Two weeks ago, I tried packing in the dark so I could leave a hotel room in
Germany at 4:30 in the morning without waking my son Christopher. I did a really
good job with one exception – I left my best cell phone
deals.
I figured it out at about 30 minutes later when sent
iPad text messages to Christopher back in the hotel and my wife, Mary Lyman, who
was back in Alexander City, letting them know that I would be out of touch and
asking Christopher to please mail the phone back to me in dfD2FSS
Alabama.
For a brief moment, I thought about taking a taxi back to the
hotel and racing back in time to make the flight, but I chickened out.So for the
better part of two weeks now, I’ve been without a cell phone.
For someone
who is dependent on a smartphone, it’s been amazingly easy, even pleasant. I’ve
had time to plant my garden, work in the yard, cook more … all without the
constant interruption of Latest
Smartphones calls, text messages, meeting alarms, What’s App
notices (our family’s personal Facebook) and most of all, the ability to
constantly check emails.
The problem is that in the newspaper business,
lots of people and companies who I don’t know send in press releases, requests,
news tips, letters to the editor … as well as the normal business emails and
discount offers on Victoria’s Secret miracle push-up bras. So I can’t mark
nearly as many senders as “junk” as I could if I was working in another
business. I guess I could mark Victoria’s Secret as junk, but I don’t really
want to.
So my smartphone stays very busy.After 12 days without a
smartphone, I’ve been surprised at what I have missed the most.- Contacts – It’s
amazing how many phone numbers I don’t know by heart. It’s easy to borrow
somebody’s cell phone, but if you don’t know the cell number of the person you
want to call – like your son – there’s no reason to bum a phone.- Weather
forecast – I look at this at least once a day, sometimes more- Telephone – One
for actually Buy Cell
Phones when you’re not sitting beside a landline. - Calculator – I
use this all the time.
Digital recorder – I use this all the time, too.-
Webster’s Dictionary – It’s easier to use the phone than spell check on a
computer.- The ability to Google for reference – I’ve been stymied a number of
times when I wanted to learn something and couldn’t.- Alarm clock – I almost
missed the BRHS senior class photo at 7:15 Friday morning because the alarm
wasn’t around to wake me. Of course, I could have used another alarm clock, but
I just don’t think about that anymore.
Here’s something else I’ve
learned: when I’ve told folks I don’t have a cell phone, I’ve gotten two very
distinct reactions. People my age and older say, “I bet that’s nice.” People in
their 20s get a horrified look on their face and say something like, “Oh my God!
What are you going to do?”
The answer is easy – I function just like I
have for most of my life when there were no discount cell
phones. And I keep an eye out for the postwoman’s truck to come
down the street at lunchtime.
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