Sometimes, my technical-device-challenged sister will
ask to borrow my Droid so she can make a phone call. I will ask whom to call, flick through all
the proper screens and menus, dial or bring up the appropriate number, press
the onscreen call button, and then hand the phone over to her when as the call
dials out.
After blah-blah-blahing
for a while—all the while madly throwing her free hand above her head the way
bronc riders do—my sister will end her conversation.
This is when things get interesting.
At the end of the conversation, she will yank the
phone from away from her ear and swing the screen in front of her face. After staring at the screen in bewilderment
for bit, she will then start shaking the phone the way you shake a can of spray
paint before using it. At this point I
usually pat her on the head gently and grab my poor phone back.
“That…um…is not really a smartphone function,” I will
remind her.
“I don’t get it,” she will mutter.
“It’s okay,” I assure her.
My sister is an exceptionally bright person. Really, she is. The smartphones, however, have left her in
the proverbial dust. She is not
alone. I suspect most of us have someone
like this in our circle of friends or our family.
I will admit to struggling when I first started using
a smartphone. After my first week or two
of wading through mysterious screens, selecting wrong numbers, taking movies
instead of pictures, and finally learning to turn on the flashlight, I started
calling my smartphone my “smarter-than-me-phone.” When I upgraded to my newest version, I
called it my “twice-as-smarter-than-me-phone.” I am fully aware that this last “pet” name is
taking a wrecking-ball to the English, but I think my point is made.
Ultimately, I have learned to love my smartphone. When texting or calling, I trust but verify
the numbers. I use the flashlight almost
daily. I read and send emails. I surf the internet. I use the camera. Posted today are two smartphone photographs I
captured just yesterday evening while out walking the road near my house with
that girl.
More on her name later…
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--Mitchell
Hegman
I could relate to your story. Geez I don't even know how to use the flashlight in my phone. But yes, those smart phones take good pictures. Thanks for sharing yours!
ReplyDeleteThey really do take a pretty good pic.
ReplyDeleteSmartphones are complex, and decidedly so. The nature of communication now is so multilayered and vast that you really have to keep up, in ways that will still at least be very portable. That's what smartphones are: they give us access not only to personal calls and texts, but also to the World Wide Web. I'm glad you are enjoying what you've got right now, though you can always get an upgrade or another, more simpler one alongside it.
ReplyDeleteClara Brooks @ Telco World