Interesting article by the NY Times about how cell phones have made us less independent and more reliant on others to help us make decisions or to rescue us in times of difficulty. One excerpt:

[C]ellphone use may be making us less autonomous and less capable of solving problems on our own, even when the answers are right in front of us. According to Christine Rosen, a senior editor at the journal New Atlantis and the author of “Our Cellphones, Ourselves,” . . . the ease of obtaining instant advice encourages cellphone users to respond to any uncertainty, crucial or trivial, by dialing instead of deciding. The green sweater or the blue, pizza or Chinese, the bridge or the tunnel - why take responsibility for making up your own mind when you can convene a meeting in a minute?

Later on, the article gives another example of cell phone dependency:

The protector-enslaver duality of the cellphone is especially apparent in places like national parks, where millions of Americans test their mettle in the wild. Not surprisingly, the National Park Service sees plenty of hikers and campers carrying cellphones these days, and sometimes saving lives with them. But they can also encourage park visitors to take bigger chances and do more dangerous things than they might otherwise, in the often-false belief that in case of trouble, help will be a call away. It never occurs to some that signal coverage out in the wilderness may be poor or nonexistent, or that park rangers are not AAA.

THis article “rings true” (sorry) for me. I knew there was a reason why I hardly use my cell phone -- I like to retain a sense of independence and self-efficacy. I don’t want to become a slave to the cell phone and have it dictate how I should act. People are more important than technology.