I finally gave in. I bought a smartphone.
I have been fighting against this for a long time. Smartphones are expensive, and the idea of spending even more money on my phone bill really does not sound appealing. The day when I was trying to call a reporter and my phone wouldn’t work in the newsroom or anywhere in the Union or outside changed my mind. Making phone calls is a rather essential function of a phone.
No, I did not camp out all night to buy an iPhone 5S. I see no reason to pay almost the same price I paid for my laptop for a phone. I bought the cheap Windows Phone. It was the best phone in my price range, aka cheap.
One of the first benefits I noticed is that no one makes fun of me for having a 5-year-old slider phone with a Captain America wrist strap. A phone which, according to someone in the newsroom, would prevent women from giving me their number when they saw it.
“Welcome to the 21st century,” said someone else when I brought my phone into the office.
Since people can no longer mock me about my phone, I’m a little concerned about what else they are going to find to mock me about. I might need to lay low for a while.
To be completely honest, my smartphone has not changed my life as much as you may think. I bought an iPad Mini last March, and I tote it around like Linus’ security blanket in a messenger bag. It goes almost everywhere with me. Granted I haven’t upgraded to a data plan yet and the 30 megabytes of data my current plan gives me lasted two days.
Social media does make more sense with a smartphone. I really like to tweet about something as it is happening or take a photo on Instagram and not have to wait to get home in order to post it. Yes, I have actually taken a photo with my iPad once — of a scone — and another time of my secret reading spot in the park, and had to wait hours before I could post the photos.
Wow, that sounds even more pathetic of me now that I write it out.
Another improvement is not entirely smartphone related, but having a full keyboard is one of the best things ever. Predictive text and I didn’t get along. I had to use predictive text because it is way faster. However, my name and the names of people I regularly text were not programed in. My phone was convinced that I always wanted to say ‘if’ rather than ‘he.’ I now have total control over what I write. I also have access to colorful emoticons. I don’t know how to express my emotions properly without emoticons. How did I ever survive?
Shortly after I got my smartphone, I was wasting time on the Internet when a pale-blue, square Twitter notification came onto the upper right corner of my screen and my computer dinged at me. Shortly thereafter my iPad dinged at me, and even later my phone buzzed and made a noise at me. Three different electronic devices made three different noises at three different times over the same Twitter mention. Which one do I pick? I don’t want one device to feel bad because I chose another.
Oh, social media drama.