Rudeness@somee-mail.com

Cell phones and e-mail are great tools for everyone to use. They can help you in times of need, like when you are lost or when the car has broken down, or when you need to quickly correspond with a professor about an assignment. They are also a good way to keep in touch with people because of their portability or accessibility. \nHowever, these devices have an annoying side. People forget they should put them on vibrate or turn them off during certain times. People forget to reply to urgent information attached to e-mail. Our newest ways of communicating with each other are contributing to the increasing rudeness of the U.S. population. \nI say this because Friday night at the opera, someone's cell phone rang. It wouldn't have been too bad if it hadn't gone off three times. What made it more ironic is that its ring tone was of Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik," and we were at Mozart's "The Magic Flute." So, this person was a big enough Mozart fan to put a Mozart song as his cell phone ringer but didn't have the courtesy to turn the ringer off. This was incredibly rude in the middle of the opera and was worsened by the fact that the person didn't get the hint the first time the phone went off. So by the time the phone had rung thrice, he had the whole auditorium staring at him.\nIn today's world, this is a more common problem than we would like it to be. Cell phones go off in class, the movies and even in church. None of these people seem to remember they have a cell phone with them because it becomes an extension of them. They think they are that important that they need to talk to people constantly. \nIt has gotten to the point where people cannot be without this portable communication device. When people leave class, the first thing they do is call someone on their cell phone. People even do this when they leave church. It is like we are such lonely people we cannot bear a moment without talking to someone, even if we have to dial to a far-away distance. \nI just find this behavior incredibly rude. Do these people think others really want to hear their conversations while they are walking to class?\nThis rudeness extends further than just cell phone use. E-mail has also allowed people to become increasingly rude. Now that we can just send e-mails instead of talking to people face-to-face, we can ignore the messages that we don't want to answer. But this doesn't just occur with personal messages. It also happens with professional e-mails. \nA friend of mine sent e-mails to inquire about a scholarship that she could use to pay for graduate school in Europe. However, after several attempts at contacting the organization using e-mail, she had not received a reply. Therefore, she was not able to finance her graduate school education. She was later informed that the scholarship had not been applied for the previous year. It seems this indirect form of communication only leads to more miscommunications. \nIs this what technology is doing to people in our society? Are we becoming ruder because we don't actually have to see people to disseminate information? \nI think we should realize how rude technology can make us and how impersonal it can be. We need to be conscious of the technology that we bring to class and learn not to be so dependent on it, because we can't use it during class anyway. And if we are professionals or even just socially using e-mail, we need to remember that the people sending the e-mail are probably expecting some kind of reply.