I would also like you to review both the Rowe and Guernsey articles. Print the former if you haven't already so that you can bring it to class on Thursday 9/16, our next class meeting. Annotate these texts as you are reading them. Attempt to locate his and her thesis statements and the supporting points and evidence they utilize to make their arguments. Also, highlight or mark any passages that you deem to be important, significant, outlandish, etc.
Consider how Guernsey's article compares and contrasts to Rowe's text. Remember that a contrast seeks only differences, while a comparison seeks both similarities and differences. We will be performing this activity in our next class.
For your journal writing I would like you to do the following... and remember do not do anything overzealous! I want you to be detectives, yes, but responsible, courteous ones at that!
Thus, the prompt:
Observe people in a public space such as a shopping center, a subway station or platform, a park, or a busy street. Spend one-half to one-full hour taking notes on those individuals that use cellphones. Describe the users' appearance, gestures, tones of voice, volume of speaking, and anything else that seems interesting and important about their use of their phone.
I would like you to observe two (2) people during this activity, providing a paragraph-length description of each. Post your observations below and have fun with this activity.
During my train ride home I notice how people act. I feel in a way everyone’s in their own world. There were a couple of people who were on their phones or iPods for the whole ride. The people who were on their phones were loud. At first I was like, “Wow! The class just had a discussion about this and its happening.” But then my mom called me and I was talking to her for a couple of minutes. When I got off the phone my friend told me I was loud and I was surprised and started laughing. I was surprised because I’m normally quiet and I started to understand the people in the train; in my opinion I feel it is because there is a lot going on in the train and its loud in general that causes you to be louder than your background. The first person I observed talked to the phone as if it was a person. She was holding the phone and talking with her hands and raising eyebrows, being ghetto in a way. The other person I observed was yelling into his phone. I think it’s because he was old and probably is not used to technology that he felt it was necessary to hold the phone next to his mouth and yell. The whole time I was laughing because it was distracting a girl sitting next to him reading a book.
ReplyDeleteDavon Raspberry
ReplyDeleteProfessor Damato
English 125 - PQ1
9/10/10
During this past week I have observed two females in public that were using their cell phones. While observing these two females I realized that they were very different in their speech, presentation in public, posture, and volume at which they spoke at. While during the same time frame, I observed these females at two different locations, one on the bus and another on the train.
One of the females that I observed was an African American, fairly young between the age of 20 and 25. What I observed about her was the actual content of her conversation. The volume at which she spoke was very respectable, low volume, not yelling or grasping the attention of others nor disturbing others, well, at least, not me. What I do find that was inappropriate was the conversation she was talking about, which was, her future sexual involvement with a partner. Her partner was not on the phone but she was relaying the information to a third party. I find this to be inappropriate because of the setting which we in. During her conversation she was on a bus with children which are able to grasp the content of her conversation. This situation is very controversial because even though this female presented herself in a very respectable manner as far as her physical presentation, her speech was very negative and can lead to many questions that parents should not have to answer or think about answering to a child at a young age.
While on the other hand I observed an older female who is probably around her early 30’s, was very boisterous about her conversation. She was very loud not necessarily yelling but loud enough for me to her from about 15 feet away. I cannot tell you what her conversation was about but her hand gestures were very outlandish as if she could not control herself. This female was probably very harmless but her actions presented her as a threat. The type of person that I would hate to talk to because I know she would probably try to over-talk me as I am trying to talk to her.
On Saturday, I observed two individuals in public while they were using cell phones. I found many differences on the conversations and the ways of speak on these two people when they were talking on their cell phones. The first person I observed was a female. She is young lady about twenty-three years old. We both were in the café of whole food market and she sat across from me. I observed about the content of her conversation, the tones of voice, and volume of speaking. She was talking to her friend on cell phone about the schedule what she was going to do on the weekend. The content of her conversation was totally acceptable to me, because her conversation was normal without any dirty languages and personal privacies. From the whole process of her conversation on cell phone, I did find anything that was inappropriate. The volume of the way she spoke was very decorous. Her volume was extremely low without yelling or attracting people’s attentions. She kept her voice dorm all the time, not disturbing others. Although I still can hear everything from her, she maintained her voice in lower volume during the whole conversation. The most important factor that didn’t bother me while she was talking on her cell phone was her voice. Her tone of voice was very soft and crisp which made me feel comfortable when she speak. Therefore, I didn’t get angry and impatient in the whole while she was talking on her cell phone.
ReplyDeleteThe second personal I observed was a middle-age man around his mid forty. I was taking a train on my way home. The train had almost non passengers except me and the middle-age man. We sat two sites apart. On the way to destination, the man talked on his cell phone three times. Although he only talked on cell phone less than three minus, I got angry and annoy with him, because he was extremely loud when he talk on his cell phone. He was a Spanish speaker and I don’t know Spanish. So I didn’t understand the content of his conversation, but I can tell he was asking direction by cell phone from each time he was looking at the subway map while he was talking on cell phone. On the other hand, from his tone of voice and facial expression, he was getting hurry rather than getting angry. His volume of speaking was very loud as the person he spoke to didn’t hear his voice on the other side of cell phone. The passengers can hear his voice if the train open up all the carriages when he yelled at the cell phone. My whole trip was full of second hand noise and agitated.
I observed and noticed how the phone controls the aspects of our lives. It is not that I haven’t watched people using it. It’s just that now with a special task in hand; I took matters that I would normally overlook into consideration. The first person who went into my book was a woman at the Laundromat. This woman even though was older than what I would consider to be into technology- which means even if she owns a phone; it would just be a simple one for communication had gone high-tech with a Bluetooth in her ears to top things off. Because of my first idea that her age meant she will go simple, I didn’t realize the Bluetooth in her ears therefore when I saw her laughing from time to time, I assumed she had some kind of mental problem. Then later, when I heard her conversation which went on till I left, I noticed the thing in her ear that was covered by some hair.
ReplyDeleteAfter I observed this woman, I went on to look at how the other person with a phone was behaving. This person was a young college girl. She didn’t tell me this information about her but instinctively I knew by the books on her lap she was reading when she got the call. Her conversation was short and quite. And after she was done she returned back to doing what she was doing before-reading her book. In the end, my conclusion on people who use the phone in public is not one. There are people who use the phone to keep their mind off the work they are doing like the old woman and others that use it for business and important reasons like the college girl.
Over the past few days I observed two people, both of different genders and age groups one, a male in his late 20’s working on wall street, and the other a teenage girl coming from school on a sunny Friday afternoon. I realized that different people in different areas have different ways to talk on the phone. The male working on Wall Street was a very quick on loud talker he it was as if the person on the other line was deaf. The way he was talking shows that he had no care whatsoever for those around him and how they would react to his poor etiquette. The content of his conversation consisted of stocks and other sorts of things related to it. On the other hand the young teenage girl had a soft tone and was talking to the person on the receiving end about her feelings toward someone else. She was neither loud nor disrespectful to the surrounding people. My observations proved to me that everyone is different in the way the carry themselves when talking on the phone in public.
ReplyDeleteOver this break, I had the opportunity to observe two different women. Both these women were very different in their appearance, gestures, their tone of voice, and the volume in which they spoke. Although these women were so different in their personalities, they did have one thing in common, which was their interest in the conversation they were having. Both these women were so engaged in their cell phone conversations that they were not the slightest bit aware of their surroundings or the people around them.
ReplyDeleteAs I was standing on the long line of Forever 21 in Roosevelt Field Mall, this young girl behind me was speaking on the phone. I thought this was the perfect chance, got my detective skills ready, and started to ease drop into her conversation. She was a short girl, with short hair, and had a very depressed look. It seemed as if she was about to cry any moment. She was speaking pretty low, for the conversation seemed very personal, and it seemed as if she was not able to speak properly due to her depression. As she was talking I figured out she just had a break up with her boyfriend. She was telling her friend how she tried her best, and it sucks that they broke up her senior year. One of her biggest concerns was who her prom date would be, which I found kind of silly. She didn’t really have any gestures because she had the phone in one hand, bunch of clothes in the other, and just stood there solemnly. She didn’t seem like someone who would be very talkative, or addicted to her phone. It was more like she was going through a hard time, and needed someone to let it out with. She wasn’t being obnoxious in any way, and was not disturbing anyone; she was in her own world talking quietly. However, she did get so into her conversation that she would not move ahead right away as the line would get less, and was lost.
The second person I observed made it much easier for me to tap into her conversation, since she was so loud that I probably couldn't ignore her even if I wanted to. I was sitting at my mother’s beauty salon waiting to get my eyebrows done, as this lady starts screaming on top of her lungs. She was tall, with long black hair, and had tattoos on her arms. She was pretty built, and looked like someone you just would not want to mess with. She started talking about how fake this girl was, and is too scared to answer her calls. She started swearing, and calling her such awful things. It was ridiculous to how this lady forgot about everything around her, and just started yelling on the phone as if she had no control on her anger. While she was speaking angrily on the phone she would make a fist as if she was about to smack someone. Then the friend she came with told her to not create a scene inside, and to step out to talk. Even though she went outside I could hear her perfectly. She was talking about how this girl just keeps lying, and making up her own stories. She was saying how this girl has no self respect, and knows she’s guilty that’s why she won’t pick up her calls. Then she was shocked to hear something and said “No way, now I will f*ck her up just wait and watch”. Man did this seem intense, then she clicked the phone came in, and apologized for her behavior. I thought that was nice of her to do so even though she was so angry and I pitied the girl that would have to face her.
I observed a man speaking on his cell phone walking down Jackson heights. The man was dressed professionally so I assumed he was either returning from or going to work. It was about midday, the time when it’s most crowded. Due to the amount of pedestrians and children around it was extremely noisy, so the talker had to speak above the noise in order for the person on the other line to hear him. He was walking hastily and giving little attention to what was going on around him. He bumped into a man as he walked down the block and apologized but continued to walk at the same pace while talking on the phone and again bumped into another pedestrian. I noticed from this that people speaking on their phones in public are more oblivious to their surroundings.
ReplyDeleteAnother observation I made was while sitting on a bench at the park. I watched two boys enter. One was talking on his cell phone and the other was walking quietly beside him. As they were walking down the second boy asked his friend on the phone a question. The boy who was deep in discussion held his finger up indicating his friend to wait. It was a rude and offensive thing to do. I realized that people speaking on cell phones tend to give their conversation on the phone higher priority then the people around them.
For this assignment I decided to observe people on their cell phones during my bus ride. It was around the time that most children leave school so it was packed with public school kids. I began to observe a tall African American man who sat around the back of the bus. He looked like he was around 25-30 years old and was dressed in a black jacket and sweatpants. The man had a low tone, so you could barely hear his conversation. He was really into the conversation since he would motion his hands and make face expressions. Also he called three times, either he lost connection or called a different person. He talked throughout the whole ride, but with his volume and tone he didn’t really disturb anybody else in the bus.
ReplyDeleteThe other person that I decided to observe was either Guyanese or Trinidadian. He was dressed in a white shirt and jeans, and looked like he was about 19-20 years old. This man also sat at the back of the bus, but was loud in his conversation. He gossiped and argued out loud, and was also using hand gestures to make his point. Even with a lot of people in the bus he would use strong language and spout profanities about the people he would gossip about. His tone of voice and choice of words probably disturbed most people in the bus.
As I was on the train going home I noticed that there was a young lady using her cell phone and decided to start my observation. At first, I did not even realize that she was using her phone, as I walked onto the train and got settled. The young lady was very calm and quiet on her cell. She did not use any outlandish actions while speaking and I could not even make out the nature of her conversation as her tone and volume was so low and relaxed. This woman was actually much quieter than the other people on the train who were speaking to another person right next to them.
ReplyDeleteThe other person, who also was a young female, I observed was also quiet besides the occasional giggle or fits of laughter. However, she realized that she was being too loud when she laughed and tried to restrain herself. This was something that surprised me since many people would not have the consideration to think about others around them and just continue as they were. The young lady used a normal conversational tone and volume while on the train and did not seem to interrupt anyone else; seeing as I was able to read a book after I finished with my observation.
I was on my way to the movie theater with my boyfriend when we stopped to eat at Apple Bee. When we went inside the restaurant I saw this African lady approximately 30 years old drinking a martini talking and laughing on her cellphone so loudly. She was saying bad words and one of the waiters came and asked her to lower her voice. She got so mad and she started to argue with the waiter and after all she left the restaurant with an angry face. That same day on my way home I saw this white man with a baby talking in his cellphone with a moderate voice tone and it look like a well- educated person. During my way home I watched the guy and I took notes with my cellphone because it was the only thing I had available at that time. While I was writing i was smiling and the guy look at me in a weird way but I didn’t mind I was doing my work. It’s often that in our society everyone is different and act different. Cellphones have become a priority for humans in this era and even though some people used them in different ways is something that had become useful in different ways for humans.
ReplyDeleteOver the weekend I went to shopping with my aunt at Macy's in Manhattan. After shopping for three hours, we had to wait outside until the rain stopped.Meanwhile, I had a lot fun observing how people are into the own thing. And how some people forgot the respect somewhere far from there when they use the their cell phones.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I saw an asian lady crossing the street and picking up her cell phone. As she answered the phone she automatic cover her face with one hand and looked for a place to stand up close to me. She was on the phone about ten minutes and I could not hear one word of what she have said. She also didn't use many gestures while talking. All I could see was her eyes moving and paying attention if someone staring at her. When her conversation was done, she placed her cell phone in a bag and got into the store.
A little later appeared a guy screaming down on the street and holding an umbrella. First I thought he was crazy because he was screaming on the phone, doing many gestures with his arms and walking faster and slower accordingly the tone of his voice. He was blocking people's way, kicking others with his umbrella because his focus was on the call. One lady coursed him out, but I think he didn't even hear her. In a minute he became the center of the attention. He was loud and disrespectful to others ears since he was talking a lot of non-sense. My aunt brought up the attention of a security for his loudness, but nothing was done. I observed that for almost twenty minutes and he was still on the phone when I left.
I was amazed how people really don't pay attention of how and what they are talking in public. On the other hand, others are just too careful to keep their conversation just between them. The fact is that loudness, rough gestures while talking may be just a way of an individual to communicate on the phone, but these things together really annoy people. Plus cel phone conversation can disrupt the attention of who is doing the action and those who are close by.
After the last class day, i went to the library to read the sociology textbook. To the left of me was a black female, who had the most annoying gum towing ever. She was using her cellphone talking to one of her best friends, at least that is what it seemed like. She was very relaxed, laid back as if she was home, and just on that phone being extremely loud. I overheard her whole conversation because she was so loud. Her friend's boyfriend wasn't really being a good boyfriend, and her friend wanted to end the relationship. Also, someone has a baby because she was talking about a baby shower.
ReplyDeleteOver the weekend, I went to the mall to finish of this assignment. It wasn't the easiest thing to do to follow someone without them expecting you are being a creeper. I just decided to stay by the doors and act like i"m waiting for a ride. I hoped someone would just stay there and stay on the phone. There was an elderly couple using a cellphone and had it on speaker. They were white and looked married. The female was holding the phone and the male was just looking around. She seemed lost using the phone like she has no idea what she was doing. She had a medium tone wasn't very loud, just more in her space. I respected the fact that she wasn't being rude on the phone, unlike the black female.
After the whole experience, i've realized people can be rude when it comes down to phones in public places. Some just don't care and use it where ever they want. Others, have some since of respect and are very kind when it comes down to using their phones.
The day the assignment was given i was waiting to go home, so i sat on a bench outside and observed this college student dressed casual. while she was walking into the campus she was talking on the phone Im guessing to her best friend or boyfriend. her tone and volume was very loud as if she was arguing with the person on the cellphone.
ReplyDeletethe next person i secretly interviewed was at cross bay blvd at starbucks with some of my family. so while i was drinking my drink i noticed this young woman dressed nicely as if she juzz came from work and she was speaking very softly im thinking to her husband or boyfriend. but her tone was very pleasant and her volume was just right for people in her surroundings
i have learned from this experiment is that everyone is different and in different situations and sometimes some people just dont care about the volume and tone of voice but others have the ettiquete and understanding and realize there is a time and place for everything.
Abiodun I.
ReplyDeleteEng 125
Prof. D’Amato
09/16/2010
Spy on someone on the phone
I was on the bus on my way home after a morning class session at York College, when i saw a young lady maybe in her 20's enter the bus; i was about 15 feet away from her because i was sitting at the back. She came in the bus smiling due to the fact that she was on the phone at the moment, it seems she was talking to a relative or someone atleast close to her. What i notice was during my whole ride she was on the phone it was as if she was in a different world/space from the rest of us, she was laughing talkning not very loudly but enough to eavesdrop if i had wanted to.
The other lady was probably in her 30's with her little daughter, but this was another day. When she came in she was also on the phone but she seemed like she was having an argument with someone over the phone. She came and sat down adjacent to me, and her daughter sat next to her. She continued with her conversation as if i didn't even exist to her. She sounded very agrevated; also cursing at the person she was having the conversation with, so i moved to another empty chair. I wasn't very judgemental at her because she was loud and she just didnt care if anyone was around her, i was judgemental because her little daughter who looked about 6 years old was with her and she was using a very bad tone and language over the phone.
With those to that i spied on, i came to the conclusion that when people are on the phone they tend not to be aware of their surroundings, and talk as if they were in their home or their own world.
After class was over I went to Brooklyn to see a friend of mine. While I was on the J train I noticed a few people on their cell phones. I singled out two individuals, a man and a woman, and I quietly observed them from across the bench. The man was speaking a little loud but not so loud that it was disturbing. He was speaking with his hands as if the person he was on the phone with could see his hand jestures. Some of the people on the train including myself were looking at him like is this guy serious and some were even laughing at him. He was not aware that almost everyone was staring at him. It was if he was the only person on the train just him and his phone.
ReplyDeleteThe woman that was also on the phone was in her own world completely. She didn't look at anyone. She just kept talking on the phone and intensely focused on her converstaion. It seemed if anyone was to interupt her conversation she would have went crazy. I think its funny how people get so involved in their phone conversation that they don't pay attention to their surroundings. I think that it is only going to get worse, especially with technology advancing every year.
As I observed people who use their cellphones they tend to be young people. Since there is a lot of eye contact on the trains and buses they use the cellphones to avoid eye contact with other people. When peoples mind are idol they usually grab there phone for comfort. Sometimes they aren't even doing anything important on it, just looking at it as if there waiting for a text to come in.
ReplyDeleteI believe senior citizens and young people use to there phones differently, so i Observed how they reacted in different situations with there phones. This older lady kept her phone deep in her pocket book , and only took it out to see the time. I've also notice that her phone wasn't as high tech as phones are today. It was out of date with a lot less features. When i see young people using there phones there phones are usually updates with many features, and app friendly, there phones are always really close to them and never do they keep it tucked away for long periods of time.
I observed two people right here on york campus. A male and a female. The first person a female was speaking at a regular tone maybe because she was next to someone. Eventhough she was about 10 feet away from me I was aware about her conversation. She did not quite make any movements only the occasional hand movement. But when she laughed she was pretty loud. she looked like in her late teens early twentys. After she finished talking she kept looking at her phone perhaps texting someone. The second person a male was not speaking loud at all. I could barely hear the conversation. I would notice a grin on his face. He was sort of wispering to hi phone almost like having an intimate conversation. He would not laugh loudly only giggle and smile.
ReplyDeleteSamantha Miller
ReplyDeleteEng. 125 - PQ1
Prof. D’ Amato
Assign. #3
9/15/10
Public Phone Conversations
I seen many people talking on the phone in several places I’ve been. The two people that stood out the most to me was someone I seen on the bus and someone else I seen in the movie theater. Both of them were very different in the way they talked on the phone.
As I observed the person on the bus I noticed that she was not aware of anyone else around her; she only cared about who she was talking to on the phone. I realized this because the bus was very quiet and all you hear is her speaking to her friend and you heard every word because she wasn’t even trying to keep her voice low. She was talking about how her best friends boyfriend caused her phone to get stolen and she’s going to give him a week to get her a new one, she explained that she’s not going to tell her boy friend until the week passes because she knows he will freak out and go after her best friends boyfriend; since she’s her best friend she’s not going to tell her boyfriend yet. I can also tell that she wasn’t aware of the people around her because there were children near her on the bus and she was using very foul language and was telling her friend the harsh things her boyfriend would do to her best friends boyfriend. She was acting pretty ghetto in a way from the way she was talking to the hand gestures she was making as if the person was standing right in front of her. Her voice wasn’t very loud but the fact that the bus was completely quiet made her voice seem loud. Her conversation was rather inappropriate and disrespectful to her environment and the people around her.
The person in the movie theater was aware of his surroundings but was still rood because of where he was at the time. He walked into the movie theater talking on the phone and his voice was loud at first but when he realized he entered the movie theater he lowered his voice. The screen was only showing previews so he assumed it was okay to continue talking on the phone. I could not hear exactly what he was talking about because his voice was low but I did hear him laughing hysterically. It was rather disturbing to hear whispering and laughing in the background of the previews because I am very interested in the previews of upcoming movies and he was so annoying that I couldn’t even focus on them. I was not the only one who was annoyed by him because I heard others complaining and looking around to see who that was. Finally someone near him asked him kindly to get off the phone and he told whoever he was on the phone with he’ll talk to them later. I respect that he actually tried to lower his voice but his location was no place to be on the phone. I also respect that he respected the people around him enough to hang up the phone when someone asked him to.
Obaid Naseem said on 9/15 at 10:00pm:
ReplyDeleteAfter playing basketball, I observed a woman sitting on the bench, supposedly watching her kids. Often her children would go to her and give her a little tap in order to gain her attention. However, the woman the woman was persistent and just would not allow her kids to distract her. After repeating this cycle over and over the children just quit, and began to play at a more continuos without going to her. This actually led me to question whether or not the woman was indeed looking over her kids or not. I personally doubt she was.
Another person i noticed was a young African American lady. Now this was around 8 P.M, and the bus was packed. I was tired and coming home from work and i couldn't help but notice this young lady laughing and screaming at the top of her lungs. Almost everyone on the bus(including myself) could not help but stare at her in awe. The fact that this woman was speaking in such a loud tone throughout the course of the entire trip was just shocking. She had no sense of care for anyone on the bus who might be annoyed or tired, and who just might not want to listen to her voice throughout the course of there trip.
The first person I observed happened to be a customer of mines. I work at a very small eye boutique. The young 20 something woman came into the shop yapping on her cell phone, I greeted her with the usual " Hello How are you", she did not even blink. Her over boisterous cell phone conversation had rendered her deaf. After about 15 to 20 minutes did she actually realize I exsisted and comments, ohh where you talking to me?... No I was talking to the wall!!!
ReplyDeleteThe cell phone conversation left completely and utterly unaware of her surroundings.
The second person I observed was at the park up the block from my house. It was a young girl in her teens apparently babysitting a little boy. The young girl chatting on her cell phone let the young boy run around the park with no supervision, while she screamed into the phone on her should be private conversation. The young boy try to get her attention to push the swings and instead she is more interested in her conversation than watching kid. The story ends with the little boy on the opposite side of the park and her searching for him.. looking very nervous. Luckily its a tiny park!
After playing basketball, I observed a woman sitting on the bench, supposedly watching her kids. Often her children would go to her and give her a little tap in order to gain her attention. However, the woman the woman was persistent and just would not allow her kids to distract her. After repeating this cycle over and over the children just quit, and began to play at a more continuos without going to her. This actually led me to question whether or not the woman was indeed looking over her kids or not. I personally doubt she was.
ReplyDeleteAnother person i noticed was a young African American lady. Now this was around 8 P.M, and the bus was packed. I was tired and coming home from work and i couldn't help but notice this young lady laughing and screaming at the top of her lungs. Almost everyone on the bus(including myself) could not help but stare at her in awe. The fact that this woman was speaking in such a loud tone throughout the course of the entire trip was just shocking. She had no sense of care for anyone on the bus who might be annoyed or tired, and who just might not want to listen to her voice throughout the course of there trip.