Cell Phones: A Necessary Evil?

I’d much rather write about my travels, the latest antics of my puppies, share vegetarian recipes, or talk about my beach strolls at sunsets, but these days we’re pretty much locked-down. I can only share about my backyard garden and the creatures as well as fairies that lives there, including the mysterious Sigbin that lurks in our yard on a full moon. Lately, the only traveling I’ve been doing has been through telecommuting on my cell phone, so this travelogue is about imaginary cell phone travels abroad!

“I had a great time in Cebu,” my friend Nick said, as we met for coffee. Nick is a Filipino American born and raised in California, and he just came back for a visit to the PI (Philippines Islands). He decided to visit the Philippines after his interests were piqued through all the stories his parents had told him. They had faithfully maintained their Cebuano heritage through all their years in the US. Kudos!

The night before his departure, while packing his luggage, his mom strode in his room with a Balik-Bayan box. “Hey, what are you doing Mom?”

“Trust me, Anak,” his mother said. “You can pack in more with a box than a suitcase. We can maximize your baggage allowance!”
“What?” He often questioned his mothers provincial ancient wisdom. “I really don’t want to bring so much. I believe in travelling light and I’m just going to hang out in the beach anyway. All I need is a couple of T-shirts and shorts, which I can buy over there, right?”
She didn’t even hear him at all and started carefully and systematically packing the box.

“What’s that mom? Spam… corned beef… really? Mom, c’mon!”
“Believe me, our relatives will be happy,” his mother said. “The people there are poor and will be grateful for these hard-to-find gifts,” as she continued to load the cardboard box with more cans and random goodies.

“You mean, they have no food over there?”
“Of course!” His Mom said. “But they also appreciate all these imported items.

”Suspiciously Nick asked “Don’t you think I’ll have to pay more for the excess weight?”
“Hush! Trust me, I know what I am doing.” Changing the subject she said. “Please be careful when you get there!”
“What do you mean?” She responded even more ominously, “You’ll see!”
So when Nick and I caught up over coffee months later, he was anxious to recount his experience starting with his mom’s obsession with packing and her dire forebodings!

“Why did mom say that the Philippines are so poor? On the contrary, when I got there, everyone had the latest cell phones and gadgets. They were not cheap ones either!”
‘MMmmm’, I thought to myself, ‘True dat’.

I acknowledged, “Some people even have 2 or 3 cellphones, or cellular with double and triple sim cards from different mobile companies! At one time, the Philippines was even dubbed the “TEXT” capital of the world because of the large volume of SMS subscribers and exchanges. TikTok is crazy big here! The irony is that when you try and call someone over the regular cell phone line, they won’t answer or call you back; it doesn’t matter the number of phones they own.”
“Why?” I asked rhetorically, “the usual the response is ‘I have no load.’ Nick sipped his coffee and ventured, “Maybe everyone prefers texting, because it costs less on their ‘Load’ than talking?”

“In the Philippines, most people have a prepaid SIM card that they ‘Load’ with money rather than have a monthly subscription to a cell phone service. When you run out of the subscribed gigabytes, you top up the SIM with more cash, “ I said. I wondered what life would be like without cell phones? I can’t even imagine going a few days without mine? My husband Darwin has a cell phone he prides himself on never charging, loading or using, but he totes this enormous iPad around everywhere he goes and is constantly asking me to open my phone’s mobile hotspot when we are travelling. In my mind that doesn’t count based on a technicality; he’s probably on the internet more than half the kids around here!
Before the trend of Social Media and cell phones, you could easily make friends with a smile.These days, I noticed that people barely look up anymore. Eye contact or smiling at strangers in some circles is considered tacky or rude; the art of conversation has become as extinct as letter writing. People are just too busy staring at their phones. Who hasn’t seen people texting each one another from across a table in a restaurant?

I recounted that when I’d come home to the islands from the US, people seemed very interested in me and asked, “What type of phone do you have?”I’d respond, “I have an iPhone 6 okay… with a cracked face.”

”Ewwwww, its already iPhone 13!” and suddenly, they were considerably less enchanted with me. Is there an emoji for ‘unfriending’ someone? That was the look on their faces.“Honestly, I don’t really want to stress about having fancy phones and worrying that it might get stolen,” but why do I have to explain myself?One of my nephews, Jem-Boy was walking down the streets of Cebu City and he was held-up at knife point. They said “Gimme’ your phone or else…” He handed his phone over reluctantly because he wanted to live.It happened to my sister-in-law Grace, Jem Boy’s mom! She was using public transportation, one of those colorful ‘Jeepneys’ we love to ride. Her brand-new phone was pick pocketed. The thieves cunningly work like a pack of wolves. One person distracted her attention, while she was diverted, one of the other people worked on her purse with velvet-hands. Ouch!
Philippine Jeepneys

Last but not least, if you want someone to disappear from your life, you can hire a hitman for 5000 pesos (which is about $100 in the US, depending on the rate of exchange). Though this might sound tempting at first blush, its still quite illegal, but interestingly, it’s about the same price as a smartphone. “Coincidence,” I ask?

FYI: These incidents don’t only happen in the third world countries! It also happens in California. My husband had a brand-new cell phone with a years subscription. He was counseling clients and, he had to get some documents for them off the printer. He later noticed that his phone was swiped right off his desk. There’d been no one else in his office, but of course, he noticed it too late. Even if you register for a phone insurance, it does not make you less vulnerable. One thief dared to extort money from my nephew Robbie in the US in exchange for his iPhone. The phone terrorist called his ‘Home’ number listed in his contact-list and shamelessly negotiated, “If you want your insurance to replace lost phone, they will charge you $200, but I can give you your phone back for just $100!”

In the US, there are even dropbox-machines in Walmart that will pay out $100s depending on the brand and generation of the phone. You just drop it in the box. It takes your picture and spits out money! For the cautious thief, that’s probably less risky than negotiating with someone over the phone for the return of their cherished iPhone! Its such big business that companies are capitalizing on it and making it convenient for thieves to fence stolen cell phones. Many affairs are also brought to light when texts messages are discovered on cell phones. Its barely considered rude these days for relationships often break up via text, without even the courtesy of meeting in person. People quit their jobs or are fired over text too! How cowardly, insolent, but imminently practical!
Lately due to the pandemic, businesses and schools have been closed, but the spirit of the entrepreneur is thriving with innovative ideas for selling anything and everything under the sun. People hardly seem to use the computer anymore. They use cell phones for everything. Whether its homemade goodies, meals, used goods, garage sale, or whatever; its being sold via cell phones. And so much of these things are sold with images of scantily clad women. I went on Facebook marketplace looking for fresh tofu and it was being sold by hot young silicone chicks in string bikinis! And don’t get me started on selfies!
On a darker note, I can’t ignore the plight of the students where I live. Kids whose schools were closed and are supposed to be learning by online modules, but the poorer kids are falling behind. Now there’s a new and rampant stressor to own a smart phone because many kids here can’t even afford a computer. Teachers are giving kids assignments that require internet access, and so ‘Load’ for their cell phones. Some are getting scammed by their neighbors who, lend them a smart phone and they become gradually more indebted to them for their usage. Its the same old story of the ‘haves-&-the-have-nots’.

One morning, my part time housekeeper came to work in tears.“Good morning, Emily. Are you okay?”“I am fine, Ma’am.” She said. Tears streaming down her cheeks as she took the rake and started collecting the leaves from the garden. She obviously wasn’t ‘Okay’!She finally confided, “I just had a fight with my son, Erwin who’s 14 years old.” Erwin cursed at his mom, “I hate to be poor! Why can’t we afford a cell phone?” She works so hard for her family, as a chambermaid at the nearby resorts and barely make $200/month to feed a family of 4. She works for us a couple of days a week to supplement her income.While some students are driven to do odd jobs, like weeding gardens in their neighborhood, the incentive is often the same, to buy a cell phone. Cell phones are a tool and not evil in-and-of themselves. This is very dark, but it must be mentioned; the desperate need for cell phones is not always for the white-hat entrepreneur!

Some young people show off skin and are cashing-in on their cell phones via virtual ‘acquaintances’ they’ve met. This scares me most. And if they don’t come in an attractive package, then they’re pandering to others by marketing teenagers or children. There are even human trafficking rings that have been busted that use cell phone exclusively! Human trafficking is a huge problem abroad. They are not dependent on internet-cafes anymore, cell phones have effective streamlined their business model! Finally, cell phones are not only needed for kids to succeed in school, but also they are required for their parents to work! Not just for contact, but many people get paid through remittance services like ‘GCash’. These services operate kind of like Western Union and make it easy to pay bills or accept money and so they are replacing brick and mortar banks in many third world counties. I feel really bad for the youth who are doing odd jobs to raise money for cell phones, and for their parents who are dependent on cell phones for work. Is there anything we can do about this innovative device that seems to be a double edged sword in our lives?

Thoughts?
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