I was giving a short lecture yesterday at the Art Center College of Design when I noticed one student in the middle, scrolling on his iPhone.
He was doing that earlier during another lecture as well; I made a mental note to check on him while I was speaking. My lecture was on the benefits of Flickr. ,Flickr. has been very good to me - 6 books, 3 art shows, a dvd series, and more. I was there to blast the benefits of Flickr and the online experience of networking to graduating photo students, out of a class of 15, only 3 used Flickr.
Back to the kid with the iPhone. Halfway through the lecture I saw him scrolling through on his screen.
"HEY! I'm talking here. Next time you give a lecture, remind me to bring my phone too."
"Oh, I wasn't, I was...."
End of story. That is just so fricking rude. I take two hours of my busy day to trot up there and this kid decides to check his emails/texts. Karma will hit when he's showing his portfolio and the art director decides to check his Blackberry for the latest hilarious youtubes. The kid must of thought he was in his own private stealth bubble and that no one would notice, and if they did, they wouldn't take offense.
Just Call Me Cranky
I see kids text at restaurants while they are eating with their families. Even my kid did it and I pulled out mine and texted him to stop. Their need to connect virtually while with humans is unprecedented; I can't think of any other generation needing to connect outside of the present group - unless it was eating in front of the television on rickety tv trays.
Since when is being with another living breathing human not enough?
From what I see, in the near future being with a human will be not necessary anymore. We email, we text, we barely use the phone. Our voices are becoming just an accessory when we need to order a latte. The human voice will go the way of snail mail, and become a quaint hobby. Our enunciation will go down the drain, we will mumble and give up and just text our replies.
"Yeah I'm talking to you."
So a warning to any kid I see text during a lecture, if you ever have to actually use your voice it will be just a dry whisp, an unused muscle that has atrophied to soft cellulite. Put down the device and start using your words, it's all you will have left if the power ever goes off.
Image: Ophelia Chong / Mistress to an Age
Back to the kid with the iPhone. Halfway through the lecture I saw him scrolling through on his screen.
"HEY! I'm talking here. Next time you give a lecture, remind me to bring my phone too."
"Oh, I wasn't, I was...."
End of story. That is just so fricking rude. I take two hours of my busy day to trot up there and this kid decides to check his emails/texts. Karma will hit when he's showing his portfolio and the art director decides to check his Blackberry for the latest hilarious youtubes. The kid must of thought he was in his own private stealth bubble and that no one would notice, and if they did, they wouldn't take offense.
Just Call Me Cranky
I see kids text at restaurants while they are eating with their families. Even my kid did it and I pulled out mine and texted him to stop. Their need to connect virtually while with humans is unprecedented; I can't think of any other generation needing to connect outside of the present group - unless it was eating in front of the television on rickety tv trays.
Since when is being with another living breathing human not enough?
From what I see, in the near future being with a human will be not necessary anymore. We email, we text, we barely use the phone. Our voices are becoming just an accessory when we need to order a latte. The human voice will go the way of snail mail, and become a quaint hobby. Our enunciation will go down the drain, we will mumble and give up and just text our replies.
"Yeah I'm talking to you."
So a warning to any kid I see text during a lecture, if you ever have to actually use your voice it will be just a dry whisp, an unused muscle that has atrophied to soft cellulite. Put down the device and start using your words, it's all you will have left if the power ever goes off.
Image: Ophelia Chong / Mistress to an Age
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Hi Ophelia,
YES! I'm there with you. Since when being with another human being not enough company?
By the by it's not just "those kids" it's their parents too.
There I am having lunch when a really loud phone rings, I say to my friend of 30 years, " wow-thank God thats not me" then she proceeds to answer the extra loud phone. Im shocked, what happened to my friend. Has she been abducted by alians and did they deafen her. It gets worse, she starts a loud conversation with her 7 year old, who is at school and wants to come home early because she doesn' t like her art teacher. Oooooh isn't that cute? NO, it's not!
I say feel lucky that you have an art teacher, most kids don't.
Now I'm at the "loud table" not the loud funny table where ever one is having such a good time table, literally the loud obnoxious table for 2.
When you know some one for 30 years you get to say things like "shut up, you are attracting attention and bugging me. If I didn't know you I'd think you were nutty. So if you don't get off the phone I'm changing tables. Being a friend of 30 years I saw a look, a glimmer in her eyes like she remembered who she use to be before the alian inplant.
So I challenge all "those parents" to leave your phone at home every once in a while. Kids are resilient and can make it through a bad art lesson without a any encouragement from them. They don't need instruction on how to walk, they don't need a reminder to open their mouths before they drink their soda, they could use some intruction on being polite and respectful.
Besides the fact that it is rude is that they don't even stop to think that they are being rude. I do not want to hear somebody blathering on and on about whatever at the friggin Ross.
Dear Marina,
LOL. Wow, that is such a funny, sad story. Adults are just as bad as the kids. And kids learn from their parents too. I usually start staring into space when someone is on the phone at the table, then I make shapes out of my food. I have been tempted to actually get up and leave at times too. :O))) thanks for visiting and commenting! :O) ophelia
Dear Lynn,
I was outside a donut store a while back (no I wasn't getting a donut) and there was a woman screaming into her cell phone, it seemed a very one sided argument. When I came back out, she was still screaming. If I had videotaped her and shown her the tape after, I am sure she would've been embarrassed. We go into this bubble when we are on our cell phones, we insulate ourselves from the environment, yet we are really not hidden at all.
:O) thanks for commenting and visiting! ophelia
O:
Is it POSSIBLE that the kid was checking out your Flickr page? That's the only other thought that occurred to me. I, too, truly dislike rudness, but the kind of mind that is instantly curious and wants to see what your pictures look like, and has the technology to carry out the thought, THAT may be an artist. Lots of us artists have no impulse control.
Richard
Yeah! What you said! Every once in a while I think about getting a shinier, newer phone. Mine just texts and calls. Nothing else. And I keep it very utilitarian and my phone use is utilitarian. But I know if I got a new shiny phone I'd suddenly be one of those icky shiny people. I don't want that.
Dear Richard,
The kid was on his iPhone during the previous lecture as well, and I had the Flickr page up on the projection screen...nah that kid was checking his email. :O) thanks for checking though and thanks for the nice comment, it's appreciated. :O) ophelia
Dear Rachel,
I don't have an iPhone, just an iPod touch and a regular Verizon phone. I want to disconnect at some point and if I had a Blackberry or iPhone, I would be tethered to work 24/7. :O) thanks for commenting and visiting, you are a stalwart of my blogs. :O) ophelia
I don't mean to be contrary here, but I feel that your gesture to call out the student is actually more rude than the student using his phone. I certainly would side with you had his use of his mobile device been loud and interruptive, however, your gesture interrupted your own lecture, interrupted the focus of the students, and unnecessarily embarrassed the student. You could just have easily talked to the student afterwards and had a more wholesome conversation on his use of the phone.
Spin it next time. Your lecture on flickr could in fact have been bolstered by this opportunity by pointing out the student with the phone, asked him to direct his phone to flickr, and demonstrated the power of flickr through a mobile device. Think of the benefits—you're in the elevator, the agent you've been vying to corner is there OR you're at a design conference and you don't have your portfolio, BINGO!—pull out the phone, go to your flickr account, and share your work via your phone. This would have strengthened your lecture, made the student realized you had his eyes on him, and your lecture would continue on in harmony.
Phone etiquette is necessary, but I don't think people are purposely rude. Instead of calling out people screaming on their phone, tap them on the shoulder, they'll get the idea.
I can't help but think that a population dominated by increasing amounts of social networking--through devices including individual flickr accounts--will have to get bear the brunt of its excesses. Unfortunately, the boy in your lecture probably did not realize his actions were wrong in the slightest. On the contrary, maybe we should be bothered by just how socially acceptable his actions are today. Surfing the internet seems sadly destined to be added to doodling, napping, whispering and passing notes as another notch on the list of ways to pass time in class.
Hi Justin,
The kid was texting during a previous lecture as well. I could have talked to the student after, but I felt that would've been useless. He would still text during lectures. And how is it embarrassing the student? He was rude to do it while I was talking. If he had any thought of what he was doing he would've done it, I believe he does it in every class, and at funerals, weddings, lunches, dinners etc.
This student is going to graduate in about 5 weeks, he will be out there showing his portfolio, and what if an art director pulls out his phone and texts while he is trying to get a gig?
Pulling out a phone to show a portfolio is fine, and it's useful, just not when someone is there to talk to them. Out of common courtesy it should be put away. And I have no qualms about calling him out, if I was his instructor I would have everyone put away their phones during class.
Thanks for your opinion and your visit, it is appreciated. :O) ophelia