Cell Phone Liberation Day (April 29th)

Everywhere, everywhere, everyone chatting on a cell phone. Listening to a lecture or watching a movie and then a phone rings. Trying to study in a library with so many one-sided conversations going on. These nuisances inspired Steven Schaller, Mitch McDonald, Grisel Rodriguez, and Aaron Castillo to combat cell phone abuse.

(Goal)  To liberate the University of Texas at Austin student population from the enslavement of the cell phone. To raise awareness of how annoying and overly-worshipped it has become. To once again separate human from mechanical devices.  

(Intervention Method)  Solicited passersby on the West Mall area of campus to smash their cell phone in exchange for goodies such as cookies, tootsie pops, a pre-written mother’s day card, and three amazing VHS tapes. Passersby were informed of our motives and that "prolonged use of mobile phones may cause hot-spots to develop inside the brain, causing damage which could lead to Alzheimer’s disease or cancer (brain tumor)"* in an effort to convince them to smash their cell phones and liberate themselves. 

Interestingly, a joint effort was created with another cell phone group. Their objective was to sing the plagues of cell phones by speaking in large voices near people studying. First observing the staged misuse, we approached the culprit and smashed his phone, causing a sea of frozen, unblinking eyes.

(Result)  While most of those exposed responded negatively, by either ignoring our advances or refuting our intent, we did succeed in getting three students to smash their phones (one of which was real and not a plant). We succeeded in raising consciousness on the issue for countless others who heard our rants.
 

*taken from www.caner-health.org
(smashed cell phones were recycled) 

"Technology does not trump thoughtfulness. Infringing on the rights of others reflects poorly on you and certainly isn't what wireless technology is about."
— Tom Wheeler, president/CEO, Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association

"We need to use our cell phones responsibly now, before we find ourselves outside in the cold sneaking a call the way smokers sneak a cigarette."
— Carol Page, founder, CellManners.com