Wednesday, July 11, 2012

When My Smartphone Dove into the Pool

There I was, sitting by the pool, just picking up my towel. Suddenly, (but slowly) it was like everything went into slow motion mode - the dark rectangle splashhhhhhhed into the aqua water, then slowly sank, twirling through the sparkling water like a leaf falling from a tree in the gentle autumn breeze. HOLY SHIT, MY PHONE!!!! I jumped in and scooped it up and wrapped it in the towel quick as a blink (slow motion mode stopped at "HOLY..."). Fortunately I had my bathing suit on so nothing else got wet that shouldn't. A friend was quick to suggest the rice drying method (I'd used this one successfully for my daughter's phone) so I got out a baggie and scooped the rice in, dried my phone as best I could, and popped it into the bag and prayed.

Meanwhile, I had to get on about the day's events without the assistance of my smart phone. I felt a little lost at first, then I began to problem solve, because that's just who I am, a problem solver.

First, I picked up my daughter's phone and texted her father to let him know I was phoneless for the rest of the day. He never checks messages so had no idea until much later. When she called him to gloat to, I mean inform, him that his 'girlfriend' (his pet name for me, still, 30 years after the wedding) had dropped her phone in the pool (insert hysterical, throaty laughter a la Demi Moore - my girls inherited their father's raspy voice), he thought she was the one who did it and refused to believe it, bless him. 

On to the list of How We Got To the New Dentist in the Other Valley Without My Smart Phone. Step 1, etc: Try to remember the name of the dentist that is typed into my calendar. Then realize that thanks to the magical Cloud, my calendar information from my phone (sometimes) transfers to my laptop. Fire up the Laptop. Look up the address online, then Mapquest (haven't used that in a while) it. Memorize the directions (and email them to Demi-laughter daughter just in case). Repeat this address to yourself over and over so your daughter doesn't think you've totally gone over the hill and are now sliding down it into dementia. Get in the car and pray the traffic isn't bad, because you certainly can't check it on your smart phone. Find the New Dentist on your own and feel totally, well, SMART. All on your own. Sit in the waiting room reading the TV Guide because you have no games to play, status to update, or online reading to do. BECAUSE YOUR SMARTPHONE is at home, sitting in a bag of rice. Find your way home (after a three hour visit - I almost said tour), with only one wrong turn. Try your best not to turn on the cell phone that still needs to sit in rice. Fold clothes. Wait.

I tried the rice, then the blow dryer, thinking two solutions are better than one. Over six hours after the swimming incident, I was tired of reading (actually turning pages. Of paper.) my book and trying to figure out what to put in the pasta salad (oh, yah, check the laptop edition of recipe finder) and I just couldn't wait any longer. It worked! My phone was working! How did I lever live without you?! I mean, ahem, no problem, could have gone a whole day no  problem....

Friday, July 6, 2012

Pin, Surf, Search, Post, Repin, Like

This is what I spend my time doing in my "free" time. Sitting in front of the computer, laughing, smiling, pecking away at the keys. I read jokes that make me laugh, watch TED videos that make me cry. I catch up on most of my friends and relatives and their families. I read reviews of books and movies and I pin photos of beautiful ideas onto my Pinterest (a baby obsession that I fear will continue to grow and develop into a demanding teenager). I do all this alone. In my room, or family room, or at the kitchen table. Yes, I interact with friends, posting comments to comments, or chatting in boxes. But I'm still alone. 

I find it surreal to think that when I was 15 it was a privilege (that a rich aunt afforded us) to have my own Princess phone in my room so I could call and talk, in real time, with my friends. But only after homework and dinner, and definitely before eight. Now I can be in almost immediate contact with anyone, literally anyone, I know around the world. I can even see their face while I speak to them. My kids can get a hold of me any time, any place via the magic mini-tablet I carry in my pocket. Oh, and it plays music, too. No more planning a meeting place or agenda for the day so that I know where they are or how to reach them. No longer do I ask for the phone number of the house they are visiting. That is a memory, a shadow, from a former life, a former generation.

So I wonder how this age of technology and instant communication has shaped us, or really the generations behind me, and how it continues to shape us. How are relationships different, and is the way our kids communicate and form relationships effected by this shift in the universe? I know, I'll goto the library, look through the card catalog under "Are you kidding me?!" and find magazine articles on such studies. Or I could wait for that annual Encyclopedia Britannica edition that highlights the year (no, it's not an ocean liner). But wait, I have this large, magic keyboard with a flat TV screen to help me...