There's this really annoying feature on my phone that pops up unbidden to tell me how many hours I've been on my phone in the past week. It's always some ridiculous figure like five or six or even eight hours per day. I don't let Teresa see this because she'd say, "I knew it!"
But could it be correct? It's like being told your blood pressure is too high, when you feel just fine. I don't play games on my phone, nor do I watch movies. I do make an occasional phone call, though I send texts more often. I only send emails to people I know will read them. I have contacts who have thousands of unread emails on their phones. These people get texts.
I admit I am never far from my phone. The phone is my watch and alarm clock. It's my calendar and daily planner. It reminds me to take my blood pressure pill every morning. If my phone ever goes missing, I search the house, the car and the surrounding fields till I find it. I'm not quite like the woman in the Bible who called in her friends to celebrate after finding a lost coin, but I know how she felt.
But how am I spending five hours a day on the phone? For one thing, I'm constantly looking things up. I recently came across the word "heuristics." I've looked this word up before and have forgotten what I found out. I get “heuristics” mixed up with "hermeneutics," which has something to do with interpretation of the Bible.
So my phone is also my dictionary. I still keep a paper diary, but when I started running out of room towards the end of the year, I started an expanded version of my daily record in my Notes app. And what exactly is an app? I'll have to look that up so I can forget the definition again.
I'm adding to my screen time right now as I write this post for the Wannaskan Almanac. I still read hard copies of magazines and books, but I also read them on my phone or iPad. I haven't written anything on a typewriter since college in the Sixties, back when the information revolution was just getting started. Living in a revolution is exciting, but there are bad days and wrong turns. Lots of heads roll during revolutions.
These revolutions can go on for a long time. During the agricultural revolution people domesticated animals and grew crops for many centuries before they started building towns and cities. Civilization required wars and slavery, both bad things. The Industrial Revolution eliminated the need for slaves, but the wars got bigger. I'm hoping our Information Revolution can eliminate the need for wars and also clean up the pollution the Industrial Revolution spawned.
The Information Revolution could go on for a long time too. I don't want to imagine the downside of this revolution. And I won't try to predict what the next revolution will be. I don't want to break my personal screen time record
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| Early computers came with a ladder to update the calendar. |
THE RAVEN, Vol 12, Issue 1, 2013 "Autumnal Western Tours" by Joe McDonnell; page 5: "I had just acquired my first smart phone so I would surely be able to find breakfast in this important town (Pierre, SD). The smart phone provides a hydrant-like stream of info which left me more confused than enlightened, but I did find the address for Big Tom's just up the road.
ReplyDelete"We packed in the dark and headed for breakfast. Big Tom's was not awake yet, so we opted for Duffy's just across the river in Ft. Pierre. Ft. Pierre was deserted and Duffy's looked like it had last been open during the hostage crisis in Tehran. The smart phone was not earning its keep."
So it was from this point in your life, you began tipping your head toward your lap the rest of your life, glancing up occasionally to confirm all four wheels were on the road, and that you and your traveling companions were going the right direction. I was not interested in the device at the time, but in retrospect had I learned its operation in its infancy, as you have done, I would be better equipped to use it today. Your expediency on it has saved you time and money ever since.
I developed a bad crick, but was able to find a clinic in Mexico that inserted a grease zerk in my neck which solved my problem.
DeleteScreen time notifications were primarily developed as a result of American Academy of Pediatric recommendations for children. If you're feeling adult, go to Settings/Notifications/Screen Time, and turn off your notifications.
ReplyDeleteFlip phones rule!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if WWriter would agree now that he's had his smartphone for a while.
Anyway, it's freeing to say, oh I can't text with my phone; send me an email. I've turned off my email beeper, so that frees me to read emails at my own time and place.
I'm a happy flipper phoney.