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Claire Langenhorst, Trebor Goodall, Chris Bowers, Brendan Gleason

Dr. McLaughlin

Multimedia Writing & Rhetoric

2 November 2015

The Dangers of Cell Phones

In many ways, technology comprises the base of how people function in today’s society.

For instance, the American military, billion-dollar corporations, and even the average American

family rely heavily on their computers and other devices in order to function normally.

Furthermore, the average college student’s life also revolves around his or her technological

devices. While students’ computers are more for academic use, it seems that they are

increasingly becoming more and more dependent to their cell phones. Students use their phone

for an alarm clock, a calendar, a way to talk to friends, and so much more. As they become more

dependent on their phones, however, students find it harder and harder to put the phone down

and experience life outside the virtual world.

Students’ growing addiction to their phones--dubbed “cell phone sickness” in our video--

is what motivated our project. While we constructed a satirical video that hopefully produced a

few laughs, this problem is still one of great concern. Our intended audience is college-age

young adults because at most universities, even here at Notre Dame, most students are so

addicted to their phones that they forget to pay attention to reality. Everyday people will look at

their phone in the middle of conversations, important classes, or while commuting on campus.

The message we are trying to relay through our public service announcement is that cell phones

are dangerous. In the PSA, we greatly exaggerate the danger by having people falling down

stairs or running into trees while using their cell phones, but this issue is not to be taken light-

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heartedly. While these outcomes are quite possible in reality, we are not trying to tell people that

cell phone use can seriously injure them. The message that we are trying to relay is that cell

phones are quite dangerous in that it is very easy for a person to get caught up in a virtual world--

whether texting, tweeting, or taking selfies--and forget about the beautiful world filled with real

people that exists all around him. In order to truly show how much of life people miss from

being on their phones, we had to make a mockery of the cell phone use in everyday life. To try to

promote a change and get people to use their phones less, we had to mock the ways in which

people are constantly using their phones. As Avner Ziv writes in his work The Social Function of

Humor, “in his efforts at changing and improving mankind, man turns matters he thinks grave,

into absurdities” (39). By exaggerating most aspects of cell phone usage in our PSA, this truly

persuades viewers examine their lives and cell phone usage. It calls attention to this growing

problem and suggests viewers may need to make a few lifestyle changes.

To make the video relevant and relatable to our intended audience, college students, we

structured our video to incorporate everyday aspects of the college environment, specifically the

Notre Dame environment. To emphasize the idea that this is not just a general problem, but one

that is extremely prevalent at Notre Dame, we implemented a couple subtle hints. Whenever our

narrator spoke, we showed him in front of several iconic and extremely recognizable places on

the Notre Dame campus including the Golden Dome, Hesburgh Library, the grotto, the football

stadium, and the lakes. Many scenes that we included in our public service announcement were

actual, candid footage of real students on campus. We presented real students with very difficult,

demanding schedules, voluntarily immersed in their virtual world instead of completing their

work in the hopes the viewers recognize that this could have been them. Rhetorically speaking,

this invites viewers to deduce that if we were easily able to capture these few scenes of students

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glued to their phones, then maybe the problem is bigger than they thought. Other scenes,

however, were very obviously staged to display the dangers of cellphone use. Scenes such as the

ones showing Trebor falling down the stairs and Brendan running into a tree, while still very

probably outcomes of inopportune cell phone usage, attempt to garner a laugh from viewers. As

said by D.H. Monro, “there can be no doubt that… misfortunes are funny, simply in themselves”

(50). Including these misfortunes not only aids our overall satirical theme, but at the same time

invites the audience to think about what “small misfortunes” of which they may have fallen

victim.

Our general concept in approaching this video was to incorporate not only the standard

conventions of a public service announcement, but to produce a satirical video that still had an

effective argument. By the way of borrowing from the standard conventions of a PSA, we had a

serious, compassionate narrator who presented the problem, voice-overs during scenes that

displayed examples of our message, and statistics. We did our very best to still make these

aspects satirical. While compassionate and serious sounding, our narrator was dressed in

comedic clothing, and when he spoke of the fictional “cell phone sickness” it was in a demeanor

that came across like he was mocking another person. Also, the way the narrator points to the

statistic is odd and funny in its own way. The statistic scene also has important rhetorical value.

The construction of the pie chart is very significant. The numbers are completely and obviously

exaggerated, playing to the satirical aspect, but the absurd percentages also invites viewers to

think about how many people are affected in any way on a daily basis due to their continuous

cell phone use. In addition, the color choices are important. Red is usually associated with

bloodshed or injuries. Lastly, the word choice in the key is very significant. The graphic

identifies the two areas of the graph as “those who have been affected” and “those who have not

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yet been affected,” implying to viewers that no one can escape the hazards of cell phone

sickness. It is inevitable.

Another significant aspect of our public service announcement is our music choices and

their rhetorical value. In the opening scene, the camera pans down from the dome as very

sophisticated, classical music plays in the background. This music is typically associated with

high class living and in this case, a prestigious university. Viewers can later infer that the

common cell phone addiction is an issue at even the most prestigious of universities. The upbeat

music in the background of a lively student campus gives way to the satirical effect of the overly

dramatic “dun, dun, dun.” Our video also features the song “Arms of an Angel.” This song is

typically associated with the heartbreakingly sad ASPCA animal cruelty PSA, so it typically

garners an emotional response from viewers. We placed this song in scenes where people's cell

phone cause injuries. While it does help elicit sympathy from viewers, it also has a satirical

aspect. These cell phone accidents are sad, but they are not that sad, so it becomes comedic. the

last significant music choice was the instrumental at the end. It becomes more upbeat as the PSA

comes to an end, inviting viewers to recognize that things are getting better for the characters as

they put their cell phones down.

A few last rhetorical elements played out near the end of the PSA. In several instances,

words were “bleeped” out. This choice was not only to cover up profanity, it had significant

rhetorical and satirical value. While funny because it was unexpected but exactly how the typical

college student would react, it also forces viewers to examine how they would react in this

situation. Furthermore, in two scenes where we show students being injured due to their cell

phone sickness, a few rhetorical strategies are employed. Just as the actor is about to be injured,

the scene changes to black and white. Making a picture black and white instead of color adds

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universally recognized air of seriousness. So as their situation becomes more serious, so does the

frame. Additionally, in several accident scenes, the injury itself is played in slow motion in an

attempt to have viewers recognize the graveness of the situation. It also adds a comedic effect

because the person’s misfortune is played for a longer period of time.

In the end, we are very excited with how our public service announcement turned out. It

was a great combination of both mock seriousness and comedy while never losing sight of its

ultimate message--cell phone sickness is an epidemic that needs to be cured. This was certainly a

mentally challenging project, but an extremely fun project all the same.

Works Cited

Monro, D.H. “Types of Humor.” What We Laugh At. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 50. Print

Ziv, Avner. "Humor as a Social Corrective." Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum 3rd ed.

Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen, eds. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman and

Company, 1988. 356-60.