Part 4 – Do I Purchase a Smartphone Anxiety (DPSA)
In reading your “Anxiety Central” blogs (well written, as usual), I reflected on myself and my own thoughts over the past several months. However, unlike your “Anxiety Central” blogs, the anxiety I experienced was more of a one time thing…hopefully!
This particular anxiety stemmed from being faced with a difficult decision.Do I purchase the “Smartphone”?
The fact that everyone has been talking “Smartphone” this and “Smartphone” that…I never paid too much attention. My take on the whole thing was - I never had it, don’t know what it’s about, don’t know what I’m missing and personally, don’t care to indulge…. until one day I was at the mall.
A horrible storm had rolled through, knocking out the power in the entire area. Being I had just gotten there (literally, I went into 1 store & was NOT ready to throw in the towel because of a stupid lightning storm and some hail), I was determined to bare it to the end and wait for the town to restore the power. As I sat there, I observed all of the other people who were sitting around, waiting, and in the same boat as me…. Like me, they were wondering if the power was going to go back on, and if so, when?
I quickly found that it was much easier for these people to divert their attention from these thoughts, by doing “stuff” on their phones. What were they doing on there, I wondered? Were they just texting (as I only had the capability of doing)? Were they playing a game? If so, what game was it? (The games on my Blackberry Pearl were very limited). Were they surfing the net?
I found myself starting to get bored….and jealous.
I called my friend Beth and texted her with updates of my shopping nightmare. Could this be what everyone else was dong as well? The ability to entertain myself, as all of these other people apparently were doing with ease, was dwindling. I decided to strike up a conversation with a girl who worked at Tahari, who informed me that rain storms routinely knock out the power. Long story short the mall was closed soon after and I headed home. Defeated.
My day of defeat was the first day that changed my view of the “Smartphone.”
My view is that by purchasing a Smartphone, I would be diving into a world of technology that:
1) I’m not even sure I need – Here’s why…
I can’t bring my phone into work. I get out of my car at 8:15am (leaving my phone in the car) and don’t see my phone again until 4. Truthfully, I don’t miss it (I feel it’s important to highlight that I do not have internet access at work). I’m sure everyone has my work # if they need to contact me. Once I get into my car, I’ll take a look to see if anyone tried to contact me and if need be, return the call or text (yes, hands-free). Once home, I have my wonderful laptop. My phone usually gets thrown on my bed and is only looked at if it beeps or rings.
Do I need to have 16 MB of RAM or GB (or whatever the hell the lingo is) – as long as I can still call and text, I’m sure I’ll be good without it, right? Why do I need to have the movie Avatar on my phone? Ok, so what, it has an 8 megapixel camera…my Casio camera has 10 megapixel. What do I need a Smartphone for?
2) I’m not even sure I want – Here’s why…
Do I want the ability to look at my emails at any time? Negative. Do I really want to get notifications when someone posts something on my Facebook wall? No thanks. Do I want to “link” all of my Facebook contacts into my personal contact list? Um, no. Do I want a satellite on Planet Google to always know where I am? 1-word: Creepy. Do I need to worry about losing/breaking my cell phone, which now has become my IPod, my calendar & my computer? 2-words: Panic Attack.
All of this equals ANXIETY!!
Personally I enjoy coming home from work, pouring a glass of wine, & checking my emails, browsing Facebook status updates & whatever else I may do on my laptop.
Am I old for thinking this way? Don’t answer that…
I got a Smartphone.
I share this with you to say this – it’s crazy seeing how fast technology is advancing. I never really felt old until the day I bought this phone and this overwhelming feeling hit me…I caught up with technology….but what do I do now?
I’m realizing that we are truly in an age of convenience. Did I need to tack on an extra $30 per month on my cell phone bill to have all the amenities that a Smartphone offers? Not at all, but let me tell you, it sure is damn convenient.
Although my anxiety is lessening as my knowledge of this device is improving, the overall anxiety I have about where our society is heading in this age of convenience and technology will forever boggle my mind….
…and forever cause me ANXIETY!
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