 He gets excited because now he has a very good reason to upgrade to
the newest technology. New technology scares me.He goes online
and carefully does the research for each phone he is considering. He
even reads all the comments people have posted about their phones.
Did you know that some people actually have so much time on their
hands that they can go online and comment on the workmanship,
benefits and user-friendliness of their personal electronic devices?
My question is: Why would someone take their valuable time and
spend it touting or refuting the claims of a cell phone
manufacturer… unless they were paid to do it? Furthermore, if that
is the case, why would anyone read those posts or believe them any
more than you would a TV commercial?
Rather than burst my husband's bubble, however, I simply go along
for the ride. I always tell him that I need the simplest phone
available. I want to be able to make a phone call with it -- that's
it.
His ideal phone would get the Internet, remind him of
appointments, style his hair, brush his teeth, shine his shoes, pick
up the dry cleaning, order a latte, scan his groceries, tell him
when the next plane from New Guinea arrives at JFK, and plant a tree
for Arbor Day. If it can't do all that, he's not interested.
Because he is the one doing the research, however, I end up with
a phone that comes with a pretty steep learning curve. I just don't
have time for all that. So I simply cut to the place in the 100-page
manual that tells me how to make a call and how to answer a call.
[to top of second column]
 |
My husband nearly blows a gasket when he realizes what I'm doing,
because the cell phone I have is the equivalent of the Learjet model
and all I need is the Geo model. So, in essence, I'm taxiing my
Learjet to the grocery store to pick up some milk and bread, when I
have the capability of flying to France for lunch and being back
before the kids get off the bus. The fates have looked down from
their heights many times and asked themselves: "How in the world did
those two units get hooked up?"
I don't know if there is an answer to that question except to say
that when we got married, nearly 30 years ago, there was no such
thing as a cell phone. If you needed to make a call, you waited
until you arrived home and used a normal phone, and so did everyone
else. It worked out very nicely. Nobody used their thumbs to drive
their phone and their knees to drive their car. Everyone actually
talked to each other, sometimes in person! Your friends and
neighbors didn't expect you to be available to take their calls
24/7. It was a more innocent time when children didn't think the
kind of telephone one had was a contributing factor to one's social
status.
Another plus is that nobody ever got interrupted by a phone that
doesn't actually ring, but rather serenades you with your song of
the week. A ring can be ignored, but if it's playing your favorite
song, you have to answer it. It's like the call of the Lorelei…
Hold on a minute. My phone is singing and I need to figure out
how to answer it…
[By LAURA SNYDER]
Laura Snyder is a nationally syndicated columnist,
author and speaker. You can reach her at
lsnyder@lauraonlife.com
or visit www.lauraonlife.com
for more info. |
