In Hans Geser’s article, “Is the Cell Phone Undermining the Social Order?”, Hans makes an attempt to have us believe that the cell phone is the end of civilization as we know it. Apparently, it is not war or famine that will undo the whole of humanity, it is the evil cell phone. He touches on a multitude of subjects and topics for the bulk of his experiments, but seems to lack the common sense aspect that is needed. If you were to ask any nineteen to twenty-year old student, “Does having a cell phone increase your network of friends?”, I’m positive they would think differently than Han’s. With a cell phone, you have no limitations to the friends you can have.
His first argument stated that cell phones increase pervasiveness of primary, particularistic social bonds. While at first I wanted to agree with this statement, further deliberation caused me to change my mind. How many times have we as a society, with regular cell phone usage, gotten a call from someone we didn’t know? Maybe it was a friend of a friend or perhaps something as simple as a wrong number. In any case, we never seem to be caught in a situation where we only talk to the people in our phonebook.
He then goes on to state the cell phone’s reduce the need for time-based scheduling and coordination. Again, I wanted to agree, but this is simply not the case. With the over usage of cell phones in the past few years our schedules seem to be so tightly packed that the slightest twinge would cause our lives to unravel. I say thank goodness we have a cell phone. What else could help us deal with the weekly collapse of or high stressed lives? After a few months of having a personal phone you would be juggling those ten and twelve activities a day in no time.
Next, he says that they undermine institutional boundary controls and replace location-based with person-based communicative systems. I’m assuming this means we no longer have to get off our couches to go to the phone anymore. This is the one statement I would have to agree with. Yes, we are getting lazier as time goes on, but if we have been provided the technology, who cares? Goodbye to the days of payphones and the lovely conversations we had with each while waiting to use them.
Finally, he claims that cell phones provide support for anachronistic “pervasive roles.” This to me was the most ludicrous idea to date. We will be so absorbed in our conversations and our roles in them that we will lose our place in time? I hate to be rude but it sounds like Han’s has been watching too much H.G. Well’s lately. This is not the Twilight Zone where people lose themselves and there place in time because they’re busy.
In conclusion, while Han’s may have made some excellent progress in his studies. He seems so dead set on how horrible the cell phone is that I don’t believe he truly attempted to find out if cell phones really are undermining sociological order. If anything, this technology advances our connection to our fellow man, whether it is on purpose or merely by accident.