Why Your Cell Phone is NOT a Blessing

Ahhh yes - The first real sign that Big Brother is a reality.

Let me readjust my tinfoil hat and give you the first bit of real animosity I have with my cellular leash.

Cell phones are easily the worst thing we've ever done to ourselves. In our effort to make communication "convenient" we've given away any morsel of privacy and have made it that much easier for a totalitarian state to happen.

I know, it sounds crazy. As a matter of fact, as I read the words back to myself I know that I'm due for a new jacket with eight foot wrap around sleeves with buckles that work well on the back. However, in an effort to let you know that I haven't completely lost my mind let me tell you what we've done to ourselves FREELY.

Practically every cellphone has a camera and practically everyone owns a cellphone. Do you know what that means? If anything ordinary or extraordinary happens to you (or in your immediate area), people will photograph it or video it (depending on the quality of your friend's cellphone). That means we're monitoring ourselves.

And then we post what we see on Facebook or Youtube.

We are putting ourselves under our own surveillance.

So, why don't we add to that? Let's see what we can do to ourselves to make ourselves easily found wherever we go. I have it. Why not put a GPS chip in our device and market it as a way to find whatever destination we're heading to. So we don't get lost. A GPS (Global Positioning System) allows us to be tracked by satellite. So long as you have your phone - guess what - you can always be found.

Let's also go for a dumbing down of the masses. How many people have a calculator on their phone? Or access to Wikipedia? Or the Internet? While we tell ourselves that we use these things as a method to know any fact at any given time and have information at our fingertips, we are actually learning to use our minds less.

How many of you remember when you could recite the telephone number of your best friend growing up? How many of you remember your parents' telephone number?

I remember when I started my first career and could remember every extension in the building that I used more than three times a week. Or better yet, I remember never needing to use a calculator for simple math. All I needed was a piece of paper.

Or how about spelling? Have you noticed that kids these days can't spell their way out of a paper bag?

Yes, I know. I sound insane.

Let me ask you this, though. What happens when the last of us stops using their heads for critical thinking and only has the opinion that the TV or newspapers have given them? What happens when there are only two opinions in this country: the right and the left? Where are those facts and arguments coming from? Are they reasoned or are they rhetoric... or are they parroted?

It all starts simple. It all starts with convenience.

And it started this time with cell phones.