Cell phones have multiplied in public spaces on this campus in record numbers this year, and I can't seem to understand why. The problem is not cell phones, but rather the lack of courtesy with which they are sometimes used around campus. It is safe to assume that the majority of Amherst cell phone owners have brought them to school in order to make cheaper long-distance calls, which I understand completely; I wish that I had one myself for such a purpose. But when the phones start to creep into places where they just do not belong, then we have a problem.

While abroad last semester, a friend's cell phone rang during class. We all smirked at her oversight of leaving the phone on. She apologized for the call, but then had the audacity and disrespect to have a conversation with the caller right then and there. This interruption was outrageous, and although it has not yet happened in any of my classes this year (it is after all only September), it was a bitter taste of the cell phone culture that would greet me upon my return this year.

The issue is not the phone itself, but rather its use in public spaces, especially one public space designed specifically to provide quiet study space: the library. Having a conversation with a friend who has come to visit you in the library is annoying but tolerable. Having a conversation on your cell phone with a friend that is not even present is incredibly rude. It is also counterproductive to the entire purpose of going to the library in the first place (studying); I procrastinate with the best of them (via endless planWorld and email checking at the library), but the key difference is that I choose methods that don't bother anyone. In the same vein, those who bring cell phones to class should please note: the silent mode is not always silent. Professors may be a bit baffled, like I am, as to why students have not discovered that even when your phone vibrates, we can still hear its bug-like cries.

Our friend the cell phone has also now begun to appear in Valentine like never before. Anyone who goes to lunch during rush hour understands that making it through the serving lines at noon on Mondays and Wednesdays and at 1 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays requires the same kind of concentration and eat-or-be-eaten attitude required to drive around New York City in the middle of the afternoon (it is for this reason that I avoid both). In neither situation is it wise to use a cell phone; my jaw dropped at seeing a student get a salad and a soda while chatting on her cell phone-what could possibly be so trivial that you can discuss it while in the salad bar, but at the same time, so important that it can't wait until after you eat lunch?

Keep in mind that the privacy of your own car still does not count as acceptable cell phone space. Regardless of how good a driver you think you are, it has never been and will never be safe to drive while talking on a cell phone. None of us deserves to be plowed over while walking around campus because of a student's gossip that simply could not wait until he parked the car.

Some students consider being able to be contacted 24/7 worth the cost of a cell phone, and I accept that. But please, be considerate of your fellow students.