So go and get a cell phone

How many friends have you gained from use of a cell phone? Every person's story is different. Some people claim they wouldn't have any social contact without their phone. I've even heard of men proposing to women via a text message. But if i ask how many people you lost touch with due to cell phone use I'm sure i wouldn't get a load of responses.

So maybe it's just me. But having a cell phone has only made my life harder. I'm woken up at least once a week by a call from someone i would typically avoid if i saw them on the street. There are countless times when my phone rings and I'm not around that people think I'm just snubbing them. I have actually lost friends with my poor cell phone etiquette and the strangest part of the cell phone social order is that it is perfectly acceptable to be a "crackberry addict" looking up only intermittently during real-life human conversations while simultaneously checking e-mails.

I want to know what magic goes on inside these little devices that makes a physical relationship pale in comparison.

Just today i was biking along when my phone rang. In a desperate attempt to answer the call I hit the brakes hard - screeching to a halt and digging through my suddenly fathomless trench of a pocket for my phone. Of course, i miss the call, prompting a whiny missed-call response that I've come to hate. By the time I can return the call though I'm greeted by a quick "hi, can i call you back I've got another line." ANOTHER LINE?! but that's the problem with the cell phone then: there is no real interaction. If i had seen this person face to face they would have recognized the overwhelming struggle I faced for that "hi". They would have excused themselves, for a moment, from the friend they were walking with who merely bumped into them and didn't have to avoid a parade of angry vehicles while squished onto the side of the road. I might have even gotten an appreciation hug instead of a quick dismissal.

So not only does the cell phone strike me as a device that alienates me from other people, but, even worse, it makes other people appear in a worse light to me. So go and buy a cell phone and tell me if you can really build a genuine relationship or if you just get diverted by all the shiny colors and flashy ringtones that replace the subtler enjoyment of human interaction.