losing my dependence on my smartphone

or how the demise of my iPhone made me question its hold on me!

I was an early adopter of the smartphone. I have always been a geek and tech makes me happy. I absolutely and unequivocally loved my iPhone 4s. It was soldered to my hand. I saw no reason to upgrade to a 5 as I loved my 4s that much. My husband upgraded to a Galaxy S3 or 4 or some such thing and instead of being envious (which is what I expected to feel), I just smiled and held my iPhone closer. She fit me like a glove and was everything I wanted or needed in a phone.

I am a clumsy person by nature. I try to be graceful but it is not happening. Consequently, I dropped my phone on more than 20 occasions. Apart from a little dent on the corner, she was fine and kept going. Imagine my surprise when I dropped my phone just about an inch from a counter to the trash can and upon picking it up, saw the screen was cracked and badly damaged (picture above). Still she worked! So I continued to use her, trying to avoid the glass splinters that were inevitable! Her complete demise was at my hands. Fo reasons I cannot fathom, I decided to take my shattered glass having iPhone with me when I learned the fine art of stand up paddle boarding! It did not end well. It was the final outrage for my poor phone!

I am due for an upgrade so I can take my pick from all that apple and samsung has to offer but I have yet to make a decision. I know Apple is widely rumored to be releasing a new phone sometime within the next two months so I have decided to hold off on a decision until then. In the meantime I am using an old (and I mean OLD) droid that I had sitting in my kitchen drawer. It is absolute tedium trying to use this phone but something kinda cool has happened. I have got back quite a few hours of the day along with a new interest in the world around me.

As I walk around running errands or doing the minutia of the day I have found myself observing others and I see all the things I used to do. I have to tell you, they annoy me. Nobody makes eye contact as they walk around. People are oblivious to others as the walk with their heads down focusing on the little screens in their hands. I have had to dodge duck and dive out of the way of some of the people. They step off curbs into ongoing traffic with no acknowledgement of danger! It is head shaking. On a more personal note, I sit in a lot of therapy waiting rooms with my daughter and I usually let her do her thing while I check facebook or twitter or whatever. Now, I actually interact with her again and it is eye opening in such a great way

Do I think when I get my new phone that I will go back to my old ways? Yes, probably, but I hope to at least remember to stop and look at the real world occasionally. It is way better than anything you may see on that little 4 or 5 inch screen.