Do you remember as teenager in the 1980’s and 1990’s we used to pass notes in class? We get caught because the teacher saw the note? The teacher would read the note in front of the whole class. And the crushed you like got embarrassed? And the teacher mentions the names in the note. The girl I like gave me a phone signal to call her. I called her the next day. We went out. We went to the prom. Then we went our separate ways and we never saw each other again. That was I. Still single.

Now we have cell phones and the social media apps. It is so much better. Our lives have changed. We are glued to our cell phones. We want to know everything, that’s how we became smart. We have a smart phone. Can a smart phone tell us there’s a pole ahead? We record it and put on YouTube to see it again and again. Getting bang by a pole. Or see someone fall into a hole. That’s funny.

It is so much better to text each other in between classes in the hall of the school, and still be hit by a locker door that was opened.

However, we cannot use it in the classroom. We must tell the students when they entered the classroom to put away the cell phones. Put it on vibrate or cut it off. There’s a class and the teacher wants their student’s full attention on the lecture. Would you want your teacher to take your phone away? NO! It’s like going to see a play at a theater and the cell phone goes off in the middle of an intense scene. Someone is dying on stage. And someone cell phone goes off. The actor, who was dying on stage, gets up from the stage, comes to you, takes your phone and says to the person “She will call you back later.” If you think the actor is rude, the person with the cell phone is ruder. Did this person read the sign at the door: NO CELLS PHONE ALLOWED? Apparently people cannot read, they are educated, but cannot read. Because they were checking their messages on their cell phone.

I know it is annoying but we must remind students and people to turn off the cell phones when they entered a public gathering or an event. But if someone has a ringtone of a crying baby in the room. TURN IT OFF!