Home > Buenos Diaz > She's Got the Whole World in Her Hands

She's Got the Whole World in Her Hands

By Gloria Diaz

Check out Gloria's Blog — Edge of Gloria!

Fort Wayne Reader

2013-09-22

I love technology, but I also hate it. It bothers me to see people staring into their cellphones like it's a drug. It IS a drug. It's disheartening to see a couple out for dinner and instead of engaging each other in conversation, they are looking at their phones. And I know how it is. Give someone as curious as I am access to a computer where I can look anything and anyone up, and it's too tempting.

So I put off getting a phone. I didn't want to be a phone zombie. My five and a half year old cellphone is dangling by a busted hinge. I can't take pictures with it anymore. I can call and receive calls, and that's about it.

So when a friend of mine showed me her new phone and said it did everything, and that I wouldn't need another phone for a long time, I was intrigued. Actually, I was hooked. And wasn't it time for a new phone anyway?

I got one. I broke down and bought a Samsung Galaxy S III. Sleek and white, it's user-friendly, but for four days after I bought it, I didn't touch it. My only experience with smartphones was the iPhone, which I've been forced to use at one of my jobs. I used to be a big fan of Apple, but with an iMac and and eMac sitting dead in my house, I sneeringly thought that Apple should be thankful they came up with an overpriced phone to save their asses. I was given a photocopy of quick tips and left to figure it out. The phone was sheathed in a huge, rubbery case. I dreaded to think that the entire department would be dragging their fingers all over it. ALL over it. Their germy, disease-ridden fingers would be dragging, dropping and pinching all over the screen, which would be pressed up right against my face when I spoke on the phone. I haven't died from some super-virus (yet), but everytime I picked up a call for the department, I'd end up putting the caller on hold, on speakerphone, or I would accidentally hang up on him. Plunk! And he's gone.

So I thought I hated smartphones. They were going to render young people unable to have a face to face conversation, or be able to decipher body language and facial expressions. As the kids say these days, “OMG!”

But if I were going to get a new phone, I might as well go all the way. I considered an updated flip phone, but decided to hang on to my old phone. It's one of those pay-as-you-go things, so if I fall on hard times again, I can still afford to have a phone. So I went to one of my favorite discount stores, passed the credit check, and I have a new cellphone. A damn fine one, too.

I haven't turned into a phone face—yet. I checked out some sites for some information about Cedar Point while waiting for my lunch at a restaurant, but that was the most I've looked at it in public. I will say having Kindle on it came in handy. I write book reviews for Fiverr.com and a customer had a 511 page epic she wanted me to review. Time was running out (I said I'd have it done in a week) and found out I could read the book on my phone. What I want to know is how it knew I had the book on my computer, yet I could read it on my smartphone?

I got a shock the other day when I found pictures on my phone from my long-lost trucking blog, which has disappeared. How the hell did they end up on my smartphone? I thought I'd have a look at them later, only to discover they were gone. Oh well.

And I need to set up my voicemail. Or maybe not. I still have my ancient, falling apart cellphone, so maybe that will be the one to leave messages on, while I use the new one to explore the world—from the palm of my hand.