MY
TIME IS A CELL-PHONE´S SLAVE!!
My time is a cell phone´s slave!!
Today I would like to reflect upon the role cell
phones have come to get into the life of people and how that fact has
consequences on their working relationships.
Nowadays, cell phones seem to be part of the
identity of most people (I was going to write “our identity”. But, in fact, I do not agree with
that... A cell phone is NOT part of my identity, fortunately. Not yet).
First Act: The acquisition.
In this part of the story, all the people strive
for acquiring the best mobile phone ever. They decide to pay for the most expensive phone. Those who do not
have the money, get into huge debts in order to have the phone of their
dreams. What´s up (“was sap”), Camera, Mp3, every technological feature must be inside the phone
they buy. These people reach absolute extremes of consumerism without even
noticing that it can be in fact a “mania”.
Second Act: The use and the Overuse.
There is a whole array of essays talking of the
overuse of cell phones at school and among little students. (1)
In my case, I would like to expand on the labour
consequences of this unfortunate dependency.
In my day-to-day practice as a labour lawyer,
during 2012 and 2013, I have come across at least with five cases of dismissal
which were the result of the overuse of cell-phones.
Employees (and mostly young employees) tend to forget
that, as Franklin
used to say, “Time is money”, and that they are paid for their
time.
These employees also think that they can attend the
job´s affairs and prepare and send a text message... at the same time.
Therefore, they oblige themselves to divide their attention into at least two
or more things, resulting in lack of perfection and sometimes lack of success
in what they are trying to do at work.
After that, when they get a suspension (or any other
type of sanction) they come to the lawyer to moan on the consequences. And, you
know, the lawyer is not a magician. We lawyers cannot turn the time back and
make those people be accepted again in their jobs. It is impossible.
My personal reflection:
I feel sorry for these now unemployed people. I
think that they have behaved that way because it is as if they have been caught
in some kind of enchantment. When the little musical thing rings, they cannot
avoid the tension and pretend that nothing happens. They HAVE to take the phone
and see who is calling or texting them. So, all conversation with present
interlocutors must be interrupted (even at the office, during the interview
with their lawyer). At those moments, they are very rude. And they do not
notice that, either! It is really disgusting.
It is said that people have been killed in
unfortunate car- accidents, while they were trying to reach the phone.
Those people have bent for only a moment, and death has violently hit into
them.
In this case, the situation is not so
dreadful. But it is a situation to take into
account. My point is: the phone is a “third person”. It is a third issue,
and it is something apart from the things every person is involved in the
factual moment. If one clerk is dealing with one aspect of his work he
has to deliver or solve as part of the job, while he does so, he should turn
off the phone if he is really honest with the employer. Otherwise, it will be
fair if he receives the dismissal note.
People who live attending the voice at the phone
are living in the “outer world”. Their ideal place is out of their
reality. They are missing an important part of their own world. In fact,
they miss part of their lives. Let´s try to avoid doing the same.
----------------------------------------------------
(1) See: CELL PHONE MANIA!, by Joanne Ryder, School Counselor.
As well as: “Essay: Overcoming cell-phone photo-mania” by
Peter Mandel, August 22 2013.
Retrieved from: The Washington
Post Online:
Ade, I agree with you. I know I need my cell-phone and I'm used to have it with me. But I don't like people who are talking to you and suddenly are watching his/her cell-phones and you don't exisit anymore. It happened to me once: I was in a friend's house, we were chatting, and then she started sending messages to another peson and it was as if I wasn't there anymore. So, I left. I was sooo angry! And all the money we spend on those things. OMG!!
ResponderEliminarI totally agree with you Adela, it is as if cell phones are esencial in our life, and it makes us to forget how interact with real people, and our manners (as it happened to Nati). The truth is, that they are important in their basic function: to have us communicated mostly in emergencies, and why not, when it saves us time. Something funny that came to me, is that momento when you think you have Heard an SMS, and it actually it hasn't arrived! and you check your phone and say: I can swear I Heard the ring!
ResponderEliminarWe have become salves of cellphones Adela. That cannot be denied! However, don't you enjoy it so much when you are alone at home and you are able to feel closer to people that are so far away, just by writing a text message?
ResponderEliminar