Our Cell Phones, Ourselves By Christine Rosen: Magazine Article for The New Atlantis Summer 2004

Christine Rosen’s Our Cell Phones, Ourselves discusses in depth the national phenomenon that is cell phone use. She starts by discussing some statistics over the last couple years involving phones and how they are an integral part of our society. Rosen talks about its two main reasons people own cell phones, safety and convenience. The article also goes into less obvious reasons people own phones such as to display their status in life and symbolically show power. The article then shifts to talk about some of the dangers of cell phones that have evolved due to its ease and abundance of numbers. Lastly she begins to talk about how society has become inconsiderate with its cell phone use. How the zone of privacy that every person has has slowly diminished due to new technological advances. She makes the argument that society has lost its civility.

This was a very strong article. It was a very well put together lengthy look at how society changes when a new technological invention is distributed to the masses. The article was written four years ago and some of the ideas are more prevalent nowadays. The dangers that she reveals are ahead of its time and are now at the forefront. States have outlawed driving and talking on the cell phone. iPhones have been hacked and personal information taken from them. People are addicted to cell phones, especially young girls nowadays with their Blackberrys. One can constantly hear personal stories of kid’s crazy weekends by just walking the quad. Rosen is right, we are not merely overhearing, we hear as if we are the ones the person is talking too. People have slowly lost bearings when it comes to cell phone use. It’s no longer a private phone call. People speak loud and speak proud regardless of what they are talking about. In ten years what will this situation be like?

If the same evolution continues in ten years there might not be such a thing as technological privacy outside of your own house. The “social space” has shrunk to an all time low. On Macs one can screen share with another Mac user giving them access to the other persons computer. What’s next? Rosen’s solution to how to stop these unwelcome damages is an interesting theory. If we can treat cell phone use like tobacco use maybe we have a chance to save the little privacy we still retain. Maybe the people of the world can once again regain the civility we once had.