Today's topic will be very much on the lighter side than last week's, since this time I will be talking about some newer aspects of my life, which pulls inspiration from a calendar quote for the month of July.
Do More Things That Make You Forget About Your Phone.
Now this has been pretty much a no-brainer for me. Unlike the rest of the world, I had to be kicking and screaming into the modern phone era, specifically a peppy letter from ye carrier of old, Sprint, saying that the first of the new year (2019), your old flipped-phone would become obsolete.
While I ultimately get a new primary phone by the end of 2018, in mid 2018 I got a smartie phone as a secondary play phone.
Currently, the extent of my usage is comparatively microscopic to everybody else. I simply use my phone for the following: reading news on two apps, sports on two apps, music on two apps (including Chrome) and podcasts on two apps. That's it. No hardcore social media beyond YT as a commenter on the phone, non-existent friend circle, so I'm really not tied to my phone like the average person is.
So really, I do do things that 97% of the time makes me forget about my phone. Obviously, 3% comes in when I do my twice daily M-F, Sun walks/one daily on Sat, and I need to listen to podcasts/music/baseball to keep my brain engaged. It really is the only time that I enjoy multi-tasking. What I listen to sometimes becomes my background noise in that I can tune in and out at will if the topic that I'm listening to is dryer than dirt. Otherwise, as an REM song says, "Your feet are going to be on the ground, your head is there to move you around."
Another thing that makes me forget about my phone is writing. Or blogging. Or reading. Either way, the written word turns me on and helps me disconnect.
As most of you know, I've gotten back on what has been an almost 1 1/2 year non stop writing spree. Part of the reason, at least initially, was to tidy up a previously published book. But by this point last year, I managed to find two previously completed manuscripts that needed a copious amount of re-work to make them viable, of which one needed to be completely gutted and re-written.
Those I managed to finish late 2021, and after moving my den back into my den, organized my slush pile and started working on a half completed manuscript that once again, needed that left turn to Albuquerque in order to make it somewhat viable. Which, by the time you read this post, we'll be executing actual original writing and no re-writing whatsoever.
So if you think about it, it has also made me consider my phone, beyond using it to follow the text version of the various games of the NY Mets, as an afterthought.
So there are a lot of things that I do that make me forget about my phone, which, after giving a lot of thought, I decided that the primary reason as to why I forget about my phone a great deal, is that I'm not firmly and unequivocally, attached to my phone like a bad feeding tube. As I stated earlier, I had to be pulled kicking and screaming into the modern era of technology. I'm still not overly thrilled about it, but like other things in my life that I'm not thrilled about, I've learned to accept and move on to something else.
And that is why I can actually not hyperventilate if I don't use my phone for longer than forty-five seconds.
I am great at forgetting to bring my phone as I leave for the day. But it can come in handy to get emergency transportation when missing the bus.
ReplyDeleteI was late to the tech party myself, 2017.
Now I use it often, when I have it, just not for long times. It is a glorified watch.
My kids, spend hours a day everywhere, all the time on it!
-SnaggleTooth / Ev
Yeah, I do find it as a necessary evil the majority of the time. While I do use for the aforementioned examples listed above, for the most part, it remains a compliment to my person, as opposed to being an actual part of my person.
DeleteHa ha, you are not alone in being a Luddite about cell phones. I had a burner flip phone that I used only for making phone calls and didn't switch to a smart phone until 2019. And with all that digital power at my fingertips, I use my iPhone only for -- phone calls, checking the weather app, checking my emails, and taking photos. But the photos feature is a godsend -- love it!
ReplyDeleteIt basically took a veiled threat from Sprint to change my flip phone, so my main phone got changed in 2019. And I just use it for texting and calls, while the other has my play apps on.
DeleteIt works for me just fine.