Cell Phones: No Longer and Extention of Face to Face Communication

In chapter fourteen, Gergen explains that the initial motives of the cell phone were to extend face-to-face communication in a more convenient matter. However, in today’s society, the cell phone has been used as the main source of communication while tradition face-to-face interactions have taken a backseat to traditional communicative ways. I find Gergen hit this point right on the head and I couldn’t agree more with his explanations. I personally have used the cell phone as my primary use of communication with people for many years. Though I do not feel this has hindered my social skills in a face-to-face environment, I have noticed when this is a consequence to others.

I received my first cell phone at the age of sixteen. In my household, when you received your driving license, a cell phone was mandatory to keep in the car with you at all times (for emergencies). However, for as long as I can remember, I never used the cell phone for only emergencies. As any other adolescent, I used the cell phone to let my parents know where I was at, talk on the phone with friends and most importantly, it allowed me to have private conversations without the fear of someone picking up the land line at the other end. Text messaging wasn’t a huge notion until I reached college. I initially started using text messages if I didn’t have the time for a phone call with the entire introductory of ‘hello’ and ‘how are you’. Now I use text messaging to carry out full conversations. (However, I do not rack up the phone bill like this teen) I feel that this has become habit and has allowed me to steer away from normal phone conversations. It’s flirtatious, fun and an easy way for me to manage what I say and how exactly I’d like to phrase it. With an increase of technology, texting has become much more convenient as well. I currently own a Blackberry 8830 which has not only a phone pad, but a full keyboard on it as well. This is extremely easy to use and allows me to even spend less time on a computer because I can access all my emails and messages at the palm of my hand.

So there ya have it, the history of my cell phone use and probably the main reason why my personally skills can be hesitant in a face to face setting. Instead of taking time to premeditate a perfect answer to your question and 'ever to delicately' type it into my blackberry, I only have the filter from my brain to my mouth.