Christine Rosen's Our Cell Phones, Ourselves

Christine Rosen makes many points about cell phone usage in this essay called "Our Cell Phones, Ourselves." Rosen tells the reader that cell phones have changed our behavior, changed some rules, and allowed us to connect with others individually but disconnect socially as we change the very rules of public space. She uses this article as plea for moving somewhat backward in time to encourage civility in public spaces again.

Rosen begins by discussing the many reasons that people use cell phones and the careers in which they are necessary. People who own cell phones say that the phones make them feel safer. Our rationale is the image embedded in our mind of all the 9/11 victims calling home to speak their final words to loved ones. And then she discusses the often-forgotten downside of cell phones. There are also many concerns about cell phone use, such as talking while driving. They can also lead to disease and addiction. Camera phones continue to take away our privacy as well.

The author then goes to her main point. Cell phones have changed our behavior in changing the rules of civility. Normally subjects that would only be discussed at home are now discussed at great length in public with many other listening ears. This is different than overhearing a conversation between two people because cell phone users are not in contact with the world around them. She says that we still remember the rules of confined public spaces like elevators, but cell phones are changing what we do. While users may not intend to be rude, they do intend to remove themselves from their immediate social setting. We also impose our conversations on those around us in areas where they cannot escape. The author calls cell phones "technological cold shoulders." Cell phones have changed the way we do things. In the past people would doodle or do other things to relieve boredom that would not remove them entirely from the social sphere. However, now when people answer cell phones every time they ring, they are purposefully removing themselves from the situation. We use our cell phones to remain "out of contact with the world." She likens this trend with patients who are mentally ill to illustrate that losing contact with the world around us is not a good thing. We also use cell phones to show social status and stress the very importance of our lives. Cell phones may have actually harmed relationships. While someone is always just a call away, our contact is "content-poor." Because we keep more frequent contact with people does not mean our relationships were better than they have been in the past.

Basic civility has been harmed. We no longer make contact with those we don't know because we are too busy keeping contact with those that we already know. Roaming is the term the author uses because that is the cell phone term, but it is also a term that means lacking direction. While people say that they use cell phones for convenience and safety; these two issues are not neutral. In extremes, both of these can be bad.

The author gives us a solution to cell phone usage, such as treating cell phones the way tobacco has been treated. Tobacco usage has been banned in public spaces because of the harm it does to others. Cell phones could be banned in a similar manner. In this way, we can reclaim civility in our public spaces. Since cell phones are more useful for talking than listening, banning them in public spaces would make sense. Civility would involve understanding the importance of conversation versus just talk.

The author ends with a profound statement of the issue. "It would be a terrible irony if being connected required or encouraged a disconnection from community life-an erosion of the spontaneous encounters and everyday decencies that make society both civilized and tolerable." This is a powerful statement about how the advancement of technology, chiefly cell phones, may have taken us back in terms of progress, not forward. Being a part of a community is an important characteristic that should not be overlooked. Everyday decencies seem to be falling by the wayside little by little anyway; cell phones are yet another way that we disengage from the people around us and practice our own selfishness.