Connecting people !

Imagine few days without a cell phone. It sounds scary. Isn't it? The very thought gives us that weird sense of alienation. Cell phones have become such integral part of our life that the distinction between the world we create through it and the world outside it, is rapidly blurring. Mobile telephony has changed our lives across all categories and classes. It has offered great convenience, a sense of security that we never experienced before. The 24/7 connectivity of cell phones has served enormous benefits that has enhanced our personal and professional life, offering us so much freedom in many areas. Albeit, in this process, cell phones have intruded our personal life way beyond they should have been allowed to.

In our ever increasing unwired world, sheer lack of cell phone etiquettes is our biggest gripe! All of us have experienced annoyance, inflicted by those loud ringtones, conversations or the torture of very high decibels that comes from music played on cell phones at restaurants, theatres or other public places that we are obliged to listen. Being "always contactable", is perceived as "always available", leaving profound impact on our inter-personal interactions and relationships. Very often, we are spending a great deal of time on cell phone, at the cost of people who are around us, causing subtle social alienation. The boundaries of personal and professional life are shrinking thanks to the invasive nature of mobile telephony.

I often find it difficult to comprehend some people's fetish for cell phones! Cell phones have now become lifestyle statements and everybody, including children, is very conscious about it! Every time there is some new, chic cell phone launched in the market, my son asks me," mom, for God's sake, why don't you change your cell ? " He sometimes wonders if I belong to some completely different era of time that I am not moved by such smart seductions.

I am not exactly a cell phone addict. I know, cell phone is a very important medium for me to stay connected with world and a great companion! The very feeling that I am just a call away from anyone I wish to be with is very comforting. That's why I give it all the due respect and make sure it rests right next to me, on a pillow, when I go to bed. Was there life before cell phones, really? I wonder!