Why We All Need Cell Phones

It may be a bit bold to say that we all need cell phones, but at the very least probably a lot more of us should have them and the reasons for having them is important and it is odd that these reasons are not marketed nearly as much as the marketing effort aiming at "coolness", "style", and "tunes". Such marketing often aims at very superficial reasons to have a cell phone.

My first cell phone was purchased as the result of an incident while I was a teacher. I was at school and had received a message from my university from my doctoral advisor. He was calling to congratulate me on finally receiving my doctorate degree. A message was placed in my mailbox that he called, but the message had no additional information and didn't even have a return phone number listed. This was a really big event in my personal life and in my goal toward becoming a educational professional with this important added credential. I really would have liked to get the call in person. While it is true that I was in class at the time and teaching It would have been really nice to get the message brought to me. I was a little upset, but could understand. It just happened that a few days later an even more important situation arose. I again received a message at the school office. This one was from my wife and it said that she was taking our son to the hospital emergency room. It did also say that it wasn't that serious. The problem was that this message was placed in my mailbox and I did not see it until the end of the school day, hours after the message was placed in my mailbox and it was just by chance that I checked my school mailbox on the way out of school that day. This message in my view should have immediately been brought to me in my classroom.

I went to the principal about this incident and she simply spouted back the policy that teachers should not be disturbed while teaching. I said that I agree that teachers should not be disturbed for most ordinary messages, but not something that involves the potential health or safety of my wife or children and I left the principal's office. The next day I had a cell phone.

It is very important that we do not use the cell phone during class time and that we keep it on vibrate, but I want to know immediately if anyone in my family has an emergency. If I could be certain that I would get a message from the office about such an emergency, then the cell phone would not have been purchased, but I could no longer count on being properly informed.

Now I was aware of how these situations affected me, but I also became much more aware of how similar situations were affecting others. Recently schools have implemented a much stronger policy about student cell phone use in the school. If a student has a cell phone out, it is supposed to be taken and sent to the office. When this happens the student will normally not get the cell phone back unless a parent comes in to school with the student. The first part of the problem is that the parent may think the student has their cell phone and now can not reach the student and we already know that messages may not get to teachers so you can imagine how effectively they might get to students.

Over the many years since I have had a cell phone now, I can think of dozens of times it has not only been helpful, but many times when it was absolutely critical. I have broken down on the highway and needed help at least a dozen times (old cars), I have received calls about my children being in a car accident (fortunately no injuries, but one time a totaled car), received notice of cancelled appointments, received news about a national disaster and how it was affecting my family (which happened to be in Canada on 9/11), and even reported a robbery in progress (they arrested the robbers).

When used properly a cell phone can become a vital new tool in our society and this tool links us in a dynamic way on many levels. It certainly should be restricted during class, during lectures, in meetings, etc. If a person has a cell phone that has power and dials 911 emergency, it must work in most states by law. This means that virtually everyone could have one in their car and pay no monthly charges, but still be able to reach 911 operators for a real emergency.

The abilty of phones to be located by global tracking gives me a feeling of even more security when my children have their cell phone and they do not answer the call. At least I know that if the phone is on there is a possibility that their location could be determined. At school I have seen many children waiting after school and all the teachers and administrators have left. I have stayed and waited with them and I have allowed them to use my cell phone to check with their parents about being picked up. It is not that unusual that as a new technology becomes available that we have to rethink our reaction and rules of use of the technology.

Because I once had the experience of stopping a robbery, I think we all should have a cell phone. A few weeks ago my daughter called and I was really glad to get to hear from her right then, she just received a scholarship to study in Turkey for a year. (this is true). It was so much better to hear her voice filled with excitement and be able to respond with excitement back rather than getting the message on an answering machine. Take time to consider the great reasons for having a cell phone and how we can use them properly.