This became an ongoing gag while Mom and I were in Denver for FinCon.
Think of something funny while you’re out and about (and not by wi-fi)? See, if you had a smartphone, you could tweet it right now!
Getting slightly lost? See, if you had a smartphone, you could have mapped the location and the phone would follow it as you moved! (Which, you have to admit, is pretty awesome.)
See something hilarious in a shop — but not so hilarious (or affordable) that you actually want to buy it? If you had a smartphone right now, you could snap a pic and email it/tweet it/Facebook it.
Finally, see an awesome statue? If you had a smartphone, you could take a picture and share it!
(FYI, it turns out we didn’t need a phone for that one. Meet the sculpture Self-Made Man. Hilarious and pretty, all in one.)
Point is, it became a slightly wistful joke for us. Neither of us really needs a smartphone. Which is to say, we have thus far been unable to rationalize the expense.
I’m home pretty much all of the time. Because I’m boring. Or maybe it’s the chronic fatigue. Or maybe the fatigue makes me boring. It gets hard to tell.
My mom works from home, and is happy with finding free wi-fi while she’s out and about. It’s amazing the kind of time you can kill at airports when you have a laptop and a wi-fi connection.
Would I love a smartphone? Absolutely.
But I don’t even use a regular cell phone anymore. Tim and I each had a line on my mom’s plan. But we cut mine off because I barely used it. And we rarely even use Tim’s phone. Maybe once or twice a week, if that.
So when my mom does finally switch providers, she’ll just be getting an individual plan. And we really don’t use a phone enough to justify even getting a replacement plan.
At best, we’ll probably get a basic phone with prepaid minutes. Christmas sales are coming up and Walgreens et al seem to always have those phones free after rebate/store cash.
I guess the scary thing about this running joke is how my mind started churning with rationalizations. I could feel the pull, even though I know a smartphone is utterly unnecessary. I’ve always eyed other people’s smartphones greedily. (One thing that helps? Noticing how an iPhone really isn’t that different from iPod Touch.)
But I don’t need one. And with two people at home all day every day, there’s really no rationalizing it — no matter how many excuses I come up with.
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If I had a smartphone I could take and share pictures all the way up the Al-Can. Well, if not for those international roaming charges….
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you can tweet without a smartphone
i have a dumbphone and just txt my tweet to 40404 and that puts it up on my twitter page. you have to have that feature turned on, on your twitter account, but that’s simple. and yes the only difference between the ipod & the iphone is the connectivity because with an app called pinger you can receive phone calls for free, txt for free & you can buy minutes to use to call out. you have to be connected to a wifi somewhere to do this but lots of places have free wifi.
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Abigail Reply:
September 26th, 2012 at 11:22 am
Yep, and when we have to replace our iPod (which is holding up surprisingly well with a cracked screen) we'll get a camera, so we can snap shots of funny things. So there's really no rationalizing it. Sigh.
[Reply]
Abigail Reply:
September 26th, 2012 at 11:22 am
Yep, and when we have to replace our iPod (which is holding up surprisingly well with a cracked screen) we'll get a camera, so we can snap shots of funny things. So there's really no rationalizing it. Sigh.
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Will agree smart phones are very cool…but have noticed that while interviewing folks for rental units their cell phone bills are….well not so cool. I've seen bills for $300 to $500 …PER MONTH. Some serious coin IMHO.
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