Skip to main content

Fare Thee Well, Phone

By Anonymous
Sin Ler Oo

On November 2nd, a group of Media Literacy students sat pensively in their seats as Mr. Steinkamp strode to the front of the room. A pile of Nokia phones and an empty box lay ominously on the desk nearby. All of the students could see the wide grin on his face. As Mr. Steinkamp clapped his hands to signal the start of the day, he also marked the beginning of something else. Day 1 of the Dumb and Dumber Project had begun.

The project’s goal was to replace the students’ smartphones with “dumb phones” (the Nokia phones sitting innocently on the table) so that students may experience the impacts of using a smartphone on individuals and society. For this project, students were expected not to use a smartphone for two weeks. To those who were attached to their phones, this would be a challenging project indeed.

As a result, with the help of Seth Kelley (12) and Gabe Roberts (11), Mr. Steinkamp began to orchestrate the Dumb and Dumber Project’s first mockumentary as a way to lighten the mood. Even though Mr. Steinkamp had announced the project earlier, students acted as if he had sprung the project upon them. Of course, Mr. Steinkamp desired nothing less than pure pandemonium as he set about casting different “roles” for the event. Students had to pretend to sob hysterically and jump over tables to escape while Seth and Gabe gleefully filmed the event.

As the first part of the chaotic filming ended, the true project began. Individually, students started shutting down their phones (some more mournfully than others) after saving their most important contacts. SIM cards were taken out of the smartphones and dutifully placed into a Nokia that Dalat had purchased. Although newly bought, the phones contained the classic keypad as well as a small screen. As a result, some students struggled to remember how the Nokia worked, to the amusement of Mr. Steinkamp.

As Natasha Palanivel (12) put it, “As I held the phone in my hands, I pondered on how to turn on the device as there was no power button. I didn’t realize there was an instruction manual. By some miracle—after pressing a variety of buttons—the phone turned on! It was a Christmas miracle! It was a thrilling moment to hold this small device in my hand.”

At first glance, it seemed as if the phones could not access the internet, call Grab, or even download music. Students, however, were elated to find classic games such as Snake, Doodle Jump, and Crossy Road on the phone.

For the final filming of Day 1, students formed a funeral procession. They lined up with their smartphones and gradually strolled towards the empty box, where they set their phones down as if performing some elaborate ritual. Then the box was lidded and taken away. It was to be stored in Mr. Steinkamp’s office, out of sight but unlikely out of mind. The 336-hour countdown began.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DINGBAT DALAT STUDENT SPENDS PRECIOUS TIME CONJURING UP SELF-REFERENTIAL SENIOR SCRIBBLE RATHER THAN GATHERING LEGITIMATE WORK

By Anonymous
Yusoof Monawvil PENANG, MA - As the deadline drew near and the stars aligned in the night sky above the majestic waters of the Strait of Malacca, one particular Dalat student—Yusoof Monawvil (12), despite a plethora of school events to select and report on—opted instead to spend a remarkably well-wasted 24 minutes staring at a blank Google Docs page, fruitlessly drawing up and shooting down brainstormed ideas.  In a moment of sheer and undeniable epiphany, Monawvil deemed it only fitting to self-referentially satirize his own ingrained incompetence and dingbattery. Commenting on the flash of insight, Monawvil quoted himself, saying: “It all just kinda made sense. I went on DISCourse to look at the little rubric thing Ms. Grad and Mr. Hieber posted, and I checked if I was following all of the guidelines... And I technically am/was; [N]ot like there’s any specific direktive [sic] prohibiting self-quoting.”  In a turn of events, Monawvil did come to find his self-quoting en...
6 comments
Read more

"Spikeball, Swimming, and Sickness: The Remnants of Senior Sneak" by Ee Rynn Ong

By
“Guys, I think we’re here,” said Jonathan Ooi (12) as he peeked out of the lorry to catch the first glimpse of our Senior Sneak location. This year’s Senior Sneak was held in Nomad Adventure, Gopeng, and the organizers planned many activities for the Class of 2026, ranging from traditional games like congkak and batu seremban to adrenaline-pumping ropes courses and whitewater rafting. These scheduled activities proved to be some of the best highlights of the trip, but top of that, the seniors were also given some daily free time to chat, explore, and relax. Josh Stevens (12) had come prepared for this with two spikeball nets, which immediately attracted attention from people eager to spend time in the outdoor sun. The next five days saw spikeball veterans and newcomers alike, spending their precious one and a half hours daily around the unassuming circular net, smashing the yellow ball in hopes of a victory.  Caleb Evans (12) was one of the newbies to spikeball, learning how the g...
Post a Comment
Read more

“I Miss Her” by Nikhil Pillay

By
While most people had a fun week for mid-semester break, whether it was spent with family, or with friends on impact trips, no one had a more emotionally confusing week than Judson Kenneth Robert Nosker (12).  In the light of recent events, Judson, despite all odds, had gotten in a relationship with one of his classmates, and as the break started, he had started to spend a lot of time with her. While with her, he started to experience a new level of joy and completeness that he had never felt before. In the words of Judson Nosker, “The first half of the break was good, but the rest of it was horrible.”  The reason for such a quote and the roller coaster of emotion was because half way through the break, disaster had struck. Judson’s girlfriend had gone on a trip with her family to Thailand, leaving Judson all alone. For the rest of the week, Judson was in a state of longing for her presence.  His friends have reported numerous occasions when Judson would be sitting with t...
Post a Comment
Read more