At this tender age I'm already beginning to feel like my mother when she can't work the DVD player.

On my way to class I often see people text messaging. This is nothing new. But now, the way in which they text message is becoming more and more foreign. It seems as though everyone owns a cell phone which resembles a small computer--speakers, full keyboard, a screen that twists and turns like the hips of a once-censored Elvis Presley.

I stop, I take a breath, I think. Do I want to scrawl text messages on a phone with keys the size of pinheads? Do I want a phone that warrants its own insurance policy? I believe people are becoming addicted to cell phones. I know I've been afflicted some. If I leave home without it, I feel naked and vulnerable. Will we spend more time staring into a tiny screen than into the eyes of the people around us?