Discuss “YOU ON YOUR CELL PHONE! Shut up!”

Since it first burst onto the hip couture scene, the cellular telephone, or “cell phone,” or the minimalist’s “cell,” has both driven communication advancements and provoked a wide gamut of controversy. The problem, my friends, lies not in potential brain tumors and avoidable car accidents, but in the awkward social situations cell phones can induce. Until these predicaments are resolved, friendships will continue to be lost and countless embarrassed people will still squirm around in their seats.

But researchers at Carnegie Mellon are curbing the wave of humiliation that comes with a quiet calculus lecture, 26 attentive students, and one sudden burst of a “CRAAAAZY LAAAAADIESSSS” ringtone. Enter the eWatch, a device capable...