Better By Nightfall

I've turned off my cell phone. I've disconnected a method of communication. Don't worry, my actions aren't political or, surprisingly, economical. They are, however, purely experimental.

Last Tuesday my Anthropology teacher brought a concept to my attention: the usage of cell phones to pass the time as a substitute for actual intellectual thinking.

I started to think about how many times I was one of those people he talked about, walking down the quad talking on my cell phone to someone just to pass the time. While I can count the number of times this semester (only because it just started), I can't even begin to count the nubmer of times I was one of those people on my phone while walking down the quad.

So, I decided to experiment. Sure, it's simple. Turn off the cell phone and deal with it, right?

Well, that seems to be the case so far. The last person I talked to on my cell phone before I shut it off was Caryn, who claims to have an addiction to her cellphone. I, however, know I'm not that crazy about my cell phone. When I think about my cell phone usage, I usually use it out of convienece. I have it on me for people to get a hold of me for whatever reason and for me to do the same. There are the occassional conversations with Caryn that really don't fulfill a real purpose outside of chatting and cheering up one another. That's another story in itself though.

Day One
As far as I can tell, no one really misses me not having a number to be reached at readily. Wtih that said, I feel a little more liberated, like I'm not tied down to a certain scedule of events that center around my cell phone. Moreover, I enjoy the extra pocket space and not having to worry about turning it on silent during classes. The constant slew of voice and text messages aren't an issue when you don't have hear or see the phone ring. It's like it fades from your mind.

When I was walking down the quad I wasn't really thinking about anything but classes and how I needed to get a cup of coffee. My phone wasn't even a thought in my mind. Though, it was funny to see an almost closely-knit row of six or seven people each with cell phone at ear chatting away. I began to wonder: Are we that dependent on communication from other people? Or, are we just too bored to deal with what's going on around us? Do we use our cell phones as an evasive device or a device for communication?

From my personal experience, I can say that I use it for both. I've used my cell phone evasivly to avoid the fanatic religious zelots and election crazed gurus that flood the quad throughout the year. Yet, I also use it to keep in touch with people that obviously aren't here. I use it to synchronize meeting times and places with people here, as well as a multitude of other things. Still, I wonder why most of us feel we need to have our cell phones on us at all times? Is it really that big of a necessity?

As far as I can tell, this is just a simple experiment to see how turning off my cell phone affects my network of friends by disabling one source of communication with others. So far I don't see any visible advantages or disadvantages, but I still have six more days to go.