Where Is My Cellphone

LaTonya Harrell

English 101

March 5, 2008

Where is My Cell Phone?

"Sharon have you seen my mobile?” says Mallory. "Your mobile?" laughs Sharon. "Are you serious? Where are you from? We use the term cell phone. Mobile makes it sound so fifties." "Well in London we call it mobile, because we cherish our devices while on the other hand people like you from the united states use your devices as a means of calculating or even text messaging." both Europe and the u.s are continents of many nationalities, and each has a different culture and history. National regulations on phones differ dramatically within Europe, which has an important impact on mobile use. In the U.S a cell phone is a tool. In Europe, a mobile phone is a lifestyle.

It’s only less hazardous to talk about a "typical American mobile phone user. The culture in the U.S. is more uniform than it is in Europe, but there are profound differences between various market segments. The average 16 year old in the u.s views a mobile phone very differently than the average 40 year old.

The differences start with the words we use to talk about the industry. In Europe, a mobile phone is usually called a "mobile" and in the u.s mobile phones are most often called "cell phones". Occasionally young people in the u.s use the term "mobile", but it’s not very widespread. I try to use the term "mobile phone" in this essay because it’s understood on both continents.

There are also differences in the terms used to describe the companies that sell mobile phone services. In the U.S. they are generally called "carriers". But the second easiest way to piss off a European mobile exec is to call his or her company a carrier. They are "operators". As the distinction was explained to me, an operator actively runs a network, while a carrier merely delivers something passively. The operator vs. the carrier thing is very confusing in the u.s, because to most Americans an operator is a person who runs a switchboard.

To me, one of the most pronounced differences between mobile use in the u.s and Europe is that Europe has a more developed mobile phone culture. There are huge variations in attitude from person to person, but on average, people in Europe expect the mobile to play a more prominent, recognized role in the structure of society, and many people look to the mobile as a central source of new innovations. The belief is almost