We live in a fast-paced world. Multi-tasking has become synonymous with college life and I, for one, love to multi-task. I have a cell phone and a laptop with a wireless modem so I can type my notes, check my e-mail and text message my friend across the hall… all during class!
If I’m really sly, I can even answer my phone while my professor blathers away about social statistics. I don’t see why people have a problem with me using my cell phone in class. I mean, is the beeping and chirping that distracting?
I need constant contact with the outside world. Who doesn’t? Even middle-schoolers have cell phones these days. By the time we reach college, our cell phones are just other extensions of our bodies.
People try to tell me that cell phones don’t belong in class. I just look at them and say, “Grow up. You’re in college, this is the real world and people use cell phones.”
As far as the critics who say it’s disrespectful to professors, how many professors do you know actually say anything when they hear a cell phone ring? I only know one. I took a social theory class over the summer. When someone’s phone rang in class, this professor actually answered and then confiscated it. She even kept it for a few days-the nerve!
If that had been me, I would have reported that professor to the department. How dare she take my phone-is she paying for it? No! And let’s not forget that I pay her salary, too-along with every other professor on this campus. Maybe they should remember that the next time they tell me to turn my phone off.
Even worse than the professors are the students. They glare in my direction thinking a look will convince me to get off the phone. I don’t think so. I’m from Boston, a look is nothing. As far as I’m concerned I’m not doing anything wrong. I pay tuition like everyone else, and I feel the need to stay connected to the world, especially in class. How am I supposed to hear the latest gossip if I don’t get the text message? Or what if there is an emergency and my boss needs to get a hold of me ASAP? I would miss it if I didn’t have my phone on.
That’s how important I am. My phone is constantly ringing and if I turn it off, even for 50 minutes, I am putting the balance of the universe in grave jeopardy.
I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I was the cause of a disaster because I turned my cell phone off. Or maybe I should just grow up, get real and at least switch my phone to vibrate.