“How did anyone survive without cell phones?” Brad knew his question was rhetorical. He understood the world once existed without a bulk of the technologies we have now. He is aware everyday of the convenience he lives upon. His job is in international importation law. He knows where resources are allowed to come from, where they go, why things cost so much or so little. He was frustrated because his friend Tom refused to get a cell phone. Tom would gladly set about to rant about how harmful they were to the environment, to your brain, to your social life. Brad couldn’t agree. He spent time arguing with Tom about it, but Tom would always end the argument with, “if you want a cell phone, use one, I just don’t want one.” Which always somehow angered Brad, because it wasn’t winning, it somehow made Brad feel guilty. As much as he disliked it, he could never put his finger on the exact spot they disagreed. He never really satisfied himself with how important it was to have a cell phone.

“I could live without one. I just want one. I like how I can call anyone I know at any time.”

“Quit defending yourself, I’m not attacking you about it. You always come to me about this. As if me not having one causes you a problem.”

“It doesn’t. I’ll prove it to you. I’ll go a month without my cell phone.”

“No one is asking you to. I don’t care. Use your cell phone.”

Stubbornly, not really paying attention to Tom’s arguments, Brad just challenged himself. He wrote a big email from his phone to all of his co-workers explaining what he was doing. He detailed where he would be and what would be the best way to get a hold of him. His clients would first contact the firm, leave a message that Brad would only be able to answer when he was at work. His friends were the real obstacle in the challenge. He thought about solution after solution that all involved different phones, different ways of contacting his friends, that were just replacements for all the contacts he keeps through his cell phone.

Tom and Brad were sitting at their favorite coffee shop. Tom felt worried and excited. The way Tom felt he lived wasn’t an attempt to change Brad. Tom just had his personal ideals about things and understood his ideals were not for everyone. Brad was not satisfied though. He determined himself to impress Tom with his own brand of modern spiritual conviction, Brad sent out a text message to all of his close friends, ‘If you want to hangout anytime in the next month, look for me at work, home, or the coffee shop on third’. He turned off his phone before anyone could respond back. Out of control, Brad wanted to be sure at this moment he wouldn’t turn back.

Tom took a swig of his coffee. The cup was just more than half full. As his arm became straight, with the coffee set down on the table, Brad caught Tom’s eye. Tom’s face showed the regret, while Brad’s face showed the spiritual malice for forced change. Brad plunged his cell phone into the cup of coffee.

“I didn’t need any more caffeine anyways.” Tom said while he waited for a larger outburst from Brad. He slowly grabbed his cup and extracted the cell phone. Caution and patience, he wiped the phone. “Why are you doing this? Do you think I’ll respect you more, do you think I care?”

“Of course you don’t care.” Brad was too determined to make more and more of a point, but his decisions, his outrage was changing. “You don’t care because not caring is easier. You have these great convictions about change and why we should or shouldn’t be involved with this or that. I understand though that it isn’t about the simple mundane things like a cell phone. One cell phone doesn’t matter. One person not using a cell phone doesn’t change the fact there are new cell phones being made every day. I know you don’t care, but I know even if you don’t care, it matters.”

“What matters? What are you talking about? I thought I was the crazy one for living without a cell phone, and now you’ve only not had one for three minutes and you’re starting to rant worse than I do.” Tom was motivated to talk about bigger problems, but he wanted everything to just understand and be with Brad as he was challenging himself and making this simple, meaningless change.

“I should know more than you do, where the precious solder in those phones comes from. I should care more than you. I use it every day.”

“Brad, you work in international importation law. If anyone should know, you should. But what does it matter? Even if the extraction of the solder causes civil wars in Africa, slave labor in Asia, minimum wage jobs in thousands of identically made strip malls, waste buried in landfills. Why does it matter to you, right now, putting your cell phone into my coffee?”

“You mean, you don’t not use a cell phone, because all those things happen?”

“I don’t use a cell phone already, and all those things still happen. They happen whether I ever use a cell phone, whether I tell everyone the problems of cells phones or not. I don’t use a cell phone because I personally don’t want to be a part of that. I want all of these things to stop, but I don’t not use a cell phone and hope that means all cell phones and the system that makes them will disappear.”

“Well what do you do if you hate the way the cell phones are made? Don’t you even dislike them for social reasons? What do you do?”

                “So far I just ask questions. I wait. There isn’t much to do other than live. Can’t dismantle civilization, around so many civilized people. If we took away cell phones today, there would be other problems. We might be able to see them better. Without cells phones things might get good for a little, before they get worse again in a different way. Seven billion human beings, don’t need cell phones to cause problems for a planet.”

                Brad worked ten hours before coming to the coffee shop. He was starting to think things would look different tomorrow, without his cell phone. Now he understood the cell phone wasn’t the problem and he was second guessing getting rid of it. ‘Why not?’ he thought, ‘It’s just a month’.