Land lines vs. cell phones

In our generation land lines are becoming extinct. Cells phones are more essential and more practical than land lines. Cell phones are just way more convenient –you all your numbers right there (I hardly have anyone’s number memorized), you can silence when in class, and you can always call if you are in danger or in an emergency.

In the Exponent today there was an article discussing the land lines in the dorm rooms vs. cell phones. They said that students overwhelmingly choose to use their cell phones. This does not shock me at all. Last year in Windsor our phone sat under my desk on the little ledge because we never used it and it didn’t get in the way down there. It flashed red practically all year because we couldn’t remember how to check our voicemails. The only phone calls we ever got were from newspapers trying to get us to pay for a subscription. It was pointless to have since no one knew that was our phone number. This year our room phone is stored away too.

The article was right when they said, “due to habit and convenience, student’s think of their cell phone as their primary number.” It’s true because my cell phone is always with me. I feel lost without it and I feel safer with it. The article said the phones are kept in rooms right now so emergency 911 calls can be made. Cell phones calling 911 transfers to the provider number not the county number which would pinpoint your location better and provide a faster response. But in my 20 years I have never had to call 911, but if I had had to I would think first of my cell phone.

In the dorm that is currently under construction here at Purdue will only have one phone for every cluster of 22 rooms. This makes sense considering at Notre Dame they have the option of choosing to have a land line or not and only 18 of 7,000 students chose to have a land line. When I am living on own not in a dorm I will not have a land line either. In college you try to avoid unnecessary costs and a land line is definitely one of them.