When watching ski races, conversations with other racer parents, known or unknown, often go in fits and starts. We are all checking the start lists, refreshing Live-Timing on our phones for the last finish time, making sure we haven’t lost a glove, shivering and saying hello to people walking by. At Winter Park this weekend, another racer parent sat hunched over his phone, grumbling about the lack of internet service. “I’ve had good coverage here all season,” he says to me or to no one in particular. “I guess the crowds are eating up all the bandwidth.”
I looked over at the excessively long lift line of President’s Day weekend skiers and shrugged. He was probably right. That or the clouds were in the way. He was trying to get the results of the first run of the men’s World Championship slalom race. He finally got some coverage and expressed frustration that the page, slow loading as it was, didn’t have what he was looking for. “I’m sort of over my phone,” I said. A wry smile crossed his lips. “Yeah. It’s almost too much to keep up with. And it’s so annoying when I can’t get a signal. When it works, there is always something to check on or download or whatever. I get a little overwhelmed with it sometimes.”
And there it is. Maybe it’s generational and just us middle-agers feel this way. I mean, most people who are a decade or two older never really plugged into the constant-on of technology. I think it’s still the norm for my mom to leave her (non-smart) cell phone off unless she is going to make a call. I’m not sure she’s ever sent a text. Dad doesn’t have a cell phone. But it’s all good for them. They use what they want how they want and who gives a crap if they never learned how to turn on a cell phone. The younger generations, X, Y, millenials, whatever-they-are-called-past-that, they grew up with this constant information availability. The expectation to be checking in all the time is just normal rather than overwhelming.
I’m also over the tangled or too-short power cords, ear buds that go missing, quickly depleting battery, and the messages from AT&T that my data usage is about to exceed the plan that I was assured would be more than sufficient for our family of three. Don’t even get me started on trying to figure out what the best “deals” are, or that my phone, which is less than two years old, is already decrepit in its technology, or that the power cord from my even older iPad no longer works to charge my iPhone.
I don’t have the job of a senior manager any more. I’m not expected (not that this should be the expectation for our professionals, even though it is) to check email or voice mail or whatever 24×7. But I still do. It’s a weird obsession that has me a little concerned, frankly.
There are those who take technology vacations. They turn off their phone and unplug their computer for a day, a week or a month, and “find themselves” again. They become the free, unconnected people we were born to be. I haven’t been able to do this. I think I have some sort of subconscious fear that when I find myself, I will be irrelevant and boring. Not that anyone will notice; they are all too busy checking their phones.
Whatever. I’m certainly not alone, as evidenced by Mr. Grumbly Pants next to me on Sunday. Maybe I’ll create an I’m Over My Phone support group app. Download and it’ll drain your battery like nobody’s business and message you several times a day to remind you that your obnoxious phone is taking over your life.
Reblogged this on Nest Nearly Empty and commented:
It’s an epidemic affecting the UK too. I cannot bear seeing people sitting in a restaurant together on their phones NOT speaking to each other!
LikeLike
It is a little odd, isn’t it? Then again, my husband and I can sit there and not talk to each other even if our phones are put away 🙂 I have actually texted my son when he is in his room nearby … Pathetic!
LikeLike
Oh I too can admit to that too! I yell a couple of times then I resort to texting – it is difficult to hear a yelling parent in the East Wing apparently lol
LikeLike
Actually I did a little txt in response to one from a friend. No easy task from a not smart phone :-). Love it”………..
LikeLike
Well, there you go. My mother crossed the line into LOL’s and GTG’s … ❤
LikeLike
You nail it with the title question, and it’s a conversation we have had around here as of late–particularly the fact that there’s no figuring out the pros and cons of plans. I enjoy the things I need and want from my phone, but do believe I would give them up willingly if I could shed the annoyances, too. I typically will still dial a number rather than just go to contact list, because I’ve seen so many people admit they don’t know their spouse or child’s phone number, let alone friends or colleagues. If I have one skill, just ONE skill, it is remembering phone numbers. Even though it has been somewhat antiquated by the phone I will victoriously be able to call lots and lots of people when my phone dies or is lost. By the way, I highly doubt you are on a crash course to discovering you’re boring or irrelevant.
LikeLike
I admire your memory for numbers, as I sometimes struggle to remember friend’s names … http://wp.me/p56D2R-27. I have bad phone envy for my husband’s Galaxy right now. My iPhone 5 (not even a 5s, I was a few weeks too early for that) is pathetic. I’m sorta with you on giving up on some of my phone niceties if the things would hold a charge.
LikeLike
I thought of you in regular life this weekend when my husband came home with a new/upgraded phone.
LikeLiked by 1 person