The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

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New technologies leading to the age of rudeness

It happens every time I’m in a classroom: someone’s cell phone goes off. It amazes me, really. You would think it would become a habit for people to turn their phones on silent right before going to class, but no. Just like clockwork it happens.

And the teachers don’t even seem to care anymore. They have learned to tune it out. Sometimes, I’ll hear a person actually pick up their phone and start talking, right in the middle of class.

I often wonder who they are talking to. Is it really that important, and don’t your friends know you have class right now? Then, as my eyes wonder around the classroom, I’ll spot about a dozen people text messaging. I guess something really important must be going on at nine in the morning, but it seems like people need to constantly be in contact and responding to each other. I’ll shake things off, then walk out of class and meet with a friend and right in the middle of a conversation, their cell phone rings and they almost always seem to have to take that call. For some reason an answering machine isn’t good enough for the person calling.

With our new technologies, we are bringing on a new form of rudeness. It seems like people are losing the ancient art of manners, decency, and respect. I hate going to some of my classes, at least the GE’s, so I can understand why people don’t want to pay attention. But college is a place that is training us all to be smart, well-minded adults.

It seems to me that giving respect to your teachers and to the class is like practice for when you have an important job. When you are starting a career, are you going to let your phone go off in a meeting? When you are talking to someone important at your job are you going to say, “Hold on a minute, I have to take this call”? I often wonder how people will be able to get a job after college with habits such as these.

It is not just in classes that I feel people are being rude, it feels like it’s every where. Cell phones have become so common today that we aren’t even realizing how much we’ve lost our manners and how we act in our surroundings.

For example; I’ll be walking on the sidewalk and see a mother with her child, then all of a sudden I’ll see someone walk by with their phone, talking as loud as they can saying things like, “F-k, yeah, last night was the s-t.” I will be in a movie theater and half way through I’ll hear the latest ringtone go off followed by, “Hey, I’m in the movie, yeah it’s pretty good.” That conversation will go on for at least five minutes. Oh, and my favorite people who forget about their surroundings while using their phones; the drivers. I’m not talking about the one who talk on the phone, because I’m guilty of that, but the people who are actually “texting” while driving.

So, I beg of you. Turn your cells phones on silent; you can always call your friends back. And most importantly, practice showing some respect to your teachers and the people around you.

Hadley Hudson can be reached at hadley.hudson@csun.edu

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