David Spates "Therefore I Am" Published March 9, 2004

Cell phones in class are all the rage

Remember the olden days when we stood in long, long lines at the telephone booth? Wasn't it terrible how our lives were in total chaos because we couldn't immediately and constantly communicate with our friends and loved ones? I'm even old enough to remember the days when folks had one telephone number. Can you young kids imagine it?

I know, I know. Enough of the smart-alecky comments. Cell phones are as much a part of the American culture as blue jeans and drive-throughs. I've been carrying one for years, and I'm hooked on it, too. I'm no different than anyone else when it comes to cell phones.

However, from time to time, I marvel at how communication habits have changed so quickly. In the early 1990s, only rich people had cell phones. Today, you can pick any American at random and be fairly confident that he or she will have a cell phone right then and there. Even homeless people have cell phones, which I suppose makes perfect sense since they don't have a wall jack in which to plug a landline phone. Sure they may be destitute and downtrodden, but they still have places to go and people to see.

I've told you about going back to college to get my master's degree to be a teacher. Well, it turns out that a college campus is a hotbed of cell phone activity. College kids are more connected than a Kevin Bacon party game.

Back in my original college heyday of the late '80s and early '90s, we cell-phoneless college students talked face-to-face with one another as we shuffled from classroom to classroom. It was a chance to tell a funny story from last weekend's party, or perhaps complain about how "foggy" we felt from last night's party, or better yet invite a cute co-ed to tonight's party.

I suspect today's college students are having essentially the same conversations, but now they doing it with cell phones. The moment a class ends, the trendy college student is speed-dialing a buddy, wirelessly checking email or retrieving the voice messages left by callers during the class.

Yes, during the class. I've lost count of the number of times someone's cell phone has rung during a lecture. Obviously most students, including myself, mute their ringers before class, but there's often one person who forgot to do it. If I were a college professor, I'd deduct one point off a student's final grade every time his or her cell phone rang during class. That would shut up those phones in a big, big hurry. Calculating price elasticity is difficult enough without being subjected to the grinding strains of Nokia's "happy cricket" ring tone.

My professor is more tolerant than I. She simply rolls her eyes and kindly reminds her young pupils of their phones' mute feature.

The scary part is that it could happen to me. I've always remembered to mute it (so far), but I freely I admit that I carry my cell phone to class. I feel as though I must, but that's silly. I attend class while my two children are in a local church's "mother's day out" program, and it makes sense to carry a phone in case a problem comes up, right? Well, fine, but children have been in schools for a lot longer than cell phones have been around and yet somehow they've survived. If a problem comes up, I have full faith and trust that the church's staff can handle it. If I didn't, well, then I shouldn't leave my kids there in the first place.

My mother was at home when my sister and I went to school, but she left from time to time to run errands, meet friends, whatever. Sometimes Dad was out of the office, too. There were no cell phones in those days - there weren't even answering machines, and yet miraculously my sister and I are alive and well. If there was a problem at school, the school staff just kept calling home until Mom was there to answer the phone. It was no big deal.

So will I take my muted cell phone to class? Sure. Chances are I won't need it, but why not have it? If it helps me respond to my kids' needs a little quicker, then that's a good thing. But it is funny how our society has changed. Cell phones are as common as air conditioning. What was a luxury for one generation is a necessity to the next generation. We cannot, nor should we, go back to "the good ol' days." The classrooms were a lot hotter back then, and sometimes Mom didn't get home until 3 in the afternoon. If you're an 8-year-old with a 103-degree temperature, that's a long time to wait in the school nurse's office.

If only I had a cell phone back when I was 8.

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David Spates is a Knoxville resident and Crossville Chronicle contributor whose column is published each Tuesday. He can be reached at davespates@chartertn.net.