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The Et Cetera

The Et Cetera

The Et Cetera

Put down the phone and start paying attention

By Carletta Ford

Everywhere you look on campus, people have cell phones in hand and earphones in their ears. They don’t even realize what is going on in the world around them.
I’ve walked down the halls and had students bump into me because they were too focused on their cell phones. They didn’t even have the courtesy to say excuse me.
In one of my classes recently, the instructor asked us to make a rule about using cell phones. I suggested making the offending student leave class and lose points, unless the call was an emergency. When you are in a classroom setting, it is not appropriate to be on your cell phone.
Some would argue that college is when you become a free spirit and find yourself.  But where do we draw the line?
You do not have a one-on-one instructor. There are other people who have paid tuition and want the instructor to be the focal point in the room. It is very annoying to hear the clicking of keys from texting, the vibration of a phone going off and the occasional music that lets you know you have an incoming call. Often when students are listen to music, I can hear that also.
Cell phones are a nice invention, but when do we turn them off and turn on our social skills that are so obviously lacking on this campus? For once in your technical life, stop and see the world around you.
There are beautiful things and beautiful people in it. If the cell phone is the only thing you care about, you may look up one day and find that the world as you knew has gone on without you.
Social skills are more important than technology. If every electronic device shut down today, what would you do? Think about it.

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