Your cell phone breaks, now what? Not only is this a story experienced by many people but it also is a story repeated multiple times in one person's life. What is the instantaneous feeling that comes sweeping over someone whose cell phone has just broken? Speaking from recent experience, it is a sensation of panic coming over your body. A cell phone is no longer just a cell phone instead it is one's connection to the "outside" world, its how one keeps their network intact. Even if you realize your cell phone has broke at three am, there is still a sense of urgency to be able to be connected to everyone in your contact list. The likelihood of anyone calling you or needing to call anyone at the ungodly hour of three am is slim to none for most people. However, as soon as your phone breaks you feel as though everyone in the world will be calling right at that moment and all those calls will be of upmost importance. Because of this sudden urgency to fix your cell phone immediately your heart rate quickens, your neurons fire more frequently, and your body release cortisol as a stress response. Soon this situation starts to resemble a life or death situation at an anatomical level and even at a psychological level. Losing the technology of a call phone has now become a "life or death" situation for many because people have become so reliant on the mobility of their phones.
After the raising of my stress response as soon as my phone broke, I attempt all the tricks of the trade to get my phone working again; taking the battery in and out, turning the phone on and off, etc. Alas all these methods fail, which forces my sense of urgency to worsen and my heartbeat to quicken. Immediately I resort to the only other way in which I can contact other human beings; the Internet. After sending an email, I sit there patiently waiting for a prompt response as if email is an alternate phone. Once the realization that email is my only form of technological contact with anyone I start to panic once again, being able to get to a phone becomes my obsession that cannot be swayed by any other topic. After this realization, the dependency on cell phones for people today becomes clear and depressing at the same time. The fact that the breaking of a cell phone disrupts not only one's contact with everyone they know but also disrupts their body's homeostasis shows that we have become dependent on technology. If one form of technology simply fails, we feel as though the world has ended and this is the depressing aspect of technological dependence for me.
3 comments:
Great post about the urgency to communicate when your primary device, a cell phone, is not longer working. yes, indeed, I'm sure that the majority of us have been there and done that. I Just want to point out a few typos. I think 3 am should be spelled out "three". I believe that if the number is 10 or higher, then you would just use the number. But maybe I'm wrong? Also, the sentence, "The likelihood of anyone calling your or your needing to call.. I think you meant "you". And the sentence, "However, as soon as your phone breaks you feel as though everyone in the world will be calling your...again here, "you". Other than those minor typos, a great read!
A couple more mistakes: "has broke" should be "has broken" or just "broke"...and "upmost" should be "utmost." I really like how you go into the physiological explanations of what happens when you lose your cell phone—this makes it visceral and technical, at once. Yes, it is depressing, I suppose. But it strikes me as a bit naive to think that humans are 'finally' dependent on their technologies—for hasn't this always been the case, whether the technology in question is a fire, a compass, or a cell phone? In fact, isn't part of being human precisely the relationships between a species and its things? Or, could humans in fact evolve out of a tool-stage, and become gelatinous organs without the need for tool-wielding bodies? Would this be a dream, or a nightmare?? I wonder about this. All in all, this is a thoughtful and evocative post.
From first hand experience, even if my phone did not break and I just forgot it at my apt or in my car, I would panic because I would worry that I would need my cell phone. My cell phone serves many purposes such as my clock, calender, camera, and a phone. It would be interesting to see if even one major phone company such as Cingular would crash for one day and see how people would react without a working phone
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