English 102
20 February, 2013
Bad Connections
Christine Rosen argues in “Bad Connections” that the use of cell phones in public areas has created negative effects in the social sphere. Personally I believe that the use of cell phones in a social area can be acceptable, but only when the individual absolutely needs to use the device. Situations like these are emergency situations, family crisis’s, and school or work related things. Recreational use of cell phones in public can prove distracting to the other members in the social space, and it does not help that cell phones come with a variety of different ways to distract not only the owner of the device, but anyone that is occupying a space with that person. Cell phones are tools not toys, and should be used as a tool in social settings or they become obnoxious and distracting.
One of the main reasons that I personally believe that cell phones have an overall negative effect upon people and their social space is because people are so rude when they are on their phones. When people try to order things from fast food restaurants, Wal-Mart, or try to conduct any other business transaction in public the process is slowed down when they are on the phone. Effecting other peoples time because they have to wait for this person. Also they are being very rude. Many people tend to get snappy with the people who work at those businesses. In turn, the employees become more annoyed and have a harder time doing their jobs.
Cell phones take people out of the social loop, and distract them from what they are doing. This is why so many states have made it illegal to text and drive. The attention span and ability to be productive are greatly diminished when someone is using their phone. This is why society has come up with many spoken and unspoken rules about when it is courteous to use your phone and when it is simply a no go. There are many places in society where it is rude to use your phones and rules have been set in...