Cellfish

Student’s name

Institutional Behavior

The term cellfish originates from two words, namely “cell phone” and “selfish.” Cellfish is used to describe inconsiderate people in how they use their phone especially when there are in the company of other people. People are likely to engage in cellfish behaviour when they are in small spaces such as elevators, check-out lines, movie theatres and waiting rooms. Cellfish people tend to be too engrossed in phone conversations that they disregard other people’s presence. While technology has proved helpful in communicating with other people, studies opine that it also makes people less concerned about what is going on in their world. A working paper undertaken by the University of Maryland depicted that people are less likely to observe behaviour that can benefit the people around them after using their cell phones. The purpose of this text is to define the term cellfish and provide examples that demonstrate the behaviour.

Recent studies have pointed out that people who use their phones shortly before engaging in a task are likely to engage in selfish behaviour. Such people are less likely to take up roles are volunteers in community service after using their phones. Further, these people are less likely to point words such as their or them in a word search and they tend to give up solving puzzles that are likely to end with charity donations. According to Mayeda (2020), “using mobile phones ignites feelings of connectedness and makes people feel as if there is no need to care for or associate with others.” Additionally, cell phones are generally used by people to connect with close friends and family, establishing a connection with a group of people, affecting how much an individual cares for an outside group.

One would wonder why such a simple device like a cell phone would push a person to become selfish. Social connectedness is at the centre of this concept, as human beings, we feel the need and once this need is fulfilled, we tend to lose interest in the things that happen around us. For instance, if one uses a phone to fulfill their need to connect with other people, their natural inclination to help other people or feel empathy reduces significantly. Worth noting, researchers from Northwestern University studied the effect of social support on people’s attitudes outside their social circle. Romanowich et al. (2020) note that “scholars discovered that people who have a strong sense of belong to social circles were more likely to treat people from other groups unkindly.” Additionally, when people are part of a social circle, they foster a sense of exclusivity; the-us-versus-them feeling. This increases their tendency to disregard the people not part of their social circle by viewing them as less human and unworthy of their charitable attention. Essentially, researchers hold that using cell phones reduces an individual’s desire to connect with the people around them or engage in behavior that would benefit the other persons and the society by extension. For example, it would be cellfish of a person to have a phone conversation about how they dislike their mother-in-law and use curse words while they are sharing an elevator with other people. Such people fail to recognize that not everybody wants to know even the smallest details of their life. Furthermore, there might be children in the elevator and using they should be careful because children tend to observe and pick up behaviour from their immediate environment.

In closing, cellfish is an undesirable behaviour where people use their phones in a manner that comes off as rude and selfish to the people surrounding them. In most cases, people who engage in cellfish behaviour are often not aware they are doing wrong. According to research, human beings long for connectedness, and if they fulfill their desire using cell phones, they are less likely to engage in empathetic behavior that can benefit the people around them. In essence, as phone users, we must strive to be respectful to the people around us.

References

Mayeda, K. (2020). Effectiveness of Policy: Cell Phone Use-Related Distracted Driving A graduate project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements (Doctoral dissertation, CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE).

Romanowich, P., Igaki, T., Yamagishi, N., & Norman, T. (2020). Differential Associations between Risky Cell-Phone Behaviors and Discounting Types. The Psychological Record, 1-11.