A rant, if you will, on cell phones and the like
My good friend Dan spent many years as a youth pastor in various Protestant Churches. On of the many things he did that I admired was to limit his charges use of electronic devices. Much of his time was spent prior to the days of the ubiquitous cell phone, he rather dealt more specifically with personal stereos (including those of the audio-casette variety, am I stretching your memory?)He insisted that youth not listen to such devices while involved with any group activity, including travel. Some kids had a hard time with it, but Dan was insistent in that he assserted, (and I believe rightly so) that such use constituted a certain aloofness and separated one from the community and was hence anathema to relationship building.
I wish Dan would take his philosophy to scoiety at large these days. The bane of or communal existence I am now convinced is not necessarily just personal stereos, though they have certainly become more advanced via MP-3 technology. The prime offender in my eyes is the cellular phone. I realize that I am hardly the first one to address this issue, or to rant about it for that matter. Nor am I going to pretend that I do not have or use my cell phone. I embraced the technology very early on, so early in fact that I actually had a
“Bag Phone” that must have weighed a good 8 lbs. that I lugged around regularly. I have likely even been guilty on occasion of the very things which I am about to rant on. Perhaps it is my life experiences that have caused me to become so sensitive to this issue, it is also quite likely a product of my Eastern Orthodox faith and attendant value system, focused as it is on the Incarnation of The Word that has heightened my sensitivity.
It seems to me that one of the negative effects that cell phone ownership and useage has on so many of us, is the sense of self-importance and self -agrandizement that such devices seem to invariably engender. This seems particularly true as the devices become more sophisticated. It is almost as if we have become caught up in a competition to see who can have the latest, most feature filled , svelte, and in many cases the most expensive phone. But perhaps the thing I find most grating is the rudeness that seems to come with the increasing use of cell phones in public places, most notably in retail stores and on college campuses, two places that I am intimately aquainted with.
As a college student (of the distinctly non-trqaaditional variety) I am continually amazed at the number of cell phones that end up ringing in the classroom. My phone is either turned off, or completely silenced upon my entering into the Main Hall.It does not come baqck on until I am finished with class. Anyone wanting to talk to me can leave a messsage on my voice mail, I will call them back at an appropriate time. Once upon a time students went from class to class taliking with their friends and schoolmates, they still do, but usually not face to face, rather on their cell phones, so engrossed that they tend to ignore all those around them, failing to observe even cursory manners, like moving the heck out of the way of people walking in the opposite direction!(snese a little frustration here?)
The same is true of those who insist on talking while driving down the interstae, or worse yet, imho, on crowded and busy municipal streets wit their myriad traffic control devices and turn lanes and the like.
But what I find most irritating of all, as a retail worker in a large Grocery chain, is people who come to my counter (I’m a meat cutter at a full service meat counter) and insist on continuing their phone conversations whilst simultaneously attempting to order a couple of Porterhouses for hat evenings dinner. Never mind the fact that there are two huge fans overheqad to keep my prep area at a constant 50 degrees farenheit, never mind the ‘Muzak” on the intercom along with the call for a cleanup on aisle 12, or just the general constant cacophony of saws, grinders and cubers, lets try to talk on the phone as well. Let’s order between disucssing the broken down dishwasher, the kid’s ballet or last nights exploits, treating the clerk (or in this case the skilled tradesmen) with utter
contempt. Perhaps my skin is too thin on this issue. I have taken to generally ignoring the yackers until they terminate their conversation, or at least put it on hold long enough to place and receive their orders.
Needless to say, I find myself saying The Jesus prayer quite often, My work provides plenty of confession fodder, hence job security for Fr. John. I’m quite sure however that he would not miss this aspect of his job at all however.
I realize that I have a great deal of growing in grace to do. BUt this sort of behavior is simply anti-socal. It is selfish and needs to be remedied. I have stareted to leave my own phone either in the car or even at home more often. But how to communicate discretely to others about how offensive these beahviors are?
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
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