Smartphone Update

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Smartphone on a table

In the early days of this blog, one of my post popular posts mulled over what I then considered to be a smartphone dilemma. On retiring I was obliged to return the iPhone issued to me for work and was trying to decide whether or not I would actually need one solely for personal use. That's definitely not a blog entry that has stood the test of time.

I  did resolve the issue by purchasing an android smartphone and have, of course, never looked back and to the extent that I have recently updated it for a second time. 

Keeping in touch with friends and family via WhatsApp, especially the eldest when he was living in New Zealand, is an imperative and with the opportunity for group chats it's so much more useful than text messaging with of course the option for video calls too.

Then there's the app I use to book gym classes and one to synchronise with the Fitbit on my wrist.

It carries my electronic calendar and To Do List as well as my contacts' telephone numbers and addresses.

It can serve as both a SatNav in the car and to help me find my way on foot, something that has proved itself indispensable on our various travels. Although I still prefer to use a camera for photographs, it connects by wifi to the camera enabling me to transfer photographs seamlessly and then back them up from the phone to the cloud.

Best of all with its internet connection, it's my pocket encyclopedia and fact checker, updater of news and events manager all in one. I can do my banking, order repeat prescriptions, make medical appointments, read library books and listen to podcasts from it. I keep my rail card, and travel tickets on it.

Back in 2014 I was musing as to whether or not retirement would herald a less complicated and simpler lifestyle compatible with the pre-digital age. Now, although I continue to simplify, the one object with which I could not part is that smartphone. It's become such an embedded part of my life that I'm convinced it has helped in the mission to disentangle myself from the intricacies of personal organisation if only by reducing the number of gadgets and papers that would otherwise fill  my home.

I know they are often viewed as a scourge of modern living with millions staring seemingly zombie-like at them in restaurants and on public transport but seriously, does anyone now survive without one?

(Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay )

 

Comments

Treaders said…
I'm with you absolutely. I really didn't want a smart phone - I guess more because I hate learning new technology than anything else - but they really are SOOOOO useful, and frankly you only have to break down on the side of the road once and they've paid for themselves, I reckon. That being said, I loathe how people spend their time glued to them too. I keep mine in my pocket just in case and of course kept it on the table if we went out without the kids when they were little, but otherwise, no I'm not glued to it at all. Still, when I DID break down last week the smart phone was a god-send!
19 November 2022 at 16:10
Caree Risover said…
You’ve just reminded me about my original “brick” that I used to lug around in case the car ever broke down. Yes, it more than justified its existence: once when I stupidly ran out of petrol and a second time when somebody let my tyres down!
19 November 2022 at 21:26
RetirementCoffeeShop said…
I like my iPhone smartphone. I don't do a lot of social media or internet browsing but do use it for a million things. I use a lot of apps including banking, insurance, etc. and apps to check movie times or order pizza. I use the notes app a lot to keep track of to do lists and shopping lists. I also use a note to remember things like the size of my home air filters. It amazes me sometimes that the phone now is a camera, music platform, calculator, timer and on and on. It is a one stop shop for so many things.
21 November 2022 at 14:53
Caree Risover said…
They are amazing things and to think once upon a time our parents probably thought the same about the electric toaster. Who would ever have imagined?
21 November 2022 at 15:04
Jennyff said…
Am I the only Luddite? I have my husband’s cast off phone for emergency use, it’s never switched on. In an emergency it would take so long to get it going the emergency would be over. I was at the hairdressers today, my stylist spent more time checking his phone than he did cutting my hair. I have no plans to update my phone but I was fascinated to see the new ones that fold in half yet open up to be a complete screen, another gimmick to get folk to upgrade I suppose.
22 November 2022 at 12:59
Caree Risover said…
Jennyff, you epitomise my original line of thought back in 2014 about my relationship with a smartphone and I confess you have my admiration as a result.
22 November 2022 at 15:11
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