How many times have you heard someone say that it is too quiet here at CSUN? I know that we have all felt that at one point while attending this university. Most of us have more or less embraced the little quirks that our campus has on a daily basis. Then, there are others who have written to the Sundial saying that our campus is boring, and that we have no school spirit here. Well, I for one wouldn’t mind having a little more action going on.

We tend to stick with our usual group and setting; anything beyond that is not an option. We have such a diverse community here at school, but it is very rare that we embrace this and go beyond the boundary that we have built up for ourselves, and learn something from a person who isn’t like us. There is nothing wrong with this, other than that we could be missing out on a great opportunity to meet some fascinating new people. It is natural, however, for us to be content with our daily routine that we made for ourselves when we came to this university. It is how we get things done.

But what about when we pass each other in the halls and outside between classes? There is virtually no contact there. I have seen so many people walk with their heads down, watching their cute shoes, rather than making eye contact with the person that is practically bumping into them, because they are doing the same thing.

When we are looking up, we still only see the person coming at us, only because our peripheral vision allows us to. We have our heads straight forward and we do not dare to give a friendly glance in their direction. We are heading towards our friends, and that is our only M. O. (Main Operative).

My favorite of all of these is something that I was fortunate to see when I was walking out of the library the other day. There were two girls walking together. When they separated, they both flipped open their cell phones and started dialing, ready to block out the outside world from their conversation. I know that most of us are guilty of this little action on more than one occasion throughout the day. This could have a little something to do with our hum-drum campus.

What would happen if we didn’t have such advanced technology like iPods and cell phones? Doesn’t that almost hurt to hear? I know that when I don’t have my cell phone, I almost feel like my day is missing something. I think we would be forced to communicate a little more as we passed each other if we didn’t have these foreign objects that we tote around at every moment of our waking day.

We give into our little insecurity of walking alone by popping out our phones and trying to have contact with the person at the other end. Maybe if we didn’t have them, we would be a little more social. That way, we wouldn’t have so many complaints about our “boring” school, and we would make life here a little more interesting.

So, I challenge you the next time you get out of class and have the urge to grab the phone and punch the numbers: don’t. See if your day changes a little bit. Maybe you’ll get a little smile from someone that you otherwise wouldn’t have noticed.

Maybe you wouldn’t like to do that at all. Suppose you are happy with the way you interact with people. Well, something has to change a little here at CSUN, and maybe trying something different isn’t such a bad idea.

Danielle Bautista can be reached at danielle.bautista@csun.edu.