Here is the truth for pretty much 100 percent of college students: texts are coming in and going out at any time of the day or night, transmitting messages of both importance and absurdity; the cell phone could buzz at any time with an important phone call from a friend or a parent; practice times get changed, deadlines are extended, people break up—this is all relevant time sensitive information.

This truth makes the lives of AT&T users on campus a tale of endless frustration. For them, cell service is a rare and precious commodity at Gustavus Adolphus College. College View Apartments, Confer/ Vickner, maybe Olin? In those places the AT&T user is probably safe to pull out their cell phone with an auspicious spirit. But, put your head down in defeat, AT&T user, if you had any desire to use your cell phone in Lund Center, the library, the first floor of the Campus Center, various places on the second floor of the Campus Center, Nobel Hall, Old Main and, doubtless, many other places on campus that this writer does not frequent.
Oh, yes, and I did not mention Southwest. Southwest is where all cell phone services, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-mobile, what have you, went to die. Anyone with a penchant to place a phone call needs to go outside and walk about 10 meters or so from the building to find a couple bars of reception. January at Gustavus is going to be a real fun month for anyone with a desire to send a text.

I know that our generation has received some criticism for its need of instantaneous communication and gratification. I do realize that even 30 or 40 years ago people were writing actual ink-to-paper letters back and forth to their contacts across the nation—a true model of fortitude and patience. However, I think it is important to realize that these are no longer the conditions of communication. When business is run via the instant access of texts and cell phones, being out of the loop is costly. As an AT&T user myself, I don’t know how many meetings I have missed due to unreceived texts dictating a change in time or place. Maybe people used to say “Didn’t you get the memo?” but, now it is “Didn’t you get my text?”

Don’t get me wrong. I am not a big texter.  One of my biggest pet peeves is trying to carry on  a conversation with someone who cannot take their eyes off their constantly buzzing cell phone. In fact, I am bad at phone calls too—an all around horrible correspondent. At first, I truly appreciated the limited service at Gustavus. I felt that I was more focused without my cell phone bleeping constantly.  What I have come to realize, however, is that it is important to be able to make a phone call, send a text or receive one, when and where you need to without having to run all over campus looking for service. If you did not want to receive a text or a phone call at a certain point in time, there is always the beauty of the “silence” setting or simply the “off” button.

I feel that the negative view of cell phone use and texting of our generation is a little unwarranted. Okay, true, people texting in class is obnoxious and maybe we could dispense with some of the superfluous“LOL” and “OMFG” types of texts. However, cell phones introduce an important  and increasingly necessary venue of communication, just like e-mail has. Not having service means that you are frequently one or two steps behind everyone else.