Cellphone Vs. Smartphone Vs. No Phone
I have a Samsung. I cannot tell you what it is, exactly, but as I flip through the menus and buttons, I find that there is a software update button.
Lord help me, but I have clicked it. Don't give me no buttons... I will push them. It had a button labeled software updates. Check for updates. Well. Guess what.
I had No new software update available. Gosh. What a bummer! I had no update, but I also didn't wreck my phone trying to get one, either.
I'll bet I had to pay for that internet connection to find out, however. I'll find out on my next bill.
Yeah - There's a Bill
I get a bill every month from Verizon Wireless. I just had to upgrade my Jetpack this last month. Upgrade is a word I've learned lately. The definition of upgrade simply means to me that you get a new device that actually functions.
Yep. That is the whole point of an upgrade. Usually, you don't need an upgrade unless the phone you are using craps out. My jetpack recently started functioning slower and slower and finally, I went in to the store and discovered that, since mine was four years old, apparently I needed an upgrade to continue service. I suppose my old one wasn't supported anymore and basically stopped working. I'm sure they are sneaky like that.
Over the Years
We originally got a cellphone for my husband who used to spend a lot of time fishing on the lake and wanted to be able to contact home to give updates on whether he intended to come home or not.
You know, sometimes cellphones do not work. Sometimes you are located in what they call a dead zone and there is no service. I am well acquainted with dead zones since my house seems to be full of them.
I get around the one in my living room, however, by sitting with my head tilted at a slight 12 degree angle to the right. Thirteen degrees is too much and the call gets all crackly. 11 degrees and the call drops and the screen says signal was lost.
My daughter and I spend a lot of time on the phone talking and there have been times when she or I will be talking, and the phone will ring in the middle of our sentences because the cell phone has dropped the call and the other has to call back to hear the end of the sentence.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we are cheerily telling our story to dead air... I have spent a good minute or two completing sentences that were utterly wasted by dead zones.
[We laugh about it. We kid each other. "I wonder how long I was talking before I noticed you weren't saying uh huh or yeah"}
Smart Phones
Since my jetpack only gets 2 bars on its 4 bar capacity of it's 4G, I do not have a Smart Phone. I have kids with Smartphones. My kids are married and live in another house. Their phones work.
On the other hand, I still live where my cellphone deals with dead zones. I have friends with Smartphones who, will upon occasion, try to talk me into the values of a Smartphone.
It's the same scenario every time: "Look Char, look at this. You can click this button and get fishing information. Look. Well. You have to let it load. It should load in a second. What the hell? Why isn't this working? I'm sorry Char. It usually works great. Oh, well. You get the idea. I don't know what is wrong with my Smart phone...'
I KNOW what is wrong with your phone. Nothing!!! They simply do not work in my house. Welcome to my dead zone.
The map that Verizon shows with their service. Yeah... the one with the map of the United States. The one with the pretty red color that shows the cellphone coverage.
Yeah. You have to get up close to that map. There is a dot located on the map. It's hard to see, but it is there. One small dot. A dead zone. Located where my house is. Yeah. Hello, that's my house.
I Do Have Good Service
I do actually have good Smartphone service, but the catch is, you have to walk to the end of my driveway, some 450 feet and stand next to my mailbox on the gravel road.
It's a small price to pay for being able to use the convenience of a Smartphone.
But, isn't it worth it?
[not]
So, that's why I own a flip phone.
We've Come a Long Way Baby
I remember, as a kid, having parents whose phone was on a party line. Yeah. The whole neighborhood had the same phone. If you picked up the phone, you had to deal with other people being on the phone.
Then, there was the corded phone. You picked the phone off the receiver where it was hung up and waited for dial tone and then, dialed your number.
Speaking of cords, at that time they had cords. There was the standard cord which allowed you to stand close to your phone. The cord was probably 5 foot long. We had longer cords. There was the 25 foot cord for walking around your house and talking on the phone or going around the corner to talk privately.
Later, of course, they developed the base and phone that didn't need a cord. If you were too far away from the base, the reception got a little shaky. Of course, you'd have the phone next to you on the couch. Sometimes you could find the phone. Sometimes not.
That part of having a phone, you know, losing it, began with those first phones that were portable. Now, you can GPS your phone and find it I'm sure.
House Phone
Oh, yeah. House phones. The phone that I was talking about previously that had the hookup on the wall in your house.
We used to have a house phone. Then, when we got used to having cell phones, we got rid of the house phone. We were excited to get rid of it, although a little hesitant, since we had so many phone calls all the time that we were walking away from.
You know the calls:
Calls from Window Salesman, who were casually driving by and noticed the condition of your windows. Calls from Siding Sales, same guy... Calls from cell phone companies selling cellphones. Calls from your friends, which grew to be less and less since if you weren't by your house phone, it would either ring and ring and ring or go to your answering machine.
Most of the time, if it rang and rang and rang, the caller would hang up and not leave a message. You never knew anyone called, so you wouldn't call them back. Then there was caller ID, so you didn't have to answer your phone.
Can you imagine? Caller ID actually was something that people would pay good money for. You were already getting calls you didn't want to answer. Paying good money for the privilege and then, paying good money to be able to not answer the phone, yet know who was calling.
WHAT on earth is the point of that.
Isn't having NO phone easier?
In Conclusion
Ahhh, technology.
Isn't it great?
I see people with Smart phones and I get a little jealous that they can access the internet.
Sigh... they can access Google and facebook and hubpages...
Oh, if I only had a Smartphone.
This is where I jolt back awake and realize that I'd have no service and I dream of the day when that little dot will be red.
If I'm going to dream, I might as well dream BIG, right?
[Hey!!! Give me that!!!]
This is where we laugh together. Leave a comment if you must. Thanks for reading this page.