Everywhere you go now, you see people constantly using their cell phones. Whether it is texting their friends 60 words per minute, emailing their co-workers on their Black Berry’s, using them for navigational purposes, or listening to their entire music collection, cell phones are a huge part of human life in today’s world. If you don’t have a cell phone, it is very hard to be a part of today’s society. Cell phones have been in a huge technological boom over the past decade. They give people the opportunity to access information at lightning speed and anywhere they happen to be. Some people are even going as far as using their cell phone as their primary number. My dad, for example, no longer uses a land line at his house. He has all calls sent to his cell phone. When you buy items online, or fill out a legal form, there is now an option to put your cell phone number down instead of a land line. Cell phones also are now playing a role in campus security. At UNC-CH, you can register your phone with the University Alert System which will notify you via text message if anything bad is happening on campus. Cell phones are certainly a part of pop culture.
In the younger generations, cell phones can sometimes reflect the social status of the user. For example, the people usually carrying Black Berry’s are probably also involved in some sort of business where they need to email on the go. Nobody wants to be caught holding a cell phone that is more than two years old either. Everyone wants to have the latest and greatest and the sleekest models out there. Some phone companies use celebrities to advertise their phones. For example the new LG shine commercial features the kids from the MTV hit show, “The Hills”. So when kids see those spoiled Hollywood brats they recognize from MTV sporting that new LG Shine, they might be more inclined to purchase that brand of phone. Marketing is really an art.
Cell phones are a good example of how technology has affected the Pop Culture around us. We can now get our celebrity fix instantly, anywhere we are. We can download the TMZ clips directly on our phone and see which celebrity is doing drugs now and which one just got out of rehab. Cell phones are a way of life.
1 comment:
As I sit in the library reading your blog, I look out the window, and am not surprised to see that more than half the kids walking by are using cell phones. It’s true; cell phones are becoming a way of life. Personally, I feel naked if I leave my dorm without my phone, as if I’m shut off from the rest of the world. In addition, I’ve been texting so much over the past few years that I can now text a full message without even needing to look at my phone; it’s ridiculous. Cell phones are definitely becoming a dominant part of people’s lives and I believe they are taking away from personal aspect of conversations and in certain cases, preventing personal contact. Now, instead of having to meet to talk, people can just talk on their cell phones or send a text. It’s leaving out the part where you connect with a person through your body language and appearance.
Don’t get me wrong, I think there are great features of cell phones. Today’s cell phones are more like mini-computers, like the I-Phone, which allows the user to surf the web, check e-mails, take pictures, write notes, etc. There are very few things cell phones can’t do now, which is good in the sense that people only need to carry one small object around to perform all these various tasks. In addition, it is linking parts of the world that otherwise would have had a tough time connecting. For example, I can now send texts to my family in Sweden to see how they are doing, instead of having to wait on a letter to be shipped and then having to wait for them to write back.
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