Essay My cellphone, my love By Michael Pronko	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
いとしの携帯電話 調査回答者の68％が枕元に置いて眠り、20％が30分おきにチェックする — 。人間にこんなに「愛され」ている携帯電話だが、この「恋愛関係」は将来発展するのか、はたまた破綻に至るのか。

If you think Japan is cellphone-obsessed, a recent poll found that all over the world people are closer than ever to their cellphones. A recent Time survey of eight countries reported that people nowadays feel they simply cannot live without their mobile devices. Cellphones have transformed the way we live and the way we feel.

In the countries where the poll was conducted (the U.S., the U.K., China, India, South Korea, South Africa, Indonesia and Brazil), 43 percent of people said their cellphone was the first and last thing they looked at every day. An amazingly high 68 percent of respondents said they put their cellphone right next to their bed, and another 16 percent said they placed it in the bedroom while they slept. People are becoming closer to their devices than ever before.

That might not be love, but it's close. Humans have always been fond of domesticated animals and pets -- dogs, cats, horses -- but never before in human history have people developed such close relationships to technological devices. Is that cause for concern or just an interesting shift?

Whatever the answer, cellphones are very much like an addiction. One-third of those surveyed admitted that being without their phone for even short periods left them anxious. The poll found that one in five people check their phone every 30 minutes. About the same number check their phone every 10 minutes. That anxiety and compulsiveness is similar to how people sometimes act when they fall in love.

And yet, most people in the poll felt that their cellphone was a positive addition to their lives. Just over 80 percent said they felt more safe and secure knowing they could get help anytime they needed it. Most also felt having a cellphone helped them achieve a better work-life balance, partially because cellphones made business more efficient. So, even though cellphones have become a sort of fetish, the benefits were plain.

Cellphones seem to mesh with life easily and completely. A majority reported using their cellphones while doing the most basic activities in life -- riding public transportation, watching TV or attending a party. An astonishing 17 percent said they check their cellphone regardless of whom they are dining with. Cellphones distract and focus attention. What other bit of technology is so diverse and so flexible?

Cellphones are like a screen onto which we project our needs. In the future, whether cellphones adapt to humans or humans change to fit cellphones remains to be seen. Ways may yet be found in which cellphones contribute substantially to improving our personal well-being and interpersonal relationships. Will we become closer to our gadgets or, like disappointed lovers, will the relationship between human and phone somehow break up? The end of this affair will not be anytime soon.

Shukan ST: SEPTEMBER 21, 2012

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