anywhere. And it's so much cheaper than having a land line. I, like most people in Cell Phone Nation, don't even have a land line. I exist on the phone lines only in the cordless, cellular realm.
So, what is the point of my post then? Okay, sure. I like my cell phone, even though I'm quite proud of my stubborn resistance of Cell Phone Nation taking over my own little world. So?
Well, with all the resistance to Cell Phone Nation, all the stubborn determination to stay simple in this age of cell phones, I now have two of them.
Two.
One for personal use, the "home cell phone." The second for work use, the "business cell phone." If you filled out an address book card in MS Outlook for me, you would have a number for Mobile 1 and Mobile 2 (since they haven't created labels for Home Cell and Work Cell yet...).
Two cell phones.
I've had the second for about 5 months now, so I've gotten used to it, I guess. At first, I forgot to answer it because it had a different ring sound, and because 'hey, I'm supposed to be technically not the hugest fan of cell phones, right?'
I guess this post comes from an experience this evening while walking home from the T after work. I had just gotten out of the station, and had my home cell out to call a friend, when my work cell rang. Now, because I was all mittened up and rushing to grab the work cell from my bag, I ended up walking down the sidewalk with my home cell in my left hand, still open and waiting to dial the friend's number, and my work cell open and raised to my ear with my right hand. See the picture? Nice sleek wool long coat that looks all business-y with all my wintry accessories (mittens, hat, scarf). Shoulder bag hanging to my right side. Headphones draped around my neck. Cell phone open and ready to use in my left mitten paw. Talking into a different cell phone held up with my right mitten paw. Walking down the sidewalk dodging oncoming pedestrian traffic in the end of rush hour sea of people walking home from the T. I was a caricature of the very thing I wanted to avoid: the person who's way too caught up in Cell Phone Nation. The person you pass on the street and shake your head at because they look so unaware of their excessiveness. I get the picture in my head and think I must have looked ridiculous! [Let's be serious. I probably did. I probably also looked like one of those snobby people wrapped up in only their own little world with a 'who cares about anyone else because my life is just more important' attitude. Haha.]
It's almost ironic, isn't it? Me with the 2 cell phones. I won't pull an Alanis and decide to call it ironic when it really isn't. (Oh man, that's a whole 'nother post just waiting to be written! [As is the fact that I just wrote "a whole 'nother" as I type-speak in my vernacular. Funny how 'another' has become 2 words...]) But it is funny that I'm the one who finds herself with not one, but two cell phones. Me, the girl who in college refused to carry a thought of ever owning a cell phone.
Welcome to my slice of Cell Phone Nation: population 3. My cell phone, my other cell phone, and I.
We live in a world of cell phones. Ever stop and try to remember what life was like without them? How did people meet each other at places? How did people stay in touch? Well, I'm not going to go into one of those crazy rants about how the "good old days were simpler and better without cell phones and oh how I lament that we can't return to those times." Because I don't lament it. I think cell phones are wonderful. But, I move away from the real reason for this post...lemme get back there.
........................
Okay, back. Brain took a detour. It happens.
Anywho...this world of cell phones that we live in. They're common things these days. They're not just phones, they're entertainment. Accessories galore. Ring tones and games and videos and cameras and text messages and on and on. As I said, we live in a cell phone world. Cell Phone Nation, you might call it [or rather, I might call it...]
Oh, I was very against having one for quite awhile. All through college I strongly resisted. Of course, my college made it pretty easy not to like them. Small campus, lots of outdoor space, lots of things to do. People that I went to college with hid their cell phones if they had them. You didn't carry a cell around campus with you. You only used it in the confines of your room for long distance calls home because that was cheaper. But nobody had (or admitted to having) a cell phone.
I finally got one when I had my first job because I'd be traveling and figured I needed a good way to get in touch with people. And so I joined the Cell Phone Nation. A simple phone. No bells or whistles or cameras or color or anything. This was 2003 people. Like the stone age for cell phones. [Okay, maybe a little less ancient, we certainly aren't talking huge mobile units that were bigger than your head...]
Simple. Sleek. Flip phone. It was pretty. All I needed. Cute little phone, nice big national plan. I was set. And then 2 years passed, and my little cell phone went and grew up and got itself outdated. Go figure. When I went to exchange it, I was looking for something just like my old phone. I didn't need color and cameras and bells and whistles. [Even though now the bells and whistles were commonplace, like Coke in a plastic bottle or 32 flavors of ice cream (and then some...)]
And guess what I found: the flip phone with a camera and a color screen was cheaper, lighter, and thinner than my old phone was. So, I took another step into Cell Phone Nation. The bells and whistles have reached me, too. I haven't as yet joined the world of cell phone accessorizing. I have yet to download a single ring-tone, or buy a single accessory for my phone. I try to keep it simple. Nothing fancy. [Who am I kidding. It's really only a matter of time before I get the hands-free set or break down and download ringtones or something. *sigh*]
Reading this, it may seem to you that I still am not a cell phone fan. You may wonder why I bother at all if I seem so opposed to them. I am indeed quite proud of my ability to resist most of Cell Phone Nation in all its accessorized, decked-out glory. But really, I love my little cell phone. It's the smallest and most easily accessible phone book I've ever owned. It's great for allowing me to keep in touch with old friends. It's invaluable when meeting anyone anywhere. And it's so much cheaper than having a land line. I, like most people in Cell Phone Nation, don't even have a land line. I exist on the phone lines only in the cordless, cellular realm.
So, what is the point of my post then? Okay, sure. I like my cell phone, even though I'm quite proud of my stubborn resistance of Cell Phone Nation taking over my own little world. So?
Well, with all the resistance to Cell Phone Nation, all the stubborn determination to stay simple in this age of cell phones, I now have two of them.
Two.
One for personal use, the "home cell phone." The second for work use, the "business cell phone." If you filled out an address book card in MS Outlook for me, you would have a number for Mobile 1 and Mobile 2 (since they haven't created labels for Home Cell and Work Cell yet...).
Two cell phones.
I've had the second for about 5 months now, so I've gotten used to it, I guess. At first, I forgot to answer it because it had a different ring sound, and because 'hey, I'm supposed to be technically not the hugest fan of cell phones, right?'
I guess this post comes from an experience this evening while walking home from the T after work. I had just gotten out of the station, and had my home cell out to call a friend, when my work cell rang. Now, because I was all mittened up and rushing to grab the work cell from my bag, I ended up walking down the sidewalk with my home cell in my left hand, still open and waiting to dial the friend's number, and my work cell open and raised to my ear with my right hand. See the picture? Nice sleek wool long coat that looks all business-y with all my wintry accessories (mittens, hat, scarf). Shoulder bag hanging to my right side. Headphones draped around my neck. Cell phone open and ready to use in my left mitten paw. Talking into a different cell phone held up with my right mitten paw. Walking down the sidewalk dodging oncoming pedestrian traffic in the end of rush hour sea of people walking home from the T. I was a caricature of the very thing I wanted to avoid: the person who's way too caught up in Cell Phone Nation. The person you pass on the street and shake your head at because they look so unaware of their excessiveness. I get the picture in my head and think I must have looked ridiculous! [Let's be serious. I probably did. I probably also looked like one of those snobby people wrapped up in only their own little world with a 'who cares about anyone else because my life is just more important' attitude. Haha.]
It's almost ironic, isn't it? Me with the 2 cell phones. I won't pull an Alanis and decide to call it ironic when it really isn't. (Oh man, that's a whole 'nother post just waiting to be written! [As is the fact that I just wrote "a whole 'nother" as I type-speak in my vernacular. Funny how 'another' has become 2 words...]) But it is funny that I'm the one who finds herself with not one, but two cell phones. Me, the girl who in college refused to carry a thought of ever owning a cell phone.
Welcome to my slice of Cell Phone Nation: population 3. My cell phone, my other cell phone, and I.
// posted by Nina @ 8:11 PM 
