Granovetter likes this.

If only we had a phone that scrolled up and down rather than left to right like the iPod would all of our social etiquette problems be solved.

According to Microsoft.

But let's backtrack a little:
Back within the bubble of what is also known as high school, was a habit that churned ever so slowly (due to high prices) from the popular kids, trickling down the hierarchy, then to the masses. Walking with your nose pointing down seemed to be the new cool thing to do-- contrary to what mother and father said about body language and displaying (a lack of) confidence.

The new Sidekick, complete with all its buttons and appealing "flip" of the screen was the main buzz. Slowly a few of my friends were less talkative at the lunch tables, texting and checking their myspace. Who could they possibly be talking to, when all their friends were right in front of them?

It seemed my friends were maintaining constant contact with people in front of them, a few feet away from them, a few blocks away from them and a billiongazillion miles away through the virtual world. Unless they were following Mark Granovetter's theory on the importance of having weak social ties to find new opportunities (i.e. getting a job), which I highly doubt, my friends in high school were more concerned about maintaining their virtual connections than being engaged in their right-in-front-of-you, physical ones.

Interesting.

Then towards the end of high school, this phenomenon shall I say, escalated. Students were smuggling in their phones during graduation to text and update their myspace statuses. As important was the graduation ceremony, it seemed like every other student had their cellphones out. Same in college, during our convocation in our new university. No event seemed worthy of our full attention.

A cellphone does more than just send and receive calls. It has become a carrier of applications. New cellphone marketers emphasize all of a phone's qualities-- yet none mention its basic abilities: calling and receiving phone calls. This would be redundant; we expect phones to do this. We want to know what else it can do. These applications are supposed to make our lives easier. With less time researching about the best restaurants, we can simply yelp it on our cellphones. UCSD students no longer have to wait outside for the bus. There is an application that tracks the bus route and where the bus currently is. We are promised to be given more free time with the use of these phones.

Yeah right. People are more consumed with their phones to have time to be efficient. But my view is biased.

Microsoft does an interesting way of saying that it does the exact same thing all phones do, but with a better interface. It's not the people's fault. It's the cellphone's fault. People are too busy trying to figure out how to best use their phones. Applications are great, checking your email incessantly is great, and constantly receiving facebook notifications is great. You can finally have the time and the ability to be a fully engaged human being while constantly being alert for notifications and updates.