Minority Report

The moment I stepped onto the UBC campus this fall, I knew I was in the minority. No cell phone. Of course, everywhere you go you see people on their phone or dialing their phone, checking emails and texts, it’s just more concentrated on campus. Today I went for a run along the beach. I saw people walking their dogs and their kids, well sort of, mostly they were on their phones – it wasn’t exactly together time. As I walked back up the hill to my home, I noticed a woman walking towards me, holding her cell phone in her hand – not talking on it, just holding it, palm up, at the ready. I looked down at my hand which was full of red and yellow fall leaves. I wonder if the calming, rejuvenating effects of nature are the same when you carry a little computer around with you on your walk. Might be an interesting study for a medical student. I do wonder what the future effects of this addiction will be. Cell phone usage fragments attention, affecting our ability to focus and engage both socially and with our environment. Never mind the effects on the environment. I suspect, even knowing the effects, it would be quite a fight separating any environmentalist or sustainability champion from their cell phone.