The fires that raged across Southern California took down the land lines so I was grateful to have a cell phone.  I could sit in my ocean front garden and use both hands while talking to my Mother in Florida. A cellular call helped me find my client after I got lost. My cell phone has become my everyday companion and yet I know it might be too much of a good thing.

Loud boors turn public places, like the library or the nearby Starbucks, into phone booths where we’re bombarded with information we don’t want, don’t need, and probably shouldn’t know.  This disgusts us as we realize that we’re entering a second stage in the cellular age where this amazingly portable device can actually disrupt meaningful face-to-face conversations, invades the privacy of  vacation time or the silence of reverie and deep thinking.

This tiny device has become the metaphor for our 24/7 culture. It has become almost unthinkable to turn it off or plain not answer. In short, the cell phone controls us rather than visa versa.

Fordham communications professor Paul Levinson says that we live in an age of omniaccessibility. Like Pavlov’s dog, we jump every time the cell phone rings, waving off friends, family or kids just to answer the call. We put this device in our purses or in our pockets, hang them on a belt or wear them around our necks, ready to pounce when it rings. As Levinson states, “the notion of being unreachable is not alien to human life.” That’s why there are “Do Not Disturb” signs and offices with doors. He claims that freedom  comes in simple rebellion. To reclaim our private time, according to Levinson, “there must be a general social recognition that we’re entitled to it.”

What would happen if we put the phone away, shut our mouths and concentrate on whatever was before us: a place, a project, or-even more importantly-a person? Think of the connection that is made when someone has our undivided attention!  What if we had uninterrupted time with ourselves? Might we discover a chance to slow down and breathe?

Turn it off and get some silence back.  It will make our next cell phone call more meaningful.

Eileen McDargh, McDargh Communications.  All rights reserved. You may reprint this article so long as it remains intact with the byline and if all links are made live.

Named by Executive Excellence Magazine as one of the top 100 thought leaders in business for 2005, Eileen McDargh, CSP, CPAE authored one of the first books on work/life balance. Numerous books and articles later, Eileen serves the meetings industry as a popular international keynoter and on the Board of Directors of the National Speakers Association. You can find products and services offered by Eileen at http://www.EileenMcDargh.com