I’ve honestly lost track of the number of times I’ve been told I should get a new cell phone. Currently, I’m still using an Iphone 3GS, which with the latest release is now over four versions old. Having watched the Iphone 4, 4s, 5, 5s, and now 6 come and go, most would say that my cell phone is an ancient dinosaur in technology standards. But I’ve decided for now I’m ok with that for two reasons. One, it’s not broken, and two, I really don’t want to become one of those who’s almost 100% absorbed on it throughout the day.
A long time ago, it really didn’t matter to me whether my cell phone was broken or not. In most cases, it never was, yet that never stopped me from buying the latest and greatest one. Truthfully, I once had to have the next best thing, even if what I had was still functioning A-Okay. Doing so not only made for a lot of “junk” piling up around my house, but it only further solidified my growing ego. I actually remember in the 90’s getting the first flip-phone from Bell Atlantic Mobile and barely having enough money to use it. Yet, I sat there at times and walked around various public venues, pretending to be on it, just so that I could believe I was better off than everyone else. While my current 3GS may well be quite old, it continues to send and receive calls and text messages just fine. Ok, so the camera might not take the greatest of pictures, and the Internet connection might be rather slow, but seriously, that’s not why I got a cell phone in the first place all those years ago.
That’s where the lines are becoming blurred because the gadgetry in cell phones is becoming so advanced now that people are on them more than not. They can now control televisions and cable boxes, garages, appliances, alarm systems, and then some. There’s an app for just about everything and many seem to be using them now to enhance various addictions from gambling to sex. Before we know it, they’ll probably be able to start our cars and maybe even drive them one day. All I know is that people are becoming so completely immersed on them these days that the world is slipping by around them. This is precisely the second reason why I haven’t upgraded my phone yet. I already spend enough time on it responding to calls and text messages and making them as well. According to AT&T, I’ve also been averaging about ½ Gigabyte of Internet data on my phone each month as well. In comparison, the agent told me that her family uses about 25 Gigabytes of data each month on their cell phones. In fact, she said that translates to them being on them almost 24/7 except when sleeping and because of it, they had to create a no cell phone day on Sundays, meaning each are totally shut off. I have no desire to watch my life slip away like this, by immersing myself in my cell phone that much.
The bottom line is that I have a cell phone right now that’s not broken. It also has enough technology still built into it to do what I need it to do, without me wanting to occupy my entire day on it. I’m sure there’s going to come a day when I’ll need to get a new one, but until then, at least it’s slowness and lack of advanced features continue to deter me from spending the majority of my days on it, where I’d only miss seeing much of the beauty that exists all around me, all the time…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
The baby boomers are the last of the generations that still remember when there was no devices to interfere with life interactions with each other and our environment……
Definitely true… sometimes I long for those days… 🙂
I would be lost without this new extremity they call IPhone, but I admit there are
Some days I wish I had stopped at the flip phone. Life was surely simpler before all the Apps “helped make my life easier”!
Apps definitely help do things like check the weather… but honestly… I find they distract me from living life quite a bit too sometimes…
My phone would no longer do the things I needed it to do – receive text messages, use navigation, and (on rare occasions) surf the web. I don’t listen to music on it, I don’t play games on it, I rarely check FB on it (unless I’m in a doctor’s office or in line somewhere). I try to leave it alone and on silent most of the time… which actually causes me to miss some phone calls! And the only time it’s open during a meal is when we are checking show-times or the weather. I refuse to become someone who can’t interact without the damn thing.
That being said, Chris and I were in Cheddars’ restaurant yesterday, and a younger couple actually were sitting at a table with his-and-hers Macbook Air laptops – and both of them had their noses buried deeply in the screens. Now THAT, perhaps, is “conspicuous consumption”….
Unfortunately, the world is heading to a place where people will only communicate via digital and nothing more… I hope I remain one of those old-fashioned ones…