Cell phones are like leaf blowers to me: convenient, but obnoxious as hell. Call me Cro-magnon, but I’ve never seen the appeal of being reachable 24/7. However, I am slowly crawling into the twenty-first century.
I resisted having one until a road-side breakdown in 2000 convinced me I should. I have to admit, the flip phone’s come in handy since moving to a ferry-dependent island. Some months I rack up five or six minutes.
I’ve watched the smart-phone revolution from the sidelines, fascinated and horrified by pouting selfies, thumb-obsessed diners and throngs of commuters with bent necks and dropping heads.
On the upside, it’s hard to argue against the convenience of an e-reader, a GPS and the Internet, portable and at my fingertips.
So, I finally broke down and bought one. I haven’t yet figured out how to get my contacts into it, and I still prefer talking to someone over doing the thumb dance, but give me ten years – I’ll get there. I’m already enjoying the convenience of catching up with Twitter and Facebook while on the ferry, and I love being able to share “in the moment” pics from live events, like when I attended When Words Collide in Calgary.
But be warned! Pic-sharing convenience has a dark side. Last week I shared a piece of art I wish I hadn’t. Okay, it felt like art at the time, but it was my lunch. I’ve since crawled back up that slippery slope, but I have nightmares of making fish lips and snapping selfies in the bathroom.
Have you taken a slide down that slippery slope?
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la nostra epoca corre forse troppo veloce ed i grandi cambiamenti cui assistiamo forse ci fanno perdere il vero gusto di una vita meditativa, ma il progresso deve seguire la sua strada, e certi optional finiscono per divenire essenziali
complimenti per il piacevole blog
Grazie mille per aver visitato. Sono d’accordo, optional è ora essenziale in alcuni settori della vita. Passa un buon fine settimana.
Indeed! No fear of that, Inese. Thanks for stopping by.
Thankfully people like you and me will never suffer from addiction to their phone and therefore will not get some anxieties and nervousness about not having the phone with you even in bed.
I’m crawling right along with you, JP! My cell phone is a pay & go, for emergencies only, and to check the time during the night/act as an alarm clock when I sleep. I have my computer to do everything else. Maybe if you were to dress that phone of yours up with coloured streamers you might feel better about it …
Good idea! Streamers make everything go faster … and more fun!
And better than the standard old bling everyone else adds to their phones.
I always thought I should have one – but I still don’t…when I see all the ‘stuff’ people do with or on it I get dizzy. For emergencies I have an oldie, perhaps 15 year old cell phone my partner gratefully gave up when he got into the modern world… It’s compact, a bit heavy, I got a cell # but it’s never “on”. I don’t even know how to retrieve messages or voice mail. I don’t want to know. I only use it when I need to – for emergencies or when the ferry I’m on arrives… to get a pick-up.
It’s going to take me a while to figure out this new phone. I pray no one leaves me a message as I don’t know how to find those yet. And I have to say, the best feature is still the off button!
Right there with you! A necessary evil, I fear.
Yes, I’m afraid so. And there’s no turning back.
Love my cell phone, which is really too bad. But like you, it’s so damn convenient. And as you know, we writers are multi-tasking with marketing and writing. Next thing you know we’ll be spouting another head. Come to think of it, that would be helpful.
I’ll take another head and four more hands, please.
I am happy to say I have never owned one. I had a few company phones over the years, but never a personal phone. Ahhhh the peace.
Peace indeed! I remember when my husband came home with one. It was all fun and games until it started ringing, and then suddenly he was working 24/7.
I long for a world where there are phone booths in drug stores and smoking is good for you. One never was and one will never be again. Its a tough world.
Ah, phone booths. I wonder if there will ever be a day when some youngster will wonder what that strange closet was that Superman used to change clothes in.