craigmcn

I read an article the other day about going without a smartphone for a week. I have some thoughts, and I’d like to hear yours.

I expect the author used a landline and email to continue communicating with friends and family, but she’s not clear. She mentions that she was embarrassed how often she would reach for her phone, during a pause in the day. And yet she “almost enjoyed not having the obligation right there at my fingertips.”

While I definitely recognize that I’m monkeying with my phone probably more than necessary, it replaces a number of tools that I would otherwise use. It replaced my home phone—if I’m going to have a gadget that can be used for phone calls, why have more than one? It replaced my address book, note book, actual books, calendar, music player, instant camera and a number of loyalty cards. I have one gadget, and it’s backed up “in the cloud”.

As I commented on the article, I get it, things worked fine in the past. But it’s the future and we don’t have to keep doing things the same way.

This is where you come in. I’m pretty confident that my friends like to be able to text anytime, rather than call and leave a message. I think they appreciate being able to let me know they’re running late, to confirm a time, to let me know they’ve arrived and I don’t need to find a table for five, or ask a simple question and get a simple answer. Am I correct?