When Convenient Is Inconvenient: Smartphones

I’m not someone who changes her gear all the time. The iPod Mini that my husband gave me for my birthday the first year that we started dating still looks brand new today six years later; I’ve had my laptop for over four years; I patiently used the same bright pink Motorola RAZR cellphone for over four years before finally making the switch to an iPhone. I love my phone and all that is has to offer, but the truth is that its “conveniences” and features sometimes….inconvenience me.

1.) I forget to reply to emails. I don’t forget to read emails–the phone’s with me at all times, so I have access to all my email accounts. But for the sakes of good posture, occasional arthritis in the hands and politeness should I be in the company of others, I don’t reply to emails from my phone. I don’t want to sit there hunched over typing out long messages on the phone, so I tell myself, “I’ll respond to that later.” Unfortunately, the reality is that I’ve already read that email and mentally mulled it over, so I end up forgetting to respond later because I feel like I’ve already “dealt” with it, so to speak.

2.) (This one’s an iPhone issue not necessarily relevant to other smartphones) I’m married to iTunes, for better and most often worse. I like iTunes; it serves its purpose. It lets me buy songs without having to buy entire albums. But I hate having all my goods tied to one program that gets more and more restrictive with each iTunes “update.” Yes, I know iTunes lets you register up to four computers and blah blah blah. Still a pain. I don’t know how many times I’ve been one click away from sending the 5,600 songs on my iPhone (roughly 1,000 of which were purchased on iTunes) into oblivion after hooking up my phone to a computer.

3.) Instant communication. Convenient. And not. My husband has a Blackberry, so he gets instant messages (BBMS) all day, making communication as instantaneous as a live chat program. We both hate it. Who wants to be accessible at all hours of the day? The worst part about it? The phone tells the sender that the recipient received and opened the message, so if he doesn’t respond within 55 seconds or so, there’s this drama of “I know you got my message! I know you read it! Why haven’t you responded yet?!”

4.) A phone, mp3 player, daily planner, computer, game machine, eBook reader, address book & phone book all in one. My phone has everything I need. In fact, it has lots of life-or-death information, the loss of which would send me up that fabled creek without a paddle should I be without it at some point. It’s nice to have all my important info compiled into one machine. Unfortunately, if I forget that machine at home one day, or if it runs out of battery, I’m screwed because I rarely write down dates, directions, phone numbers and addresses anymore. On the contrary, my smartphone is a way for me to carry a less-cluttered purse–I no longer have to carry a planner and an address book (I confess that I still carry a notebook). But there’s obviously still a need for these tried-and-true items. Phones get forgotten at home. They get lost and stolen. Battery power runs out. 3G and 4g and WiFi give out in plenty of spots. Then what?

5.) Last but not least, this isn’t really the phone’s fault, but my own–the hundreds of conveniences themselves all bundled into one tiny little hand-held machine makes my smartphone, well, something that’s impossible to do without these days. I love that when I’m on my way to somewhere, I can whip out the phone and use some sort of GPS to get me there. I love that when I’m at the wine shop, I can look up a bottle and read about a vintage. I love that I can look up the nutrition of a menu item before ordering it at a restaurant. I love that looking up a phone number or an address takes 3.5 seconds. I love having Facebook and Twitter at my fingertips. But the fact is that I’m too plugged in. The convenience of having Google at my fingertips is driving me insane, and making me feel like I’m ultra-connected…to things I don’t really want to be connected to. But like I said, this isn’t the phone’s fault, but my own.

Hopefully we'll start to see giant smartphones set up in public parks and on the streets, for those times when our phones go dead. Photo credit below.

Photo Credits:
Photo #1: Cell Phone by daryl_mitchell
Photo #2: World’s largest cell phone by alice_mercer

8 Comments

  • Olive

    January 28, 2011

    Lise,

    I can totally relate to your post. I have a Blackberry because of work and it can truly be called a “Crackberry”. That sucker is never turned off, I can be reached at any point in time and the little red light never stops blinking!!!!! At the end of the day though, I cant live with out it. It has everything I need and for some reason there is alway a need for me to google something at the most random times. Personally If you tell me they ban phone tomorrow I think I would survive and be relieved that I can detach from the world for a few minutes.

    Reply
    • sunnyglobaldiva

      January 28, 2011

      Olive…sometimes I think I’d like to go back to a traditional cell once I’m in the market for a new phone. I know realistically I probably won’t, but I’m often wishing these days!

      Reply
  • Kattsby

    January 28, 2011

    I too, can relate to this … especially the part about replying to email. Sometimes I think that I already HAVE replied.

    Got a smartphone for Christmas, it’s my first. Went for BlackBerry. I’m not an Apple person. Don’t know if I’m missing much …how many apps can one really use?! 🙂

    Reply
    • sunnyglobaldiva

      January 28, 2011

      Kattsby, I’d advise you to do your best NOT to become dependent on your Christmas present 😉 once you get used to how much it’s capable of, it’s hard to let go, lol.

      I recently got rid of a bunch of apps that I NEVER use…it’s funny how quickly they can accumulate, and for no good reason. Don’t get me wrong–some of them are great but they can quickly clutter the phone and personally, I only use a very small percentage of them.

      Reply
  • Val

    January 28, 2011

    I find it ironic that you replied to these comments from your iPhone in the car. LOL 😉

    Reply
    • sunnyglobaldiva

      January 28, 2011

      That’s enough outta you, sir, lol.

      Reply
  • martha

    May 24, 2011

    I still am using my bright pink razor! :0) and am toiling over which smartphone to switch to so much. I am like you being ultra connected drives me insane, not interested. too busy living, to be hunched over on some gadget….you made me laugh…thank you. m

    Reply
    • sunnyglobaldiva

      May 24, 2011

      Martha, I miss my trusty pink RAZR–it served me well for several years. I can’t deny the wonders and conveniences of smartphones, but jeez, some days…. 😉

      Thanks for reading!

      Reply

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