Our Voice

    As journalists, we are trained to take note of our surroundings. In fact, journalists may be some of the most observant people you’ll find. Late last Friday afternoon, as I walked across Front Campus, I was surprised, amazed even, by the scene that unfolded before me: Each of the people with whom I shared the sidewalk were talking on the phone. On the porch of Terrell Hall: guy on a cell phone. On the bench under the oak trees: cell phone. On the adjacent sidewalk: cell phones. Every person in my field of vision was electronically engaged. It felt as though someone had arranged a world-wide conference call and had neglected to inform me.
    We certainly do not criticize the transfer of information, which, in essence, is what a phone call is. But we ask you, in your all-too busy life, to consider for a moment what you’re giving up when you flip open your phone and devote yourself to some other matter taking place beyond your microcosm.
    What you’re giving up is the here-and-now. You’re giving up the fleeting present in order to address… what?     A voice mail? A text message? You’re friend that you haven’t spoken to in, like, fifty seven whole minutes?
    It can wait.
    Really.
    Because Front Campus is beautiful this time of year, but you won’t notice.
    And that friend you just passed while furiously pounding the keypad? You haven’t talked to her, really talked to her, in weeks.
    And you just missed three people waving at you because you were engrossed in reading your text message.     Congratulations. They now think you’re a jerk.
    Maybe it’s not your cell phone; maybe its your iPod. Maybe you’re one of those people who stare at the sidewalk, so enthralled with Kelly Clarkson that you missed two friendly nods, five hellos, and 72 chances to make eye contact with someone else and, for a brief moment, share a place and time.
    Next time you’re on campus, put away the phone, take out the earphones and look around. Take note of the people around you. How many of them are entirely checked out? How many of them are oblivious to their surroundings because they barely made it out of A&S without shoving something to their ear?
    We’re all for communication. We’re fans of media and technology (If we’re not, a career change might be in order).
    But we’re also for being engaged in the present, for observation and participation in the world around you.
    So try to be more observant. You’ll be surprised at the things you never bothered to notice.
    You’ve got voicemail for a reason.

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Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 3 2006. Filed under Opinion, Our Voice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry