One of the modern gadgets that we are so accustomed to is the cell phone and telephone. You don’t realize how dependent we have become on phones until you go without it.
We depend on the phones as a means of communication between friends, in conducting business transactions and practically for every purpose in our daily lives. Every kid now a day has one, making it a necessary instrument for modern living.
On a recent trip to Texas, US, I was a guest on a typical ranch. The guesthouse where I was staying had four bedrooms, a common kitchen and a sitting area. It was a typical, tranquil farm setting, with cattle grazing behind the house and horses in a nearby stable.
A hot breakfast of fresh warm muffins and biscuits were a treat that I looked forward to every morning. However, the only thing missing was the phone – no phones in the room and no phones in the common area.
Whenever I travel to the US, I do not carry my cell phone after hearing stories from friends who have had to face with horrendous phone bills due to roaming charges imposed by their friendly phone company. As a forgetful person, on one occasion I left my charger in my hotel, another good reason why not to take the phone.
A better and convenient solution suggested by my brother, who travels to the US quite a bit on business, was to buy a phone card. This is an easy and handy method as you are provided with a toll free number and a PIN when using the phone. But in this equation also, it is imperative to have either a landline or a cell phone. Getting in touch with the family and informing them I had arrived safely at my destination is important for me. I waited for two days before I had the courage to ask the ranch owners, both practicing attorneys, to let me use their cell phone to contact the family.
This was the only time I realized how important phones have become in our lives. Arriving at the Austin airport for my return flight, I noticed practically everyone in the waiting area was either using the cell phone or texting. Our society is so obsessed with using cell phones that we have become anti-social. I was further annoyed when I noticed a group of four people sitting at this airport restaurant at a table waiting for their food to arrive texting instead of talking to one another. It appears as if we are losing that important habit of conversing with our friends.
Reminds me of another unfortunate incident when a man entered an underground train openly carrying a gun, but no one noticed him as everyone was busy texting. People in that cabin woke up after the first shot was fired, killing a university student returning home. A classical example of how society has become captivated with this necessary evil that it is unaware of its surroundings.
I wonder those who are so habituated in texting know about the findings of a recent Brigham Young University study, which looked at the effect of texting on relationships. The study send a warning to women; if you are texting your boyfriend a lot, he may think you’re smothering him.
And for guys, the study showed that if you’re texting your girlfriend more than she texts you, that may be sign you’re unhappy in the relationship. The findings portray women as the pursuers and men as the ones who more often want to withdraw.
The only silver lining in the research was that sending a positive text expressing affection to your partner could reinforce the relationship, both for men and women. “The reality for a lot of people is that texting is more available, more pragmatic, and they are more likely to respond through text messages. It can be a tool to reach out,” one of the researchers said.
Morale of the story: No need to throw away that cell phone yet, just change your texting habits.
