November 20, 2008, 7:49pm:
It's a slushy, icy mess as I begin my brief drive home from Spanish class, with giant bloated snowflakes steadily collecting on the road. I cautiously brake to a stop on Spicer Street to await the light on Exchange Street. My winter coat is zipped to my chin(s) and my mitten encased hands are loosely on the steering wheel. Hmm...those headlights behind me seem to be coming at me awfully fast...
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<CRASH>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Well crap! I pull my car to the side of the road (as much as possible) and spring out to check out my car. Wow! It's not really even dented, the paint has just been scored off of the bumper and my tail light didn't even crack! Oooh! Check out the other driver's van...bumper cracked in half with a gaping hole in the middle of it. We exchange a few words and decide to call the police.
There it is folks! A legitimate reason to use a cell phone. It's precisely for situations like this that I keep a prepaid phone. There are plenty of good reasons to need/use a cell phone but if we're completely honest and real with ourselves, how much of our cell phone use is frivolous, time wasting or even an out-and-out addiction?
We as a people have never lived in times more bursting-at-the-seams with technology in its many forms; from electronic gadgetry to medical breakthroughs and beyond. It's all around us and in so many ways has made our lives easier, more convenient and even richer. But I have to wonder, when is it enough?
I am a college student and thus have a lot of contact with younger people. So many of these students are glued to their cell phones, computers and MP3 players 24/7...quite commonly, even during classes. By no choice of my own I've heard many, many, many one sided conversations as these youngsters yap away on their phones. (One can experience the exact same situation in nearly any public setting and with any age bracket of person.) These conversations are eerily like an episode of Seinfeld, in that they are frequently about nothing.
It could be a glorious spring day with all of the flowers in full bloom, the sun thawing out our snow encrusted heads with a gentle breeze caressing our chapped faces and carrying with it the scent of renewed earth. Look! A chipmunk dashes across the sidewalk with its tiny cheeks stuffed to overflowing. Birds tweet from budding trees and church bells sound from downtown. This scene plays out as I walk from one class to another and yet I get the distinct feeling that I am one of few people experiencing it.
Could I have used this 5 minute walk between classes differently? Of course! As our culture dictates I could have texted, chatted, called, surfed, down loaded, emailed and otherwise distracted myself. The question is: why? Is texting, chatting, calling, surfing, downloading and emailing a real priority? Or, have we became so ADD and in desperate need of empty stimulation that we can't just be?
*Edited to add: on the day of the accident, I pulled my cell phone out of my purse, held down the ON button only to discover LOW BATTERY. Yep, you guessed it, the phone was deader than a doornail!  *
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