Technology Bites

[Jim Frye]

Last Sunday my Apple cell phone suddenly had no signal (0 bars) and I couldn't call or send texts. Six hours on the phone over two days with the carrier's customer support folks later resulted in a phone that would not communicate. In frustration, I pulled out an old Samsung phone and put the SIM card in it. When turned on the old phone, it immediately declared there was no SIM card installed. So thinking the SIM card had just up and died, I went to Best Buy and bought a new one on sale. Put the new one in and after a couple of hours on the land line with customer support, we managed to get the new card activated and my good old iPhone works again. PCs I can understand, but cell phones put me on an island of stupid. As the saying goes, "I can fix stupid, but it's gonna hurt".

[leehljp]

I can do so much more on the computer and fix a good many problems, but phones (iPhones) are a pain to work on and use as a computer substitute, IMO.

[Jim Frye]

I have a very basic cellular service ($13/mo.) and only use it for calls and texting. The plan has very limited data volume, so no computer type use. Still a confusing environment for me. WiFi I can deal with, but cellular is a mystery.

[cwsmith]

Over the last two decades I"ve had very few cell phones, starting with a really basic pre-4G small phone from Motorola. It allowed me to receive and call and I was quite happy with it because that is all that I needed. Then the service upgraded me a small 4G 'smart phone'. It was nice to see the weather report, the time, etc. but honestly I didn't use those extra features and never had the interest to explore further. A year or so later I got another upgrade, a bit larger but the low memory didn't carry a lot of features. Basically all I need is a mobile phone for emergencies and I'd sign up for an annual fee of $100, plus something like $0.20 a minute. At the end of the year I'd have a surplus and that continued year after year until 2021 when I had about a $500 surplus.

Then, my son decided that wasn't good enough for dear old Dad, and he gave me a new Google 6 Pro as part of his family plan. So, that cost me nothing and I have, what I understand, a pretty top-notch phone, with a great camera and access to more information than anyone deserves.

So over the last two years, I turn it on every morning, carry it in my pocket, and charge it every other day. I check it a few times a day, look at the weather, and the local and national news headlines, but I really have little need to call or contact anyone, that's what my house phone is for. I'm not that important to anyone outside of family and at my age I no longer need to be at the ready because world leaders no longer ask for my advice (joke). I do occasionally reads a News story with it. Once a month I get a report on the number of miles I've driven, where I've driven to, and how long I've been behind the wheel. A curiosity perhaps! I think I've made about a half-dozen calls in that time and received maybe a couple. I like the text feature, but even those haven't exceeded more than twenty. The camera is really nice, but when I want to take pictures I prefer to grab my much larger and heavier Canon 80D. Apps? Well, I'm still trying to figure those out. But there seems to be too many other things that are higher priorit on today's list of things to do.

I've discussed having our son drop me from his family plan, or at least let me chip in, but he insists that it costs him next to nothing. I do appreciate it, even though I think it's a waste because of my minimal activity.

But every day, I see dozens, if not hundreds of people on their cell phones. They're walking, driving, sitting, waiting, and all too often there are couples and companions, each on their own cell phones talking to others instead of the people close to them. I see people walking down my street on a beautiful day and instead of looking at the beauty around them, they're staring into their cell phones and often taking pictures of themselves.

The last holiday getogether with family, most of the relatives (especially those under sixty, spent the night looking into their cell phones!

I love having a cell phone, just like I love having a car: but, that shouldn't distract from the life around us, should it?

What has happened to us humans?

[leehljp]

I do not use my iPhone anywhere near its maximum. My friends and kids use their phone for their email and text all the time, and for searches and for news or weather. I do receive quite a bit of email in documents and even excel, and for that reason alone, I do not have email turned on - on my phone. No way to see that kind of info on a tiny phone screen. I don't even use it for weather. I check the hourly weather once or twice a day on my computer, but not on my phone - it is too small for good context.

I do use text, but not as a replacement for a phone call. Text messages comes in handy for me when a list of material, addresses of a business etc. When other people take the time to write it down a list and send it, it sure beats me having to handwrite it out. Plus I don't have to look at the notes until it is convenient for me. And vice versa. Many of my phone conversations end with "send me a text with the address or list, or email the outline and data. Phone conversations are great, BUT when lists, addresses, new people names, dates of special events need to be remembered, Texts beat phone conversations of lists and addresses, dates and times - hands down.

I hate it when people try to do Voice Mail with lists or dates and times or addresses. My kids and grandkids know better than to send me lists in VM.

Phone conversations are better for me - in coming to an agreement or understanding or conclusion, or just listening when a person just needs to vent.