Sample – revised…
Technologically Excused Absence:
A Comparative Analysis Between Real and Virtual Connectivity
It is no secret that technology has created a continuously widening gap between being
connected and being engaged. Goldberger’s article “Disconnected Urbanism” and
Rosen’s article “Our Cell Phones, Our Selves” highlight how phones are increasingly
making this generation consumed by technology. Their message? With the evolvement
of technology comes a price: a world centered around technology and craving each new
advancement. These conflicts are specifically focused around cell phones and the ease
they give us to connect to every place possible when using them. While both authors
recognize cell phones have undoubtedly connected people all over the world, they also
note they have disconnected them from reality.
Goldberger and Rosen both suggest that cell phones make people behave in a
disconnected way with the world. Rosen states that phones "violate our everyday sense of
normal behavior"; in other words, they hinder our ability to behave like a normal human
and engage in the world around us (469). It seems phones have not only become a way to
connect, but a way to hide from a multitude of situations that come our way that we
don’t want to face. According to Rosen, phones seem now a way to get out of the
constant engagement that the world requires us to attain. We often become so captivated
by our phones that our actions mimic the consumption. It’s as if we aren’t present
with what is going on around us; we are at “another place at the other end of our phone
conversation” (Goldberger 473). He brings up a scary point: cell phones require so
much of our attention that we have become absent to the world around us.
In my own research, I have noticed how phones are, in fact, taking over every
situation. Whether it’s a birthday party, the airport, and a frozen yogurt restaurant,
people always have a phone and are using it even when their all-consuming behavior
intrudes on others. Goldberger proclaims, “you are either on the phone or carrying
one” (473). There is never a moment where our phones do not captivate us, they intrude
on every moment possible and change the way we behave. Rosen would agree. People
tend to be so consumed with their phones that they aren’t “engaged with those
around” them (Rosen 469). And our behavior when consumed by the phone doesn't only
broadcasts our private lives but intrudes on the lives of others around us. Rosen also
brings up the point that our phone etiquette brings our private details into a public place
and creates an uncomfortable environment for bystanders. So what does this mean? It
means….. ( your analysis or personal response)
According to Rosen, cell phones have the ease to create the “blurring of distinctions”
between places and as he points out, there are “no longer any boundaries” and
anyone can be anywhere at any time (Rosen, 469). Etc, etc, etc…