Thursday, November 05, 2009

Can You Live Without Your Phone?

What can't you live without? Food. Water. Air. Shelter is nice too. But it's been proven that humans can live without it.

Could you live without your phone? Even if it were just for a day, could you part with that little device that holds so much of your "at my fingertips now" information?

Does the idea of even being without your phone give you a case of the vapors or break you out into a case of the hives?

My Blackberry had a little issue with email yesterday (read: it was like, "Ding, ding, ding, bong, bong, bong...eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh" You know, dial up circa 1995.) so I took it to the Verizon store for a quick check-up. Turns out I had to leave it at the store for an hour, which was fine except that I would have to come back with two kids versus one. I felt a brief bit of terror as I exited the store but it was nothing compared to the guy in line in front of me.

They told him they would upgrade his phone and plan at no additional cost if he wanted to wait until the next day. They would overnight it to him. A fantastic, shiny, new phone and like a bazillion more minutes. I don't know who this guy knew to get that kind of fast, efficient service but he was still not pleased. He wanted it now. The dude didn't even own a smart phone and he was acting this way. Did I mention that he was under 18 because his Mom had to be there to give permission? Yup. The idea that he couldn't have his cell phone for less than 24 hours created such symptoms as flapping arms, sputtering, foot stomps, whines, pleading, and countless utterings of, "But MOMMM!!!! My phone!"

Watching this spectacle it made me physically want to throw my phone away from me as if it burned to the touch. Silence is golden after all. Oh, wait. Never mind, I have two kids and a snuffling, farting dog. Silence is impossible.

2 comments:

  1. I'm sorry to say, that guy would totally be me. I'm crazy addicted to my iphone.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I really want an iphone. But here, it would be nothing more than an expensive coaster. I laugh at everyone who shows up here trying to use their blackberries. The landlines don't even work half the time and cell phones even less often than that. And my phone is so old I can't even receive texts. :(

    Yesterday there was a problem with the cell network that made everyone sound like a robot on the phone. That was kind of cool. And then the landlines died for 24 hours. Less cool.

    My point is, anyone can live without it if they want to. It's kind of relaxing, not having to wait for the phone to ring.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting! It's always good to hear from a reader and not say, a robot.