"Call Me"

Did I tell you that I got an IPhone for Christmas?  After years and years of carrying around telecommunication dinosaurs (First, an old cell phone that I had for years, then one of the Big Guy's abandoned flip phones), I finally decided I needed to step into the 21st century and get a

camera/
datebook/
weather station/
Internet/
radio/
message center/
photo album/
newspaper/
TV/
stopwatch/
calculator/
watch/
atlas/
compass
......oh, and phone!   

So Mikey and M-t-G jointly decided to "give" me the phone of my choice.  Mikey would pay for it and M-t-G would teach me how to use it!  After a quick introductory tour into the world of IPhones from Ratchlet, I decided to get an IPhone 5c.  As a special deal from Best Buy, I was able to get the phone and sign up for a Verizon service plan.  Interestingly enough, they gave me the phone for free.  I realize that Verizon makes their money on the ongoing monthly payments, but neither Best Buy nor Apple got a dime from me, while I got the newest version of the Apple IPhone.  That seems illogical to me, but I guess there is money changing hands behind the scenes among the three companies. So if they are okay with it, who am I to judge?

It came as no surprise that there was no actual written instruction manual included in the IPhone materials.  I guess there is one on-line, but basically one has to depend on "the kindness of strangers" or friends or family to figure out how to make the thing work.  M-t-G did, in fact, spend several hours helping me to set up the IPhone and she showed me a lot of "tricks," and that definitely got me up and running.   Still,  I am definitely a "techno-dweeb," so, even with M-t-G's help,  I pretty much expected there would be a rather protracted period of adjustment.

Most of it is pretty easy if one is already familiar with a computer, but there are a few things that take a bit of getting used to.  For example, I have mistakenly called people from my contact list multiple times, because I can't seem to consistently remember the right steps to delete calls from the log.  I usually catch it before it actually connects to anyone, but when I don't catch it soon enough, its embarrassing to admit that I STILL don't know what I'm doing on the dumb thing! (Okay, okay the phone isn't dumb....it's the user [that would be me] who doesn't seem to be quite with the program!)

There is another thing that I find really annoying.  Sometimes it seems that all I have to do is breathe on the screen and it will connect me to something that I'm not wanting to connect to, or move where I don't want it to move, or change something I didn't want to change!  Other times I'm tempted to get a hammer to pound on the various icons or arrows or whatevers because hitting them with my finger or even a stylus just doesn't seem to work!  How come it's so sensitive sometimes but other times it just flat out ignores whatever I'm trying to do??

And then there is typing!  It is very convenient to have access to email and the Internet from almost anywhere, but it surely isn't always easy to create a message.  I spent 40+ years working as a secretary/executive assistant and believe me, I knew how to type!  I believe my standard typing speed was somewhere around 70-75 words a minute when I was working full time.  Well, not anymore....and certainly not on my IPhone!  Obviously, one cannot type in the tried and true method of touch typing that I learned many moons ago!  Not on that teeny little keypad!  I've tried to do the 2-thumb approach that all the young people seem to use, but I'm just not that coordinated I guess.....every time I try to type with my thumbs, I drop the IPhone!!  This is not a good thing. (Luckily it always dropped into my lap, so there was no damage done, but that won't last forever!) Using a hunt-and-peck approach leads to a lot of errors, so I don't even try to do a longer multiple paragraph email on the IPhone.  It is just enormously easier to send such messages from the computer, but that kind of defeats the whole purpose!!  For Valentine's Day Mikey gave a darling gadget which incorporated a stylus, a monogrammed heart, a sparkly little butterfly, and a "bungee cord".  The cord plugs into the phone and stretches sufficiently to use on the keyboard. It works well!  Besides which it's kind of fun to add a little bling to the process.  (He also gave similar ones to Ratchlet and to M-t-G.....)  Having that stylus helps quite a bit!

I've decided that I like my IPhone.  It is very helpful to have access to all the different apps from just about anywhere.  On the whole it is more positive than negative and I think it will get better as I get more adept at using it.

Ironically, one of the main reasons I decided I needed to move into using this century's technology, was that frequently people I know would say, "I'll text or message you." When that happened I had to explain that I didn't do text or messages because I had a dinosaur phone.  As you all probably know, trying to type from a telephone keypad is possible but oh, so, tedious and frustrating.  I knew I needed to update my phone skills in this way, or I would be left behind in the dust.   So now you can "Call Me" or text me or message me and I will get it AND will be able to answer!! Cool, huh?? The irony comes in because in the six weeks I have had the IPhone, I have only received two text messages!  I guess there wasn't any urgency after all!

Still, now, after all these years, I'm finally one of the cool kids!  How about that?!!