...cell phones!

Everyone has one, but they want an upgrade. If they don't have one, they want one. People who try to fight the temptation of having one, end up getting one eventually. It may start out as getting one for emergencies, then it turns into just phone calls, then you add text and internet, then all of a sudden you have a phone case, a hands free device, and a special charger at home, in your car, and at work! Some people even have 2 phones. And it's okay to admit that you don't have any control over these temptations. Cause it's sweeping the nation. People are dropping their landlines. Kids age 8 and 9 even have them. They've gone from the original Zach Morris sized phone to something you could fit in your front pocket without a bulge. They flip, slide, swivel, and you have numbered keys, QWERTY keyboards, and touch screens. You can listen to music, surf the net, text message, take a call, and update your facebook status all at the same time...and in most states you can still do all this while driving your car, applying mascara, and eating an egg mcmuffin. How frustrating it must have been 20 years ago to wait til you got home to check your messages. The only people with pagers now are doctors..again!

I was so excited my freshman year of college to get my very own pager! It was blue and clipped on my jeans! At any point in time, someone could beckon me and I would call right back...if I was near a phone, which got a lot easier to call people when you also had a cell phone. Anyway, I lost it once on a trip to Zozobra on the traditional Sigma Chi bus. The guy who found it (in a puddle of beer on the back of the bus) actually figured out that it was mine and returned it to me. I'm pretty sure he was one of the only about 5 thoughtful and considerate Sigma Chi's.

My first cell phone came sometime afterwards when I was completely hammered after work one day and met a guy who was selling them. I bought one and apparently gave everyone at the bar my new number, receiving a barrage of phone calls the next morning, knocking me out of my beer coma. Since then, I've evolved into the people described in that top paragraph. I have a slider, QWERTY, touch phone and I'm eyeing the next one already. I've only had this one for 6 months, but there's always something better! Don't get me wrong, it's a great phone, and does pretty much anything you want it to, but it's always nice to dream.

People are scared! That's what I think. People are scared that if they don't have their phone, they're gonna miss something huge. An emergency will come up when you've left it at home. A friend you haven't heard from in forever will call, but you're in the grocery store. How are you going to remember phone numbers, now that they are all stored in your phone? If you lost it, you'd be screwed. You all understand this because you've gotten that fated text from a friend that says, "Got new phone, lost all info, who is this?" It's bound to happen!

So, next time someone calls you, let it go to voicemail, but don't worry, they won't leave a message, they'll just assume you stepped away for a second and they'll call you right back!!

~Chix