I find the cell phone a useful invention. These days, nearly everyone has one. They are so prevalent that it is getting increasingly difficult to find pay phone, but, have the increased our ability to communicate, or decreased it.
I’ve thought for a while about doing a small one day project on cell phone use. It wouldn’t need to go past one day and I could probably hang out on one corner in downtown Charlotte for about 1 hour and get all of the pictures that I need. Everywhere, people walking and talking on their cell phones, or sending text messages while walking across the street, talking on the phone while driving, while walking with friends/coworkers. I’ve seen people walking through the zoo with their kids while talking on the cell phone. Can these calls really be that important? At lunchtime, people sit at their tables, 4 of them, all talking on the cell phone, none of them talking to each other. Photo opportunities abound!
The other day I noticed a mother and her two children sitting at a table, allegedly having lunch together. The mother was on the cell phone, the kids were playing video games. Occasionally, one of them would look up, grab something to eat, then continue with their electronic diversions. Ahhhh, togetherness!
I have a cell phone, but usually only my family members call me. If someone else calls, there’s a slim chance that I’ll answer. I prefer to call back at my convenience. Also, I make it a personal policy to NEVER answer it when I’m having an in-person conversation with someone, unless they call numerous times in a row, then I might consider it an emergency, excuse myself, and then answer. Personally, I think that it is terribly rude to interrupt a personal conversation to speak to someone on the phone. The person in front of me is much more important. Also, as for call waiting, forget about it. If I’m talking on the phone to one person, the other one can leave a voice mail!
These 3 photos represent what was going on on our hotel room in Myrtle Beach over the weekend. As soon as we got in the door, Tony went one way, my wife another, and Ryan, Tony’s teammate and friend, went another way. The reception in the hotel room was spotty, so positions next to the windows were prime. As you can see, they are all camped out next to the window!
We’ve conditioned ourselves to believe that these things are necessities. They are not. They are merely conveniences and instead of bringing us closer together, I believe that they are pulling us apart, making things more impersonal. Years ago, they didn’t exist and everyone got along just fine. Now, everyone walks around in their own little isolation, cell phone to ear, bluetooth device plugged in, music blasting through the iPod … totally oblivious to life.
More than likely, I’m probably just an old fashioned guy. I prefer to read rather than watch TV. I don’t like video games, and I rarely send a text message. A regular old fart!
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8 Responses to “Personal contact?”
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It’s interesting that the ‘younger generation’ probably thinks that cells help them keep in ~better~ contact with their friends – constantly texting, calls, etc. But I wonder if they truly realize the severing of connection to those they are actually in the room with. I also find it pretty rude, especially when family is invited over for dinner, and immediately afterward they are texting on their cells. Next time I will give them 5 bucks, send them to McDonald’s where they don’t have to feel ‘so bored.’
Don’t know Paul – I really don’t see it changing, if anything, I think they will increasingly become a need item vs. a luxury, just like cars, tv’s, etc.
Ten or so years ago, I read an excellent article about how the children who entered first grade that year would be the first who would never experience a world without computers. Since then, we’ve moved to cell phones, iPods, and all those other gadgets that make us feel like we’re in tune with the world and each other. There’s something sad about it, because technology has us by the throat. In our rush to feel connected, we seem to have lost more than we’ve gained–at least that’s my take.
These are really nice b/w images, Paul. You seem to have shifted into a real master at photographing people. I love the candidness of your images–no poses, just real life as it happens. I say go for that cell phone series. I’d love to see what you do with it.
I only use my cell for work or family….turn it off when I’m out in the woods shootong. Don’t need it ringing when a deer is walking by.
ehhh… this reminds me of a recent episode of Charlotte Talks on WFAE. It seems to be fashionable these days to bash the latest technology, esp. cell phones, IMs, email, and iPods. Now, I’m all for bashing rudeness– you don’t need to SHOUT on your cell, or ignore the people you’re with, and you should get off the phone when you’re paying at the store or ordering at Starbucks. And using a cell while driving is dangerous, and I’m surprised it’s legal here.
But I really have no problem with people using these things in general, and I don’t get why it bothers people so much.
As far as teens tuning out, they always have and probably always will. I know I did– it was just with a book and a Walkman playing cassettes, because that’s what was available at the time. And instead of texting my friends, I ran up my parents’ phone bill talking to them for hours at a time.
Rachel, I’m certainly not anti-technology and have an iPod and a cell phone myself. I use e-mail a lot, but much prefer personal contact when I’m having lunch with my friends or am walking down the streets with them. Also, I don’t talk on the cell phone while walking down the street, or driving, or doing anything else of importance. There is so much more to notice in live than being constantly plugged in, tuned in, and turned on.
When you are in your little isolation pod, you don’t see much of anything. So, you see, we are in agreement, especially about the rudeness factor.
I forgot all about the shouting and the talking on the phone while ordering or paying. It’s the same thing. The cell phone becomes more important than the personal contact. I suppose that you could argue that the person on the cell phone is someone that you know and thus, they are more important to you than the cashier, but I still think that it is rude, but that’s just my judgment of the situation. It may not be rude to someone else, say for example, another teenager who thinks that it’s the normal thing to do.
Tena koe hoa
It became apparent to me many years ago that society was forgetting fast, the art of converstaion. Our tendencies these days are to do and used what is presented to us in advancements of technology and frankly I don’t have a problem with brining long distance communications closer and more accessible than it was previously. But it doesn’t need to replace common courtesies like speaking to someone directly if given or provided the opprtunity and conversely like you Paul. I would not break a REAL conversation to answer a cellphone or a normal landline call unless the call was insistent which would infer to me an emergency perhaps.
Just the other day while shopping at a local supermarket I happened to notice a woman who was in a texting conversation with her daughter in the same aisle of the supermarket, yes they were texting each other about items on their shopping list in the same aisle of the supermarket.
Like you I have been abhored by the amount of so called “quality time” spent by families in general in todays society. I have on many ocassions seen much the same family outing as you describe in your image prologue. It’s an indictment of our own making that we allow our normality to be as it is with cell-phones and other similar technologies. Once again my debate is not with the technology, it is with our use of technology as a replacement for what is inevitably becoming a out-of-fashion human trait, courtesy and simple conversation.
Nowe I think your images are superb Paul. A great qualtiy of light survives in each.
That makes sense. I guess it was silly of me to think you were bashing the technology itself… on your blog, where you post your digital photos, and talk with people you know only on the internet (I’m guessing). Hey, you’re not taking pics while you’re spending time with your family, are you?
I’m completely with you Paul. Cellphones (simply put) are an invention of hell. They must have quadrupled the sheer volume of pseudo-conversation. But actually, it looks as if people are really forgetting the art of conversation. Just as television was the doom of intelligent pastime.
Don’t get me wrong, I use a cellphone, I watch TV occasionally. But how many households do we know where the TV is nearly constantly “ON”…?
It’s a bit like fastfood. It’s ok, even enjoyable, from time to time. But in the long run, proper food is much more rewarding.