Cell
Phones and Their Effects-Haroon Hovakemians
Now sitting in the quiet living room of his home in Sun
Valley, California, Haroon Hovakemians, 62 year-old architect tells about his
life back in Iran. He was born and raised in the capital Tehran. He grew up in a
family of four sisters and two brothers. As a young man, he was an architect.
When he was about twenty seven years old he got married, and then he had two
children, a son and a daughter. When Haroon Hovakemians tells about the changes
he has seen around the world, one that seemed to stand out for him was the
invention of cell phones. He mentioned how cell phones have improved
communication in tremendous ways. It may seem casual now but back then when they
came out they brought many changes with them. Cell phones gave quick access to
family, friends, and help during emergencies. They have helped in many
situations and could have come in handy other times.
A change that I have noticed that has affected my life and the rest of the world
is technology. During our times there were many things but technology. Technology has moved forward, it has improved. I can give an example of what
type of technology. A cell phone is an important thing for my life because
sometimes an emergency would happen, I couldn't get somewhere or contact. Now
that there are cell phones, I can immediately use them.
I don't remember when cell phones first came out because it has been a long
time. Before that time, there were public um boxes. We would go outside and
contact. If there was an emergency or we wanted to contact a friend or family,
we used the outside boxes. Many, many times a certain emergency situation came
up that but I didn't have a cell phone. Sometimes we would go on trips with cars
and we would see that the car had broken down. There was no way that we could
contact to get somewhere. So, we were forced to stay until someone or a police
came to help, but now it isn't like that.
I use my cell phone every day. It is very useful um...not everywhere. I try to not to use it in the car because besides danger it is nothing else. When someone calls me, by the time I find the phone that will be a reason to cause an accident. You shouldn't use it everywhere but whenever it's important.
Overall, I have seen many changes. When now people have to
have so much communication they just talk on their cell phones. Maybe I do not
see my friends that much but I can talk comfortably on the cell phone with them.
Besides having communication with friends, recently, there has been a certain
emergency situation that a cell phone had been very useful. One day my car broke
down on the freeway and immediately, I called the tow truck. If this technology
wasn't there, I would have been staying there. Besides these emergencies
happening, sometimes I am contacted from home. When the kids want to go
somewhere, they contact me or if they are somewhere they say "Come Dad pick us
up we are here." These are all helpful.
My job is structure engineer drafting. For thirty five
years, I have been doing this. Cell phones have helped me very much because
right now I do management. I check all of the work of the six workers that I
have who work with the computers. I organize, and we all work together in the
office. During work, cell phones help me a lot. Sometimes the clients call, I
get appointments, and we get the addresses. They especially help outside of work
too. Sometimes when my clients call, they leave messages, and I cannot get to
talk to them. When I receive their messages, then I contact them back, talk to
them, and see them. It helps me a lot.
Besides my job, I think it [cell] has helped other businessmen and workers
because cell phones have internet. Technology has improved so much. All the
businessmen communicate with each other all around the world. All of the stock
markets contact each other and they know what is what. However, I am not a
businessman. I do not have my own business but all of the ones who have it
communicate with cell phones.
I see certain changes among people, especially the youth that have cell phones.
The youth have taken cell phones, and the majority of the time, they talk to
their friends. They could dedicate their time to other things. They can use
their time for other achievements. It's a very good thing, it's not bad, but a
lot of their time is lost. It has improved so many things. The whole world uses
them.
Now, it's very hard to see myself living without a cell phone. Now if we don't
have this, it's like if a person has electricity and uses it, but we come and
turn off the electricity and tell them that they can use a light bulb. My final
thoughts about cell phones are good and improved so many things. Overall, the
changes have been very good, of course. I have said what I have seen.