DeMaria, Anthony N.

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The Tyranny of the Cell Phone 

Journal of the American College of Cardiology Vol. 59, No. 25, 2012
© 2012 by the American College of Cardiology Foundation ISSN 0735-1097/$36.00
Published by Elsevier Inc. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2012.05.002EDITOR’S PAGEThe Tyranny of the Cell PhoneAnthony N. DeMaria,
MD
Editor-in-Chief, Journal
of the American College
of Cardiology
To a certain degree,
the smart phone
has gone from
making life more
effortless, to making
it more stressful.Ihad just risen to speak, the audience was quiet, and my first slide was about to ap-pear, when my cell phone started to ring. This immediately induced a laugh fromthe audience as I fumbled to get the phone out of my pocket and quiet it. In fact,
so ingrained had the importance of the phone become that I instinctively peeked to
identify the caller as I turned it off. As I apologized to the audience I again wondered
how wireless communication and the Internet had come to play such an important, and
often controlling, part of my life.
The first cellular telephone I ever owned was the size of a fat laptop computer. It had
a battery life of approximately 1 hour so that you could not stray too far from a power
source. However, it provided a sense of enormous freedom in that I could make or re-
ceive a call from wherever I was located, assuming of course that I was within range of
the carrier. While on-call for the hospital, I could now go to places that had not been
possible without wireless communications. Just the ability to make or receive a call while
in my car was an amazing experience and advantage. Although I had to carry the instru-
ment with me in a small case, I felt reachable and connected in a way that I had never
felt before.
As the size of handsets decreased and the service areas increased, cell phones became
even more convenient and enabling. You could put one in your pocket or on your belt
and have it with you at all times in a relatively inconspicuous manner. Carrying a cell
phone quickly became as natural and habitual as carrying my wallet and keys, or putting
on a watch. I noticed that I often used the wireless device even when a landline was
available, and that the ease and convenience of use resulted in my spending an increas-
ing amount of time talking on the telephone. Comments about how we ever lived with-
out these devices became even more common.
The next lifestyle changing event was the development of the smart phone. Now, I
could not only carry my phone, calendar, and contact list, but also access the Internet.
Suddenly I could read my e-mails and send and receive text messages wherever my cell
phone was in range of service. I could almost instantaneously surf the web, access
Google, view CNN, or have most of the communication capabilities of my computer. I
remember relishing the thought that I would never have to waste any significant time
again; if I found myself waiting for an appointment or was in any way inactive, I could
just fire up my smart phone and get online. The opportunity to be productive was un-
limited.
As the years have gone by my smart phone has gradually crept into a more and more
prominent place in my daily activities. Initially I received relatively few calls, since only
my family and close friends had my cell phone number. However, I often spent time in
multiple locations, and the convenience of being reachable anywhere led me to more
frequently give out the number. In fact, colleagues and acquaintances often asked for it.
Of course, they also obtained it whenever I called them on the cell, which I did often
since it was so convenient to just take the receiver from my belt. In addition, contact
2389JACC Vol. 59, No. 25, 2012 DeMaria
June 19/26, 2012:2388–9 Editor’s Pageforms increasingly requested my cell phone number as
wireless communication became more common. And so
hearing the ringtone of my phone became an ever more
common experience. Soon I began to receive calls when I
was in the middle of some other activity, or at very inop-
portune times. While I could prevent disturbing others by
changing the musical signal to vibration mode, I remained
aware that someone was trying to speak to me, which
caused at least a transient subconscious distraction.
Similarly, the ability to access the Internet has progres-
sively encroached on my daily life. At first I used my cell
phone to read e-mails or surf the web only on occasions
when I anticipated being inactive for 10 minutes or more,
such as waiting to board an airplane. Gradually I began to
look at the phone during shorter intervals, such as waiting
for conferences to begin. This behavior has recently in-
creased to the point that I reach for the smart phone al-
most immediately when I am not engaged, such as wait-
ing for an elevator. In fact, I sometimes interrupt other
endeavors, such as attending lectures, by taking a quick
peek at the phone’s screen. Not uncommonly I will check
for e-mails while walking from one building to another,
taking care not to run into others reading their e-mails
and walking in the opposite direction. Clearly the role of
the smart phone in my life has gotten a bit out of hand.
The prominence of my cell phone cannot be divorced
from the growth of my e-mails. It is not unheard of for
me to receive upwards of 100 e-mails per day, many re-
quiring substantial responses. I suspect that the availability
of e-mail had resulted in communications between indi-
viduals that might not have occurred before. Prior to the
Internet, one considered how pressing an issue was prior
to calling or mailing a letter. Now, the ease of sending an
e-mail eliminates much of this concern. In addition, of
course, is the ease with which advertisements and other
spam can be transmitted. Given several recent publica-
tions on this topic, it is clear that this is a growing issue
for nearly everyone. So, most of us are regularly con-
fronted with the task of sifting through long lists of e-
mails to identify those that are really important and in
need of rapid response. It is not surprising, therefore, thatwe are (or at least I am) quick to examine the status of
new e-mails, especially given the ready access on a cell
phone.
And so it is that I am writing this essay about feeling
captive to my cell phone. However, I am working very
hard to blunt the role it has come to play in my routine
behavior. The phone is now usually on vibrate mode, al-
though this does not completely eliminate the compulsion
to see who is trying to contact me. I am also struggling to
overcome the reflex reach for the phone the minute I am
not fully engaged in some activity. While the reaching has
not yet been conquered, I have managed to frequently
interrupt it after touching the phone so that it does not
get removed from my pocket or holster, much less opened
and viewed. I am also in the process of establishing
blocks of time dedicated to responding to phone calls and
e-mails. This is likely to lead to “telephone tag,” since
experience has taught me that the rate of contacting those
I am calling is less than 50%, unless, of course, I try them
on their cell phone.
And so, the wireless communication and cell phones
that started out to be such wonderful and liberating de-
velopments have now, in some sense, become the source
of problems. The pendulum has over swung, and at least
for me, has gone from making me more easily reachable
to too easily reachable. The e-mails that facilitated com-
munication are now bogging it down. To a certain de-
gree, the smart phone has gone from making life more
effortless, to making it more stressful. I am, however, tak-
ing steps to overcome this problem, some of which are
already yielding improvements. Hopefully, if everyone
works together in the future we can extract the best from
smart phones, while limiting their potential for tyranny.
Address correspondence to:
Dr. Anthony N. DeMaria
Editor-in-Chief, Journal of the American College of Cardiology
3655 Nobel Drive, Suite 630
San Diego, California 92112
E-mail: ademaria@acc.org


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The Tyranny of the Cell Phone

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