Good Vibrations – Overwhelming, But Good Vibrations
Filed Under: All Posts, Guest Bloggers on November 23, 2009
Text, Twitter, e-mail, phone calls, and even a low cell phone battery makes my phone vibrate. I rarely turn my phone ringer on because I get tired of the same tone over and over and over, so when I’m working at home, I just let it lie on the table and vibrate so I can still hear it. Lately, my phone has been literally vibrating off the table. When did a device that we used to have connected to the wall that we could pick up, dial and hear a friendly voice of a relative miles away become the sole mode of most people’s insanity?
What we used to leave at home, connected to the wall, for hours or even days at a time now has us paranoid when we forget at home while we take 20 minute trip to the grocery store. For instance, the other night I was riding along with a friend of mine to a meeting. My phone battery was low so I’d plugged it into my car charger instead of having it in my jacket pocket and I ended up forgetting to take it with me in the rush (because I was late, of course). For two and a half hours I was freaking out (although I tried to appear to remain calm) because even though it was 7:00 pm when we left, I knew that someone would try to call, text, send me an important work related email or I’d get the all necessary Twitter update – all of which I would need to know about instantaneously. When we get back, I immediately grab my phone out of my car…I had two missed SPAM emails, one text that was also not an emergency, NO missed calls, NO Twitter updates, and since my phone had been charging, I wasn’t even getting the low battery vibrates that sometimes plague my phone.
Maybe the phone gods were watching over me or maybe I don’t actually need to have my phone constantly, but I’m sure if I’d have had the phone I would have been texting or Twittering or emailing or talking to someone at some time. I’m not sure if technology is costing us more time or if technology saves us time. I’m not sure if I could go back to life without instant updates from my phone and “close Pandora’s box.” I’m not even sure if I could find my friends at the store any more without calling them on their cell phones and telling them to meet me at the front.
What I am sure about is that technology is not going to revert. I am sure that phones will get more apps, more features, and more powerful. I am sure that you will have to keep up with it the best that you can because if you don’t, your competition will.
