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The Cell Phone: A Modern Day Pacifier
Jon Burras
A two-year-old child cries uncontrollably in a fit of emotion. You are beside yourself as a parent on what to do to calm him down. Eye contact, soft words and even a warm hug do not seem to work. As a last resort you pull out the infamous "binky" and insert it into his mouth. Almost instantly, the child is "pacified" as his emotions seem to quell. The "pacifier" has done its trick once again to calm the anxious child. This simple latex device is all it took to change his mood. The pacifier has been around for many years. It is a tried and true method of calming the emotions of a child and making him feel safe and at ease. In the last few years a shift has occurred where not just infants are using pacifiers, but so are teenagers and adults. These new modern day "binkies" are called "Cell Phones." A cell phone has become today's version of the pacifier as our culture has become addicted to its usage. The cell phone is not the first symbolic pacifier to make its way into our lives. Smoking for many people has the same result. The holding of the cigarette, the inhaling of the smoke and the ritual of lighting up regularly will pacify one's mood. A smoker's pipe might have the same action of pacifying an individual, whether or not the pipe is even lit. Just sucking on the end of a cold pipe is enough to satisfy this primal instinct of pacifying one's emotions. A family pet dog who travels everywhere with you can also be the great pacifier that gives one the sense of feeling at ease and safe. Everywhere you look these days teenagers and adults are clutching on to cell phones, talking on cell phones or using a cell phone to send and receive text messages. Whether it is at a party, concert, public event, while driving, while walking across the street or eating dinner at a restaurant, the vast majority of the over eight-year-old population is most likely carrying their pacifier with them nearly always. What you don't see are the teenagers and adults sleeping with their electronic soothing devices as a child in the past would sleep with a "Teddy Bear" or a favorite doll. A constantly available transmission signal twenty-four-hours a day allows people to feel as if they are safe and always have a life line to someone else. Many feel safe and at ease by being "plugged in" and "turned on" to one's network, as if they were still sucking on a latex pacifier. Read the entire article here... | 
