In today’s world of quick texts and emoti­cons, Steve Linebaugh is one of the few stu­dents new to the social norm of hav­ing a cell phone.

A 2006 grad­u­ate of Belding High School, Linebaugh went the major­ity of his col­lege career at Ferris phone­less. Using online net­work­ing Web sites such as MySpace and Facebook, Linebaugh still remained able to keep in close con­tact with both fam­ily and friends.

For Linebaugh, hav­ing a cell phone was not the neces­sity it seemed to be for most col­lege students.

“I had never seen it as a neces­sity. People knew how to get a hold of me if they really needed to,” said Linebaugh. “I keep con­tact on Facebook with peo­ple quite a bit, and other than that I would just visit them where they lived.”

Being pres­sured by many of his friends to buy a cell phone, Linebaugh’s refusal to do so soon gained him a rep­u­ta­tion for being the one friend no one was able to call.

Linebaugh’s grow­ing rep­u­ta­tion for hav­ing no cell phone and being so hard to get ahold of resulted in the cre­ation of the Facebook fan site, “People Who Think Steve Linebaugh Should Get a Cell Phone!!”

Created by Kyle Sluiter, the Facebook site began to col­lect a mod­est fol­low­ing of Ferris stu­dents inter­ested in Linebaugh’s unusual cir­cum­stance. As the site began to gather more atten­tion, so did his need for a less computer-based form of communication.

While pur­su­ing intern­ship oppor­tu­ni­ties, he began to real­ize his inabil­ity to con­tact employ­ers lim­ited his job search­ing suc­cess. Understanding the need to expand his net­work­ing resources led to the even­tual pur­chase of his first phone, a Boost mobile i290.

Having a cell phone pro­vided Linebaugh with more than a casual con­ver­sa­tion between classes; it gave him the oppor­tu­nity to have con­tact with numer­ous poten­tial employers.

“I finally got a phone because I am work­ing toward an intern­ship right now,” said Linebaugh.

Now in his senior year at FSU, the mechan­i­cal engi­neer­ing tech­nol­ogy stu­dent is con­tin­u­ing his search for an intern­ship. He hopes one day his new­found free­dom of com­mu­ni­ca­tion will allow him to expand his future employ­ment opportunities.