Changes are difficult for human beings and at first it was easy to resist. When the first cell phones appeared (in Argentina, at the end of 1989, with the company Movicom) refusing to have one was perfectly normal, a natural act of neophobia.
But, believe it or not, because of the conviction that they generate an unhealthy dependency or that they reduce human contact; there are people who even today (most people go back to look for their mobile at home if they realized that they forgot it because they consider it an extension of their body) continue to choose not to have one and communicate by other means . They are an intense minority that is very clear about why they do not want the device in their daily lives, despite the fact that today in Argentina there are more cell phone lines (about 55 million) than inhabitants.
Men of letters but without cell phones
Journalist Víctor Hugo Morales is one of the people who chooses, despite the intense activity he does every day, not to use a mobile phone. “I never had the need to have a cell phone, I got used to it, I would live losing it and it scares me to create a dependency like the one I see in others,” he told Télam.
All the people consulted referred to this dependency. And they are not lacking in reason because cell phone addiction has already been defined with the neologism “nomophobia”.
“I don’t know if it’s resistance or negligence, I don’t think it’s a virtue or a defect, maybe I reject it out of self-preservationI would become an irreparable addict…or maybe it’s an excuse”, said the writer and journalist Rudolph Braceliwho at 82 years of age still prefers to communicate by mail or by telephone.
He acknowledges that he remains “far outside” of the world because there are rare people like him, but, poet after all, he says that not having a cell phone “turns you into a kind of God of others“.
He explains it like this: “You become a kind of God of the rest, you see how they cross the street and risk their lives for this little egg. And the truth is that although it is a common place, we are more incommunicado than ever. Yes, the one who looks at another without being looked at is a kind of God”, poetizes the writer.
It is not that Braceli from Mendoza has never had contact with a cell phone. He says that at the time home births had become fashionable, he was writing a note on the subject and had to be in communication with the women who were about to give birth.
He tried it on other occasions. “I have had three cell phones and there is no case, I have to ask my grandchildren for directions and they give them to me at a speed where I understand less and less,” he laughed.
the historianr Norberto Galasso belongs to the same club. “I don’t normally use a cell phone. It happens to me that I go to a cafe and I see a couple in love, each one looks at their cell phone instead of looking at each other“, he explained.
Of course, he does not fail to recognize the advantages of technology. “On the one hand it is a great progress from the point of view of communications, but means a fairly significant decrease in human contactGalasso opined.
And added that “Like all progress, when a need is made it turns you into a slave. In addition, it is linked to social networks, to the use of the computer, I work with the computer, but I don’t want to submit to it either. The advancement of technology disorients us a little. The old guard people are lost.”
The people mentioned so far are known, but there are also ordinary citizens who choose not to have a cell phone.
What Alexander Martinez. Accountant, 70 years oldtold Télam why he prefers not to have a mobile, and the advantages and disadvantages of his decision.
“I think that it can be alienating and addictive. Of course it has advantages: it facilitates the number of people with whom to contact and the speed of the exchange, which does not mean the creation of deep ties. It also allows for the ability to contact each other in a rush situation,” he said.
But if he does not have it, it is because what he visualizes as cons weighs more on him. “It is impossible to have a certain isolation if you want it. My impression tends to go from a vision of excessive cell phone use to a facilitator of communication and information. Perhaps the people who can get run over while talking on their cell phones are the same people who indulge in any excessive activity without paying attention to their surroundings.” He reflected on the risks of being very aware of the phone.
What is Nomophobia
People who choose not to have a cell phone, perhaps without knowing it, want to “oleeee” a phobia that required the creation of a neologism in order to be named.
Nomophobia is an anxiety disorder associated with the fear of running out of a mobile phone.Whether it’s when your battery runs out, you’re out of coverage, your mobile device isn’t found, or you’re separated from it.
It derives from the English nomophobia (acronym for no-mobile-phone-phobia) means “phobia of running out of mobile phone” and it is a new type of phobia caused by the current excessive dependence on the mobile phone or related devices, becoming “cell phone slaves”.
and the phobia is a social emotional or psychological disorder for fear of something or someone. In this case, nomophobia is the fear of separation or the lack of a cell phone that entails the following symptoms: anxiety, tachycardia, headache, stomach pain, obsessive thoughts, insomnia.
those who capitulated
Many well-known people until relatively recently did not have a cell phone, which speaks of a very long resistance. They finally capitulated in the last few years because they already felt that the cons of not having it outweighed the pros.
A seasoned journalist familiar with the universe of the underworld told Télam the anecdote of how an experienced criminal ended up trapped in the world of the device, who did not have it for reasons quite different from the fear of creating dependency.
“An old thief used to say that to commit a crime you don’t have to have a lover or a cell phone. Which were two traps for the race thief. He had robbed banks, armored vehicles and companies. He was in an assault on Banco Río and did not fall. Because the cell phone is followed by the investigators. To communicate with him you had to send him an email. Now he gave in,” he said.
But except for the intense minority of cell phone rebels, hardly anyone would complain about being given a latest model cell phone for their birthday. Society cannot stop the time that forces us to get on the technology train.
But perhaps the same thing happens with receiving a cell phone as a gift as the great Julio Cortázar thought about receiving a watch as a gift. In “Instructions for winding a watch” the author of “Hopscotch” wrote about it: “They don’t give you a watch, you are the gift, they offer you for the watch’s birthday.”
