Compared to most others on campus, my Motorola KRZR is a dinosaur of a cell phone.
Today, many see my flip phone as an ancient artifact and a reason to wax nostalgic about the past. Although it was hardly unusual to own a basic phone—or not have a phone at all—just a few years ago, cell phones have now come to dominate our daily lives.
According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 83 percent of Americans own a cell phone of some kind. With a cell phone comes convenience, easy information access and entertainment—all of which have contributed to its understandable popularity.
The ubiquity of cell phones can certainly be seen at Duke, where many of us clutch our phones as if they were natural extensions of the human arm. Here we receive text alerts about everything from hurricanes to LDOC announcements. For many, a smartphone with internet access is especially handy for efficiently checking emails and Facebook.
“I upgraded to the iPhone after freshman year because I feel like it’s necessary to have email on your phone here at Duke,” said sophomore Kelsey Tarzia. “People just have this expectation that you’re always checking your email.”
Cell phone access is also regularly treated as a given in the academic setting, where many professors expect students to check emails frequently. While this standard makes for effective communication, it can also present problems.
Sophomore Audrey Hagopian recounted an exercise from a former Writing 20 class that asked students to live-tweet from Cameron Indoor Stadium during a basketball game.
“Because I didn’t have a smartphone at the time, I wasn’t able to participate in the assignment,” Hagopian said.
Cell phones have profoundly shaped social interactions as well, especially among young adults. 95% of young adults with cell phones use them to send or receive texts, according to the Pew project.
Certainly, being perpetually connected to other people through our phones makes communication speedier and easier. At the same time, having a phone—especially one with fun, fancy features—may mean constant distractions, fewer introspective moments alone and shallower conversation.
Freshman Cordelia Hao, who owns a pre-paid cell phone that she prefers to use infrequently, observed how cell phones ensure that people are “never alone.”
“So even if you’re alone or bored, just whip out that iphone and bam! You’re surrounded!” Hao said.
Despite her personal phone habits, Hao also acknowledged that cell phone use is an integral aspect of daily life for most people.
“I may just be old school, but I like it when two people are talking and paying full attention to each other," Hao said. "[That is] probably too much to ask for in this era."
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