By Bruce Barton
It was a beautiful night for a holiday concert at Mountain View High School. The well-rehearsed and sweet-sounding Madrigals were wonderful, as were the choirs from the Blach, Graham and Lawson middle schools.
Audience members and performers rushed out of the theater after the concert to meet one another in the excitement that comes from being onstage and having their loved ones see them onstage.
In the middle of all this, I couldn’t help but notice the annoying cell phones popping up all over the place. Here, amid a crowd and numerous opportunities for communication, dozens of people were tuned out, preferring to chat with friends who were miles away. They, in effect, became strangers, blankly staring into space, phone cupped to ear, transported to someplace other than the here and now.
Funny thing is, some of them nary uttered a word into their cell phones. I imagined landing on the planet and observing the practice of these emotionally detached beings putting these little metal boxes next to their ears and waiting, waiting …
“How bizarre!”
There were some using their phones to take pictures of one another, a more appropriate use for the occasion. But then I thought of these funny hybrid appliances like the combo microwave and refrigerator - it also seemed strange that our phones were taking over work once done by cameras.
Are cell phones taking over? Will some alien intelligence or, worse, a terrorist group, figure out a way to take advantage of our growing use of these phones to control us? Paranoia, you say? After cell phones as cameras, I’m not putting anything past them.
When I was attending San Jose State University in the early 1980s, homeless, mentally ill people stumbled around the campus periphery, sometimes bumming students for spare change but mostly talking into thin air.
Fast forward to now. I’m in a Safeway at 10:30 p.m. and I hear voices. I see a man with his back turned actively engaged in conversation - except that he’s facing the shelf with the premixed salad. He reminds me of the homeless guy from San Jose State. Then I notice the earpiece - another guy off in cell phone land.
Am I bitter, envious of cell phone users now that I’m middle-aged and still cell phone-less?
No. I think cell phones are great and they serve myriad practical, vital purposes. Out of gas in the middle of the desert? Stuck in the snow? A cell phone could save your life. Taking care of business with a client while stuck in traffic? A cell phone could save your job.
What bothers me is their abuse. All around us, people are disengaged from their surroundings while using their cell phones, iPods or other tech toys. They’re always somewhere else. But there’s something to be said for observing the world around you - and appreciating it. There’s something special about seeing a friendly smile up ahead so that a chance conversation can take place.
I also know that when the next big quake hits, I’ll be at an advantage.
