I walked into work the other day and noticed a note printed in bold capital letters that made it very clear to all of the employees at the Adobe that cell phones were no longer permitted inside the building during work hours, and that they must remain inside your car during your shift. Ironically as I read the note, my phone vibrated in my pocket to let me know that I had a text message.

No one was happy about this new rule, even though it had always been the policy. How are you supposed to abandon your phone for five, sometimes even eight hours? What if there was an emergency at the restaurant, or something happened to someone in your family?

Cell phones have become a necessary commodity in everyday life. I mean think about it. If you have a cell phone, do you ever leave your house or room without it? Don’t you notice that it’s missing almost instantly when you don’t have it? Even children as young as ten are using cell phones, and even younger are playing with the Playskool Cell Phone. This begs the question, “How did we as a society ever survive without cell phones?”

I got my first cell phone my sophomore year of high school. It wasn’t even really my cell phone though—it was still my dad’s—but I got to use it whenever I was going out with friends, so I considered it mine. By junior year, my parents realized the value of a cell phone and decided that I should have one of my own.

Now, it perplexes me how we as a society ever got by without cell phones. They certainly have made life much easier. They provide the opportunity for us to be more easily connected with our friends and our family. Rather than calling the landline phone hoping someone might be there, you can almost always guarantee a person will have their cell phone on him or her, and if you don’t have a cell phone, you might as well live under a rock.

While these mobile devices have met many of our needs in the past decade, cell phones have also distanced us from the ones we were once close to. People rely too much on texting these days rather than actually taking the time to call whomever it is they are trying to contact. You’d think that hearing someone’s voice would be more comforting than reading what they write, but texting has become much more convenient for people because it doesn’t require as much time as calling someone. It’s rather brief, so it seems to have taken over. Nowadays, I think our generation verbally talks a lot less to each other, not only because of texting, but also because of Facebook and Instant Messaging and all the other ever-increasing technological advancements. I’m guilty of it.

It’s weird to even consider that there was a time when text messaging didn’t exist and when you needed a landline phone number to get in touch with someone. It seems so common now, that if the satellites were to suddenly stop working, one might think that an apocalypse were about to occur because we have become accustomed to this technology. To have to revert to life before cell phones would be tragic.

We wouldn’t be able to know right away when something happened in our immediate family or close group of friends. We might have to pay attention in class rather than joking about whatever occurred the night before. We would actually have to learn phone numbers rather than be able to store them.

But, we would adapt and find a way to manage. We always do. For now, I guess my cell phone will have to remain in my car as I make tacos. But I can guarantee that the first thing I’ll do when I get out of work will be to check for missed calls or texts.

Oh—excuse me for a second—I just got a text message.