Cellphones

Ring Ring. It's your cellphone. Well, actually, nowadays it's more of a ding ding. I can't remember the last time I called someone just to talk to them without making sure they were available over text first. 

As a woman, extrovert, and quick thinker I prefer a phone call to texting but I can't call someone for ten minutes between my classes every time I want to talk to him/her. So I shoot a quick text and the conversation we're having continues. Planning is also very convenient over text because people can respond when they have time, rather than playing phone tag all day. 

Nancy O'Neill published a blog on Why People Text Instead of Talk 

In this blog she goes over several reasons (very unscientific) about why people text rather than talk. One reason that stood out to me (as a communication blogger) was that some people prefer texting because they want to have a conversation that last over several hours. 

While I hardly ever talk on the phone for more than five minutes at a time, I do see the advantage in having that constant contact with another person for a long period of time. That being said, that person is not getting your full attention for any one minute of those several hours. Send a quick text, continue what you were doing and ten minutes later check your phone and respond to another text. It's part of our common activities. 

However according to Elliot Slenk's blog titled Texting or Calling the heavy texters (50 or more a day) are also heavy on phone calls, It comes from being on phones all the time and wanting to talk to people.

Through texting, there are so many more chances for the meaning of words or sentences to be misunderstood and lead to friction between the sender and receiver. Texting does allow for more time to think though which can help eliminate any quick comments that should not be said out loud. 

As a seventeen year old girl, I am never without my cellphone. It often sits on the table during class and it is always in my hand during passing periods. I use my phone for everything. Planning, texting, sharing pictures, calling, playing candy crush, surfing the web and even my countdown until graduation. There is truly an app for everything and I take total advantage of that. I love having all the information in the world at my fingertips. That's not something anyone could've even dreamed of 50 years ago. That's what is so truly amazing.

Cellphone bridge the gap between two people far apart from each other, but puts up a wall with those who we have in real life. It's important to balance out communication in the digital world and communication in the real world.

Book Review: Unwind

The following is a review of the book Unwind by Neil Schusterman. For the Wikipedia article on this book click here.

This book is about a alternate society to our own where children are unwound. Unwound means being taken apart and used in hospitals as if an organ donor, but by choice of their parents. It's a story mainly focused around four runaways from being "harvested". The story has lots of twists and turns, eventually leading to a very detailed description of an unwinding.

The story within itself is a comment on what I assume is slavery. These children are trapped into this fate by their parents. In Conor's case, his parent believe that he's gotten in too many fights, Risa is a ward of the state and no longer able to stay in the system because of budget cuts. Remember being unwound means one is literally taken apart and used to supplement other people who need treatment in hospitals.

A very interesting part of the novel is Lev, a very religious character that is being unwound because his parents believe that 10% of everything they own should be donated to the church, including children. Lev happens to be the tenth child and because he has been told he was going to be unwound from birth he is very committed to go to the harvesting camp.

The characters also find themselves in a system very similar to the underground railroad, which hides kids that have gone AWOL. There is a movement against unwinding, just as though there was a movement against slavery.

Schusterman communicates a very compelling story full of adventure and an obviously distopian world. It is an incredible book with lots to offer for the world of communication and telling the story about slavery through this book. It is well written but at a reading level for most middle school students. The pull of an alternate world is just too strong in recent years, but "Unwind" sent itself apart from all the others.

4.8 stars.