"Cellphonies"

Lauren Kruger-Patchin
Blog 3
"Cellphonies"
01/28/2013

I am currently reading for tomorrow's class and couldn't help but to start laughing at the "Reach Out and Touch No One" article by Amy Harmon. I wasn't laughing because the article was bad, or dumb, but because I never thought that so many people would fake cellphone calls for one reason or another.

I, myself, have fakes a few phone calls, but I wouldn't say I do it on a regular bases. Many of the reasons that the people in the article made a fake phone call are reasons I make real phone calls. However, if I am caught at an odd time of day I might make a fake phone call for one reason or another. I can only recall several situations where I have done this, but after reading the article I can think of many situations where I should have made a fake phone call to avoid an awkward situation!

I will now question every person I see on their cellphone, wondering if they are actually talking to a real person or if they are just being a "phonie." I liked the term "cellphonie" the article used for people that fake cellphone calls.

When I go back to my Muncie house between the hours of 2am and 4am, (which I find to be the creepy hours) I always call one of my friends as I'm walking from my car to my door until I am safely locked inside. It's a safety thing. I actually call real people when I'm doing that in Muncie and it's usually the people I was just with that I call to make sure I get home safely. However, I can see why someone might fake a phone call for safety if they can't reach someone at the time.

For some reason I feel safer having my phone in my hand at night when I am walking alone from a night class. I feel like if a person sees that I am doing something on my phone, they know that I could call for help quickly or that I might be meeting someone soon. I know having my phone out isn't going to keep someone from trying to doing something to me if they want to and I'm walking alone, but it still makes me feel better. If I am in a situation where I am really feeling uncomfortable walking alone, but don't want to call and wake someone up, I keep my phone open with their number already pulled up so that I only have to hit send... after reading this article, though, I like the idea of faking a phone call, as silly as it seems. But really I just try to avoid those situations all together.

I don't think I would be the type of person to fake a phone call to avoid talking to someone, though. I would simply tell them that I am in a hurry to be somewhere and run off... I don't have the patience to pretend to talk to someone for 15 minutes while someone waits for me to end the conversation to say something, like in the article.

I still found the article very interesting and fun to read.  It was something I never thought about before. It has forever changed my view of people talking on cell phones.