I think if you were to ask anyone, even the person standing to your right and a little further up, they’d all pretty much say the same thing. They couldn’t live without their cellphone. Now, with everyone attached to the hip with their smartphone, I think it’s no surprise that, that would be the answer. Take for instance, my situation. I was helping my buddy do some grading for his class and well, I placed my phone in his pile of assignments, thinking we’re going to look over more stuff. Well, plans change, we say our “later’s” and I’m off to go watch a movie.
Scene fades to me, sitting in in my car, trying to cool off from the triple digit heat, my AC blasting ice, cold air in my face. Happy to watch the latest flick I pat my thigh to check for my phone. I blink. There seems to be something missing. I pat my thigh again (which to an outsider, may look like lascivous behavior), thinking that maybe I’m just being absent minded, or the fat of my thigh has shaped itself to my phone, thus causing the illusion that my phone is not in my pocket. It took a few seconds for the face-palm moment to happen, and I had to drive to my buddies house to pick up my phone. Now I was lucky he went home, because we both came to one conclusion. How the hell was I supposed to communicate with him if I don’t have my phone? I mean, he found my smart phone in his things, but he had no idea how to get a hold of me. I began to wonder the same thing too.
gt;Image: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.netI’ll admit that it’s weird to rely on such a device, but if you think about it…you know a lot of people who couldn’t live without that pint sized little gadget. It’s the only connection we have to the outside world, minus our computers. And since we don’t have our computers around, everywhere we go, it makes sense. Hell, we’ve even discussed on the podcast of a study where people would give up SEX if it meant not having to give up their phone. We’re a pretty obsessed and reliant people, and I lived during a time when cell phones didn’t even exist. Yep…I’m THAT old. So could you really not live without that phone? Well, I certainly use it for EVERYTHING.
Then, there’s love…that dreaded four letter word. Of course, you might be wondering, “Well how the hell does love and cellphones even get mixed up in this?” I’ll tell you. Of all the devices in the world, that we own, (or borrow, depending on what tech journalist you talk to), the smart phone/cell phone is really the one device that does it all and keeps us connected. We are never without our phones, n’est-ce pas? And as much as we feel such a need to have this kind of technology around, there is another need we can’t seem to get rid of, and the reason why people keep coming back to a blog like this or keep listening to a podcast like Geek Love Radio. We can’t live without love.
I’m not going to talk about the hopeless romantic, because, well, that’ll be for the podcast. But I will talk about the fact that we do go back and forth on the subject of love. Look at Dave and Dani’s blog posts on here, look at mine, and the podcast, and the…well…everything. It call comes back to love. Some of us may not have experienced it yet, or may be too cynical to notice, but love is what drives us and keeps us moving forward. And I’m not talking about some generic love of self or family or friends, but the want to be loved by that special someone.
No matter where you look, love is there. Movies, television and music all share a common theme and a common message. That we live for love. We love to love your love. In other words, we are passionate when it comes to the matter of the heart. When we don’t have it, we want it, and when we do have it, we want more of it. Much like the cell phone, one wonders, how does a person live without love? Sure there are a lot of single people out there, many of which are happy being single, but even the single person still recalls what it was liked to be loved and loved properly. I would feel comfortable enough in saying that those who are single by choice still miss the feelings of having someoe who was genuinely affectionate towards them?
And the funny thing about love and cell phones are that we can technically live without both. Yes, it’s a much harder existence, but it’s managable and possible. With the heart wanting what it wants, our minds finding difficulty controlling our emotions, it’s no wonder that amour is such an addictive drug. Sometimes we just want to be in a relationship. It’s encouraged by our friends, families, and even the local random person. Okay, so there are a lot of local random people, but if you were to ask them what they prefer, I think they’d say cell phone…I mean, love and being a part of somethig more than themselves.
So what are you addicted to? Do you love, love or tech? What can you not live without? I think I’ve made a personal conclusion and that’s…I can’t live without both. Maybe I’m just too melodramatic, or maybe I’m missing something. Love to hear your comments.
