Assignment 2-1: Cell Phones

This week’s popular culture topic is the cell phone. Starting out as a way to communicate verbally with others, this gadget has turned into much more than a phone. People can text each other, take pictures, or even watch movies; it is almost like owning a laptop. Cell phones have a wide variety of features. This also means an increase in cell phones that are thrown away every day.

Texting seems to be one of the most popular things about the cell phone. I personally do not care for it, but my girlfriend and my daughter, especially like it and do it quite often. They communicate with each other and all their friends this way.

My girlfriend takes pictures with her phone all the time. She then uses the pictures as her wallpaper on the phone; she prefers this over the pictures pre-programmed in the phone. These pictures can also be sent over to the computer where we can download and save them.

As Alleven (2008) points out, “A customer can watch a movie in its entirety all at once, or, more likely, it can be divided into chapters and watched over time” (p. 22). The cost to view the movies is about the same as renting a movie from the rental store. At this point it is relative slow moving for downloading the movies to your phone.

California is the first state to enact a recycling law on cell phones. As Ursery (2004) points out, “Each day, Californians cast aside about 25,000 cell phones, of which only 5 percent are currently being recycled, he adds” (p. 10). The remainder of used cell phones will be placed in landfills; this is harmful to the environment do to the hazardous material inside the phone (Ursery, 2004, p. 10). According to Ursery, “Phone retailers that are skittish about the costs of operating a recycling system may find relief in third-party recycling companies anxious to cash in on the strong demand for used cell phones in Latin America and Asia, says Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, who introduced the bill” (p. 10).

References
Alleven, M. (2008). Movies on mobile: Take 2. Wireless Week, 14(14), 20-25. Retrieved October 11, 2008, from Computers & Applied Sciences Complete database.
Ursery, S. (2004). Cell phone history. Waste Age, 35(11), 10-11. Retrieved October 11, 2008, from Computers & Applied Sciences Complete database.