Saturday 7 December 2013

New phone, new frustrations



I have a new phone! YAY!

Folks tend to get really excited for me when I say that. It is the first time I have said that. I on the other hand have little interest in fancy phones. I still maintain that a telephone should remain just that, a telephone. I started to lament on facebook and realised that my friends are all fancy phone fans. And so here I am in my space, whining.

Hubby loves his technology so he quickly unpacked the phone and did all the work that was needed to switch me over to the new one. I didn't have a chance to say good-bye to the old phone. Just like that the old one was made redundant. I was a bit upset about that. I wanted to figure this one out for myself and have only the basics installed. But it has a dozen or so apps.

I have now had it for almost two days and I have added most of my contacts. It is not a long list, but this phone is some Google based thingy and I can access all my contacts on gmail through the phone. How crazy creepy is that?

Anyhow I started to add contacts and then wanted to delete/edit and kept dialing their numbers instead. So I decided to be all tech savvy and do an internet search for a user manual and imagine my frustration when I find page after page of how cool the apps are and all that you could do with the phone EXCEPT make a fucking phone call! Now don't get me wrong, I have warmed up to the texting and I find it useful to be able to be in touch on my terms. I am not (at least not yet) compelled to respond right away and most of the time it is 24 hours before I respond. And the folks I am in touch with understand that and will call me if it is a matter of life and death, because that is what you do when something is a matter of life and death - call the person and bloody speak to them!

Today as I sit here with my coffee at eight o'clock on a Saturday morning trying to register my kid for swimming lessons (and the website won't load and the phone lines are jammed) I just want to go back in time to rotary phones. No missed calls, no voice mail, no face on the other end, just a voice. You either spoke to them when they called or never knew they did. There is something to be said for those times. Communication was precious.

Now here's hoping I don't disappear again until the next phone I will have to buy. I have to don't I? These phones, as fancy as they are aren't as hardy.

Happy weekend folks.