Cell Users Anonymous

  

   Hi, my name is Marcus and I'm a cell phone using addict.  I think it first started about ten years ago when I got my first cell phone as a way for my parents to reach me more easily.  It started out small because I've never been much of a phone chatter but, as the phone companies started adding features, it just got progressively worse.



     It was pretty easy in the beginning.  A phone call here and there to check in with the parents and to call friends to see how they were doing.  It was simple to manage, the first couple of years, I didn't have many calls to make and, when I did, I was pretty much to the point with whatever I had to talk about.

     Then one day at work, one of the people I worked with sent me a text message just playing around.  Not knowing I could even send and receive these things, I had to get him to show me where to go, in the phone, and what to do to send one.  In that instant, my life was forever changed.  I realized that the number of phone calls I would have to make were about to be drastically reduced but, my phone usage was extremely increased.  It made it so easy to avoid phone calls and just respond with a simple text answer.  Sometimes, entire conversations could be had through texting without a single word having to be spoken between two or more people.

     As time went on, the addition of pictures, video, e-mail and games made the use of cells increase even more and then it happened.... Apple created the smartphone.  The iPhone made doing all of these things on your cell even easier and faster than it had ever been!  But if at any time these phones should stop working or get lost/stolen, it's not a pretty sight.  The panic that sets in for a person who's without their phone, is NEVER a pretty sight.

     So, how do we fix this problem?  It's not like most addictions where, if you can avoid the substance or situation, things are easier to deal with.  Phones are necessary for communication.  Is there even a solution for how to get people to deal with this problem?  It seems to be an epidemic for which there is no cure.  Yesterday my phone stopped working for five hours and, you'd have thought, that my house had burned down.  These are thoughts that, I think, we should all consider.

    But before that, I'm going to make a phone call and send a few texts.  Picture texting is finally available for the iPhone now, you know.  This is big news!!  So, until next time...


----MC