I must start this post with who still uses a pay phone? I realize in the case of an emergency (aka your cell phone is dead) they can be very handy but on the 8th floor of my school? I can't think of one single person in my class that doesn't have one. In fact I can only think of one person I know who doesn't have a cell phone and trust me when she needs to make a call she doesn't use a pay phone, she borrows someone's cell! Still it is kinda cool in a retro I used to use this to say I'd be late for curfew kinda way.
Where: To class after a day of homework hell!
Why: Because I was looking in the mirror brushing my teeth and this outfit popped into my head. Sometimes you just go with it.
What: Vest, Salvaged from my parent's dress up box
T-shirt: American Apparel $15
Jeans: Lushuz $70
Boots: Aldo Outlet $50
Brooch: H&M $5
Watch: Yardsale $1
Cuff: Value Village $2
Now I'm off to bed!
PS Wish me luck, finals start tomorrow!
1 comment:
I use a payphone from time to time. I don't use a cell phone.
I've resisted cell phones to date because:
1) I beleive that for most of us they are unneccessary. ten years ago, people got along fine without them. You'd do things like make some plans, then stick with them. Like, "I'll be there at ten", and then you'd be there at ten. None of this texting, "running late, b there 11) nonsense. Also, I'm usually at home or at work (I'm 32 and not as socially active as I once was), which I think is true of most of us. We don't really "need" phones for the dozen or so instances where it would come in handy over a year.
2) Cost. I pay $30 a month for a home phone and have an answering machine (no $7 a month voicemail for me). That's about $360 per year. How much does a cell phone cost? How much per year? Are people with cell phones so fabulously wealthy so that that thousand dollar expense is no biggie?
3) They are a social disease. It used to be that you could have dinner with someone without having to be interrupted by text messages, grating rings or your dining companions constant need for validation of their existence via checking their phone. I look out the window and see the world around me instead of staring at my screen and the wonders it offers.
With "enhanced web phones" things are only going to get worse. Consumers aren't critical about technology. They are told they want it and unquestioningly take on this desire. Phones used to be sold to us based on the rare need in an emergency (check out old Cantel ads for proof). Cell phones were considered ostentatious and arrogant for most of us. This has changed in the last decade.
4) They are wasteful of both energy and resources. They aren't recycleable, and even if they are, think of the effort to break them down to make them so. Old phones of 50 years ago can still plug into a wall jack. This is not the same for cells. It's called forced obsolescence, so even if you wanted to continue using your hardware, you can't. "Buy another one, asshole", says the phone company. They require electricity to run them much more than traditional phones. And what do you do with the battery when it's of no use?
5) They make us dumber. Do you think that the longest, most cogent and reasoned comment you have, or will ever receive comes from someone who has never communicated in text message speak? Knowledge and wisdom are evidenced by insight and analysis, cell phone communication depends on speed and efficiency, which does not support well thought out arguments.
6) (Don't worry, I'm almost done) Cancer. Extremely Low Frequencies - look them up.
I can not deny their convenience, but left in the hands of an inanity-driven consumer, they are quickly abused and that abusive use is normalised. We should all have them... for emergencies, and the occasional correct usage, but we yammer on in public spaces on them, changing what was once the public sphere into our own little private one, so we can let everyone around us know about where are we, how bored we are right now, and how we'll probably get sushi later.
Pay phones now cost $0.50 for local calls.
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