"Cellphonies"

While reading the article by Amy Harmon, I couldn't help but laugh at the "cellphonies" reference. This really is true; sad, but true! A few years ago, my dad and I were at the county fair. We saw a woman that we knew walking up to us. This woman is not a friend of ours, she is the type of person that when you see her you try and escape the opposite direction. But this time she was coming straight for us and it was too late. After talking to her for a few minutes, I see my dad pull his cell phone out of his pocket, look at it, and step away while answering the "call." And then I was all alone, stuck talking to this woman. When she finally let me go, I met up with my dad around the corner. Sure enough he had thrown me under the bus by faking an incoming phone call. Thanks dad!

Harmon's reference got me thinking. I'm sure that more people than we would expect actually do this. I know I have in the past. Before I have acted as though I was on the phone to avoid having to talk to people. I would venture to guess that every 1 out of 4 people we see on the phone are actually faking the call. Why do we do this? It is such an easy way to escape an awkward situation, look popular, or avoid someone. It really is a genius idea. People now have this notion to avoid personal contact in public. That's where the cell phone comes in. People use their cell phones as an escape from people, situations, etc.

For example: I drive one of the shuttle buses on campus. I can't tell you how many people pull their cars into the bus stops, even though signs clearly say "bus stop" and "no parking." They pull in, put on their flashers, and think that makes it okay to block drivers like myself who are trying to do their job. So when I am approaching a stop and there is a car parked in it, I slow down and try to look for any signals (the driver's eye contact, brake lights, turning the wheel, etc.) to see if they are going to move or not. Most of the time they don't. And how do they avoid confrontation with a shuttle driver like myself? 9 times out of 10, they pull out their cell phones and put their heads down. For them, I guess this is how they take themselves out of the situation: they just have to bury their attention in their phone and escape into their social media world, and they do not have to have any personal interaction.

Anyway, cell phones really are an escape for people, as Amy Harmon points out, and allows people to avoid situations they don't want to face.