Until a few months ago, I was a firm believer in using my phone for actually speaking to someone else. Sure, I used text messaging, but only to see if someone was in class or if it was a bad time to call. In the same month my sister had her phone glued to her hand, I sent and received about 250 texts.

Phones now can do so much more than make and receive calls, obviously. This past year I watched friends get a variety of different new phones, like ones with full keyboards for texting or a touchscreen. I wasn’t surprised when my friend sold his iPod Touch to purchase an iPhone, saying he just had to have it.

I found the iPhone impressive with all its 50,000 available applications, but I also found it to be too much of a toy and a bit unnecessary.

Does someone really need all of those games on something they use to talk to people? Apparently so, with more than 1 billion applications being downloaded since July 2008.

As I stated, this was all until a few months ago. When my trusty old flip phone got ruined in a rainstorm, I was forced to make a trip to the phone store.

I update my phone every two years, so I was pretty out of touch with cell phone technology. I wanted something similar to my old phone, but was surprised to find just how big the gap was between phone features. Everything either had the latest new feature, like a music player or GPS, or it was even more basic than my previous phone.

It wasn’t my first choice, but I decided on a Blackberry. It was definitely more than I was looking for, but the thought that I could have the Internet in my hands essentially anywhere sealed the deal. I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into with this phone, but I signed up and joined the 28.5 million other Blackberry users worldwide.

This was a month or two ago, and for the most part I can navigate my way through it. Yes, the phone is unnecessary, but mostly it is convenient. I can send e-mails when I am traveling, or I can check Google to find a store’s location.

I don’t really need the extra luxury features, though. It makes more sense for a business professional to be connected at all times, and to be honest, I don’t know if I would get another similar phone when this next contract is up.

Despite the economic slump, people are still eagerly buying smartphones, like the Blackberry and iPhone, and there is a projected high interest in future buyers. They are not going away, and it should be fun to see what the next cutting-edge smartphone can do. Maybe it could even do my economics homework for me.

It is interesting to see how attached our society has become to our cell phones, myself included. I wonder how many people here on campus wouldn’t be able to live without their phones (probably the majority.) More than 80 percent of American cell phone users surveyed in 2005 reported that the phones have made their lives easier.

As these little pocket devices get more and more advanced applications and ways to communicate, it becomes more and more obvious that we also can choose how connected, or unconnected, we want to be. As of fall 2008, cell phone users chose to send more text messages than phone calls. Our voices are read on a screen more often than heard on the other end.

When it comes down to it, cell phones in our society reflect our human need to communicate, in some way, shape or form. It also relates to the fact that, even if the cell phone is replaced, we will continue to rely on something to keep in contact with other people. Hopefully, though, we don’t lose our voices altogether.

Lauren Wood is a State News guest columnist and journalism sophomore. Reach her at woodlau2@msu.edu.