Mobility or Immobility?

When discussing the topic of mobility, cellular or mobile phones automatically come to mind. Mobile phones are great because they allow the user to connect to anybody anytime, and anywhere. Aside from connecting to other people in a matter of seconds, newer phones have internet access, Global Positioning System (GPS), games, planners, music storage and downloads, cameras, and other features. I even have a friend who is signed onto AOL Instant Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, and Gmail chat at all times. One time he decided to message me on his way to work, telling me about the people on the bus whom he has negative feelings about based on their image. Once he got off the bus and went into the office, he immediately signed off his instant messenger programs on his phone and signed on those programs on his laptop. He resumed his barrage of unimportant messages for another five minutes before starting his work. Mobility is a great thing to to have, especially on a phone. The mobile phone allows the user to multitask, can be of great convenience, and has the potential to save the user a lot of time and trouble. The irony of all this is however fascinating this new technology seems, it can be overwhelming. By having so many functions on the phone that are designed to save the user time, a greater amount of time could be wasted by being amazed at the phone's abilities and the amount of things it can do.

There is a cliche, "too much of a good thing (can be bad)". In the case of mobile phones, an individual might find himself constantly receiving phone calls when he's busy or at work. New Keywords suggests mobility "can diminish the autonomy of the employees, subjecting them to unwanted relocations that can disperse from their personal roots". Even so, users can choose with whom they wish to talk and when in complete in the privacy of their own phone, right? Wrong. "The mobile phone allows governments and corporations to use comprehensive surveillance methods to locate and acquire information about the telephone users (New Keywords)". Because of the amount of convenience offered through mobile phones, a lot of users have the option to send text messages instead of actually using them for their purpose-talking. As a result, a good number of users may choose to 'limit' their interactions to just lines and walls of text instead of actually socializing and interacting with their peers. People with little social skill and introverted individuals have the opportunity to stay behind the comfort of their own phone's keypad instead of building on their verbal skills.

As a Blackberry advertisement reads, it's the "object for your desires", it clearly suggests that it is merely a medium for your desires, and not a necessity. Being able to do as many things as the Blackberry is capable of has the potential to save time, but perhaps learning to save time is very time consuming in itself. With so many functions in a phone, the phone becomes more of a toy. And what else do you do with a toy besides play with it? Time sure goes by when you're having fun. Oh wait..I thought the phone was supposed to be a time-saver. Before deciding whether or not this object of mobility will serve its true purpose, consumers must remember that it is in fact a mere object. They must remember they own their phones, and not the other way around.The mobile phone empowers the user with mobility, and this mobility is a beautiful thing. Above all else, the consumer must remember to mobilize responsibly.