Friday, April 9, 2021

Phone Sense

 I’m afraid I’ve become one of the phone people.  You know who I mean.  The ones who are always looking at their screen, scrolling through stuff.

I am not as bad as the people who are really compulsive, like dealing with their phone while they’re dealing with a teller at the bank.  But I have discovered some wonders of my phone that have made me keep it close even when I’m home.

It is an amazing question answerer.  Like today, I was feeling draggy and thought to myself that I was lacking in spizzerinctum.  I thought it was a made up word and then thought “let’s see” and typed it into my phone.  There seem to be several spellings, but it is a real word in several dictionaries, though kind of considered slang.  In case your interested it mean vim, vigor, determination or what I think of it as – robust energy.

My other big discovery was that my phone is like the ultimate juke box. I have been able to type in any song I could think of and found it playing on YouTube.  I have been using it to accompany me on my exercising on the Cubii.  I get so wrapped up in the music that I don’t want to stop pedaling and stay on the thing for more time than expected.

 It’s also the source of my entertainment when flying.  American Airlines has taken out all the screens on the back of the seats.  They do provide entertainment, but you have to bring your own device to play it on.  I never thought I would want to watch a movie on my phone, but it’s pretty amazing how after a few minutes, it doesn’t seem to make a difference that the screen is so small.

I said I wasn’t as bad as the obsessive people, but I did notice that having my phone nearby inspired me to scroll through it a lot.  I developed a pattern.  I’d check emails, then several news sources and sometimes Facebook.  I found myself losing track of time as I just keep scrolling, like there was a pot of gold waiting for me or something.  When I realized what I was doing and how much time I was wasting, I started making a point of not hauling my phone around the house with me and leaving it in my purse when I went out.  Oddly enough, I didn’t miss it.

Except when I had a question or needed some music.  I’m all for moderation.

6 comments:

chkntza said...

I love your comments about the phone. I find my phone has replaced my dictionary. Often when I am reading and I want to know exactly what a word means I run to my phone. It's faster than a dictionary. I also do the scrolling thing. I now have set time aside to do that so I don't do it all day long. I watch some shows on peacock and Apple TV on my computer and I don't mind that the screen is smaller than my tv. I also watch dvds on a DVD player that is 7 inches, tiny, but somehow I don't mind. But next time I will buy a nine inch. I love your blog and your books.

chkntza said...

I also love to listen to music. A long time ago I put my music on my computer and onto an ipod. Now I have apple car play in my car and I can listen to my music in my car. That is the height of luxury to drive around with my music in my car. When I am not listening to my music I listen to kusc fm.

Linda O. Johnston said...

I've become quite addicted to my phone, too. It's always fun, if a question comes to mind, to look up the answer right away!

Betty Hechtman said...

Chkntza, Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying both my books and blog. I fought using my phone as a dictionary. Using a paper dictionary had the added benefit of seeing other words while I was looking something up. But the problem is that if I didn't know how to almost spell a word, I oouldn't find it. The phone and computer work when even when I don't have the exact spelling. And its faster. I love how my phone is an instant question answerer. Calling them phones doesn't do them justice anymore.

Betty Hechtman said...

Linda, It is so cool to wonder about something, even something as trivial as how tall some actor is and find the answer in a flash.

Jim said...

Hi thanks for posting tthis