If you’re asking me the question “Can you hear me now?”, then it’s probably because I can’t. I can’t because someone next to me is speaking at a high volume on a cell phone with little to no concern for the fact that everyone can hear what he’s saying. I really don’t want to hear the details of his personal life. I have my own details to preoccupy me, but I’m a captive audience in the grocery checkout line, the bank or movie theater queue, in the middle of the department store or having a meal at a restaurant; and it’s almost always LOUD, obnoxiously so!
It’s probably because our senses take cues from our environment, so we improvise by amplifying our voices when we can’t see if a person is paying attention. But what about the many instances where having this conversation is just plain inappropriate or some may say rude? How about when we accept a call at a church service? Even at a funeral or other life-event like a wedding or a christening? The icing on the cake is when you’re deep into the event and the phone blasts its ringtone: “Shake, Shake, Shake it Baby!” Then the person scrambles to turn it off, usually while adding to the noise disturbance factor, and winds up again loudly whispering “Hello, I can’t speak right now”. Yup, we knew that and wouldn’t it have been better to turn it off before Right Now, and even better, if you hung up and really send the message…quickly.
I do know that we’re in the technology age and we’re no longer tied to a home phone line or corner payphone. But it seems like we’re tethered by an invisible line; stronger and more difficult to cut. Some may say that we’re also in the age of the Amateur Celebrity syndrome where everyone’s a star in the reality of our sometimes humdrum lives. Can anyone say YouTube or Facebook? We want to believe that someone, always… wants to hear what we have to say. It can actually be pretty funny to see our self- absorption. It’s like the time I saw this person riding on the back of an ox in a rural field and on the phone.
It just maybe that our world’s become so different that we lack social connection in our lives, which came from tightly knit families and friendly neighborhoods. Now we get it any way we can, sometimes to stave off the loneliness like the solo diner at a restaurant or to exhibit to the world that someone cares enough to talk to us. Of course, cell phones also keep us close when we’re in another state or country and we can tuck our favorite little person in with a sweet goodnight. But they also keep us apart, even detached from each other, again like the solo diner who just might’ve struck up a lighthearted interaction across tables, were it not for the little technology giant. They can keep us apart in our homes, where we text the kids to come to sit for dinner or we glance at each notification during dinner versus looking into the eyes and minds of our family members.
Our use of our cell phones can save our lives when every minute counts in an emergency. They allow us to get reassurance that our kids are safe on the bus or the school outing. Our dependence on them can also lead us quickly from safety into danger. It’s the reason why the statistics are growing with teen deaths from texting while driving. We compensate sometimes by driving like Ms. Daisy as we gesticulate our viewpoints or we check the rear-view mirror at the baby and attempt two conversations at once. Let’s hope that we all know that driving below the speed limit may cause an accident just as driving above it.
How about we prioritize our efforts into safety first since “call waiting and voicemail” were invented for a reason? How about we just remind ourselves that a cell phone has its uses but we still could use our good sense?
CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?
