Nomophobia-

The fear of being cellulary unconnected.


I cannot understand why so many need to be attached to their cell phones. Why would anyone want to be available at all times? Is personal down time becoming a thing of the past?

Well, I started this post Octber 4th and you can see how much time has been spent on other writing projects plus preparing for storm Sandy, living through her and dealing with her results. So I must temper (a bit) my view on the "addiction" to cell communication, for the first thing our children asked us to do was to make sure our phone was charged so we could keep in touch. (My first thought was to charge my kindle.)

Once the wind and rain stopped, we ventured out to our semi-stocked grocery store - heaven forbid we run out of flaked tuna in sauce for our cat. It didn't take long to get back to my original thinking. As our car approached the walk from the store to the parking lot, a mother started across with a shopping bag in one hand with a toddler hanging on to the bag. In her free arm she carried an infant. She was talking on a cellphone that was cradled between her shoulder and ear. With her precious cargo, she walked into the street never looking one way or the other. Most of the drivers at that busy area heed the "stop for pedestrians in crosswalk" signs but others do not. I was brushed back myself one day by a woman literally zipping by (yes, talking on a cell phone). Now that would not have riled me so if the same thing had not happened recently. This time it was a Dad pushing a loaded cart with one hand - the other holding his cell as he chatted away. In the bright red plastic "car" attached to the front were two tow head little boys busy turning their bright yellow steering wheels. The Dad looked neither way and walked across. I thought of the song "Cellophane Man" from "Chicago" - we were unseen. That makes two possible tragedies caused by inattentiveness - hope those calls were very important but as important as the children?

We hear of accidents all the time caused by cell phone use in cars. Then there's the man that was so into his conversation that he walked right off the subway platform and fell to the tracks. At least he didn't blame the transportation authority like the woman who wanted to sue the mall because she fell into a fountain in the middle of the floor mid conversation. Guess the fountain should not have been there. Yes, this is one of my "preachy blogs".

But there are more reasons where I feel constant cell use is harmful. How do young people learn social skills they will need for future employment when they never look each other in the eye. I watched a couple on either side of a small round table at a food court really enjoying their cells until I realized they were texting each other. I saw three children sitting on the same couch yet not aware of each other. They were playing with their small video games and didn't hear us calling them to dinner. Guess that's practice for their future cellular connections.

I watch my neighbor's granddaughter come and go talking constantly on her cell. Never seen her without it. What's next? Cells grafted to hands at birth so they are always there? Could we be losing our next generations of creative artists - writers. To be inspired, you need to see and listen to the world around you. Not what is coing through the thin piece of electronics in your hand but from the sights and sounds in the trees, at the shore, sunsets and sunrise - ad finitum.

I could go on. But you get the picture. I am not against the marvels (to me) that have become part of our life. I write on a laptop, am part of the social network, enjoy the friends I have met via twitter and facebook. But as you grow older, you realize that life is such a fleeting thing that wasting time on what can be shown on a tiny screen is nothing like being part of the whole. Feel the sun on your face, hear the laughter of children, smell the roses as they say, talk face to face, eye to eye and remember, nothing beats a hug.

Don't become of victim of Nomophobia.