Responding to "Disconnected Urbanism"

The argument made by Paul Goldberger in "Disconnected Urbanism" is that cell phones take us away from where we are geographically. Goldberger asserts that while you're talking to someone on a cell phone, you're more focused on where they are. He believes that " you are not on Madison Avenue if you are holding a little object to your ear that pulls you toward a person in Omaha". Goldberger is saying that as we talk, we lose our sense of our location and that we no longer share in the experience of living. This then causes a breakdown of urban life as we know it, according to Goldberger. He theorizes that this collective pull leads to us being "transported out of real space into a virtual realm".

I don't completely agree with this assertion. He is blaming technology for us not connecting to the outside world. However, one could make the same argument for being deep in thought or simply not paying attention. We are not actively trying to escape where we are, in general. In fact, we are usually trying to connect to someone else who is somewhere else. Also, I disagree with his opinions about area codes. He feels that they used to be connected to a place but now because cell phone can move all over, the area codes don't mean anything. To me area codes are like ID badges for for the person to whom it belongs. For example when I meet someone with a strange area code, I wonder where they could be from thus making them more interesting. Or on the flip side, (since I am at college) when I see my area code come up, I get really excited and think of home. So would that be considered being pulled away from where I am, Mr. Goldberger?