Media and Refuseniks

I've chosen to react to the NY Times article entitled "The Cell Refuseniks, an Ever-Shrinking Club." The article, for those that may not have had a chance to read it, discusses the few sole survivors who refuse to live life without a cell phone. According to the article, "those [people] who still do not have them [cell phones]...tend to be older or less educated Americans or those unable to afford phones. These are people who have a bunch of other struggles in their lives and the expense of maintaining technology and mastering it is also pretty significant to them..." What we see in this statement is that one's access to media technology is directly correlated to their age, amount of education, and socioeconomic status. For many of us the idea of not having a cell phone is unfathomable; however, for may Americans, this "working poor" status is reality. The Department of Social Services recently enacted a plan that gives free pre-paid cell phones to those who receive Food Stamps and or Medicaid. Poor people have emergencies just like anybody else and need a means of communication that is easily accessible and readily available.

Not everyone who doesn't have a cell phone is poor, however. Many of these people, according to the article, choose not to be tied down with cell phones and the expectations that they bring of always being reachable, anytime, anywhere. As a society, we've gotten so accustomed to 24-hour accessibility that we no longer understand the concept f NOT being able to reach someone or someone NOT wanting to be reached. I experienced this first-hand during the media deprivation experiment. People were like, "What do you mean you're not on Facebook?" Many times on the weekends when I am surrounded by my family, I become a "refusenik" and willfully don't answer my cell phone. Whoever it is can wait! If it's that important, they'll call me at home and/or leave a message. I simply want to have time with y loved ones without interruption. Has technology gotten us to a point where this is beyond our scope of reasoning? Yes. "Cell refuseniks are making a statement that they control their availability."