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October 9, 2008 rzeppa13
Everywhere you go and every place you look you see a cell phone. They are everywhere in our and if I didn’t know better I’d say they were taking over. This morning on my bike to class I had to doge people talking on them. It doesn’t seem to matter if they are walking or biking, almost everyone you see is talking or texting. This is what our world has become. When I think about my life time and how I first learned about cell phones they were from my parents, specifically my dad. My dad is a physician so it was understandable that he would always have the device on him. I can remember begging my parents for one. The idea of them seemed so cool and grown up I couldn’t wait for my time to come. When it finally did, it was great, everything I could have hoped for. Now, I could call my friends from from anywhere i wanted and whatever time I wanted. Oh wait, I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere I wanted, and yes, my parents took away my phone at 9:00p.m. Ok so not necessarly an anywhere anytime kind of thing…yet. I still had my hope for the years to come. So for now, I could call my friends if I was outside of my house! I couldn’t believe it. Since I never really needed to make a call and I wasn’t supposed to use my cell phone except for emergencies, I didn’t really get the chance too often. But, it was ok, I know how cool I looked when I could whip my cell out of my pocket and pretend to be doing somthing redicioulsly important on it. That was all that mattered, that appereance. If one thinks about it, that must be a big part of what cell phone companies are after. If we think back to the first invention of a cell phone they did not flip open, slide up, have a touch screen, or a keyboard, they couldn’t play music, they couldn’t take pictures, they could call. Since then the gadgets we all have come dependent on can do those things and more. In addition to that, think of they’re design. They come in different shapes, sizes, and colors! When we think about it, why is all of that necessary to make a call? It’s not. This is why I am convinced that and know for a fact that this is not the only reason people have cell phones. If you think about it, it can almost be seen as a status symbol. How superficial is that? Extremely; but, sadly, this is a big part of our world today and those cell phone manufacturers know it. They get us right where they want us, feeding out of the palms of their hands waiting for what new feature and cool name the next cell phone will have. That is how the cycle seems to revolve, they invent it, and we buy it.
The device is black with silver accents. It is nine inches long and five inches wide. It is an inch to to inches in width. The entire piece is made of metal. On the back there are the words LG with a winking face. There is also a silver rectangle on the back. On the sides of the device, there are buttons and cuttouts. The front has a shiney almost glossy surface. Again, it has the LG symbol and the word alltel written on the front cover. In it’s resting position the screen does not illuminate and is almost possible to see a fuzzy reflection of oneself. However, once the front screen is slid upward, the entire front surface lights up. There are several different pictures on the screen and seem to change in a random order. If one was to touch the screen it displays the time and several icons. If the screen is touched the entire device viborates. Once the screen is slid upward, there are numbers zero to nine with letters a to z on each button. There are three letters on each button. One button says ‘talk’ in green and ‘end’ in red. When I feel the buttons they are smooth and slightly raised in a distinct sort of wave pattern. If one looks closely, it is possible to see fingerprints and smudges on the screen. When on, the button light up. If a call is recieved, the device either makes a noise like a song or viborates. It feels cold to the touch and has a hard surface. It contains no distict smells or taste.
The original cell phone I believe was an extremely large device that people would carry around in their car. In most cases, only the rich would own them. Over the years, it has progressed in many ways. When first invented, the cell phone carried out a very practical purpose. It possessed such a great idea. So many times people need to make an important call when they are not in their home. This is very true in the case of emegrencies. Needless to say, in order to make that call, it was unnessary to have other features on the phone. However, everyday, technology becoms more advanced and more amazing. As time went on, the cell phone became smaller and smaller. Not only that, it became more socially exceptable and understood that many different types of people would carry them. This led the advertising away from stricktly focusing on the rich. Originally it did not flip up or slide, or even twist and turn. But now today, cell phones can do almost more manuvers than I’m sure some ever thought possible. This fact indicates how cell phone companies are trying to promote themselves and who they are targeting. Simply their design alone lets them be more easy and descreate to use. My dad once told me a story of when he was in the heart of Detroit on the side of the road becauase his car broke down. He was going through medical school and had just purchased his first cell phone. The phone was so large that it took up his entire brief case. Since he was stranded on the side of the road the dialed the number he needed and put it back into his brief case. He held the brief case up in his hand and started explaining his situation to whomever he had called for help. I wasn’t there so I don’t know the exact conversation but I do know that it was something like, “I’m stranded in Detroit and I’m talking into my brief case, help me.” This instance for me is a good way to help understand the situation. My dad was certainly not “rich” at the time but he did possess a cell phone and he knew how he could be percieved. Now if someone was stranded on the side of the road no matter where they were we would expect to see them on a cell phone. In this way, it shows how accostumed our society has become to them and how we almost could not function without them. Now, their small design, their capability to flip open, and the function that can turn them from loud to viborate makes them much more user friendly. Now, anytime a person walks into a class room they see kids hiding the phone under their desk to send text messages. This design expands it’s target audience and promotes the use to everyone.
Not only has the general manufacture of the size and shape changed, but they also come in different colors. This again indicates that the cell phone is being advertized to more of the population. Not only to more of the population, but different types and ages of population. For instance, now that cell phones come in bright colors, have cameras, and features such as touch screens, this opens it’s user audience to a younger crowd. Now kids are starting to have cell phones at younger and younger ages. They even make toy cell phones. In our world, even five year olds know what a cell phone is and possibly how to use it. On the news, I saw a story of a woman who taught her daughter a song teaching her how to use a cell phone in case of emergency. The song went “911 green, 911 green, 911 green.” This idea actually worked, so at the same time it can’t be argued that cell phones are a bad thing, especially when they are known how to be used and can help in a time of need.
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