" Narcissus narcosis, a syndrome whereby man remains as unaware of the psychic and social effects of his new technology as a fish of the water it swims in. As a result, precisely at the point where a new media-induced environment becomes all pervasive and transmogrifies our sensory balance, it also becomes invisible. -- ( The Playboy Inteview - Marshal McLuhan ) "
I was walking down the street, jamming to my music when this song came on. I immediately started to think about my cellphone once the lyrics popped in. "I am all you need...", "Where are you?", "We are connected..." It really made me realize how important the cellphone is to most, it's their artificial heart. They can hold it in their hand, not to mention send emails and surf the web. It makes so much sense! Everyone that grew up in the age of the mobile phone suffer from Narcissus narcosis! We aren't aware of how important the cellphone is to our lives until we have it ripped away from us.
The point of a cellphone was to be a mobile means of communicating with others via voice to voice conversation, and here I am, surfing the web, texting my friends half way around the world, reading news articles. Why does it need to do so much?! Businessmen rely on being able to communicate with people wherever they are. Not being able to reply to messages the moment they get them could cost them thousands of dollars, this includes replying to messages when their attention is needed else where, like on the road when driving.
" Yet the vast majority of the business segment proper won't give up their BlackBerrys -- which have pretty much become a lifeline to their jobs -- anytime soon. " (itBusiness)
High school students aren't much different either. They can't live without being able to text freely, check out a hip new place to eat for lunch online, or reply to Granddad in Hamilton. Most people will have a mobile phone because for it's intended purpose. When friends want to meet up with each other downtown, they can fire off text messages or make minute long phone calls to find out where everyone is or where everyone should go. Not many people would use their phone on the go to accomplish the same thing that a home phone is used for today. Home phones are used now for lengthy conversations that can last hours. Being in the comfort of your own home really focuses your attention on the person you are talking with more than having the same conversation outside on your mobile phone. The background noise can be extremely distracting which will lead to a lot of 'Sorry, can you repeat that? I didn't hear you." Using a mobile phone for quick communication is like second nature, we use it without thinking about it like breathing and blinking.
Thanks to the cellphone, a particular privacy issue has now been covered up. Before cellphones, when you wanted to get a hold of your friends to find out what you were doing that night, you would have to call their home phone. If your friend didn't answer, it would be likely that someone else would pick up the phone, whether it be their parents, siblings or relatives. By hearing their voice, you can peer into their family life and get a limited sense of what is happening in their home. That idea is enhanced a bit more by the background noises that you could also hear because home phones weren't usually wireless, isolating yourself from background noises may not always been available to people because of the cord.
The mobile phone has done a lot to the way we communicate with other people. From creating a sense of privacy, to creating a language that allows for quick on-the-go communication with others. It's a lifeline to many and although it's easy for some to say that they can live without their phone for a day or two, they may quickly find that they need it a lot more than they think.
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References
itBusiness. Web. 4 Oct 2009.(http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.asp?id=48857)
The Playboy Interview : Marshall McLuhan. Web. 4 Oct 2009.(http://heim.ifi.uio.no/~gisle/links/mcluhan/pb.html)
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