Midpack
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Why Are We Still Calling the Things in Our Pockets ‘Cell Phones’?
Today, when I get a call, I think: Who died? Who’s trapped on a mountain? What awful global calamity is unfolding? I use apps and text messages for everything – ordering dinner, hailing cabs, telling friends I’m running late – and I rarely check my voice mail. I don’t have any friends who regularly call me; even my parents have switched to texts.
Regardless of its implications on wireless carriers, it’s odd to refer to these vast, all-encompassing gadgets merely as “phones.” It would be like calling a car a “radio box,” or a microwave a “popcorn maker.” All smartphones can make calls, sure, but what makes one device different from another is how well it can do everything else.
So let’s call these devices something that more accurately reflects how we use them. One idea would be to take a cue from the British and start referring to them simply as “mobiles.”
All of these words sound more awkward to our unaccustomed American ears than “phone” or “cell phone.” But they’re better descriptors of what these devices are.
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