Smart Phones

I don't know much about smartphones. Indeed, I don't even know much about dumb phones. I've got nothing against any of those little hand-held devices, I just don't have any use for them. Once, when our land line was down for five days, I bought one of those cell phones where you plug in a card with pre-paid minutes. I was going to use it to call the phone company again to find out if they were ever going to restore our service. Just as I was beginning to dial, the phone man showed up to fix the problem. He went away for awhile, came back, and asked me if the phone was working now. My hypothetical wife was inside the house and the phone man and I were outside. I dialed our own number on my new cellphone and hypothetical wife answered, which proved that our regular phone was working. I kept the cell phone for six months after that and never used it again. The prepaid minutes were only good for a year, so I gave the cell phone to my grand daughter, who used up the minutes in short order. I can see where those gadgets might come in handy for somebody in business or someone who travels a lot, but I am neither one of those.

My hypothetical wife has a problem with her legs, so I have been doing the grocery shopping for some time now. I commonly see people walking around the supermarket while talking steadily on their phones, and I wonder what they have to talk about for so long. When I'm shopping, or doing anything else for that matter, my mind is usually engaged in what I'm doing. It seems like trying to talk on the phone at the same time would be distracting. And that's just while walking, I can't imagine trying to drive a car and talk on the phone at the same time. Well, when I drove school buses, we had two way radios in them, but we only used them to say something important. We certainly did not constantly yammer away about inconsequential matters.

Then there's texting. Our local TV stations have been running public service ads lately urging people not to text while driving. How would you even do that? Okay, you can steer with one hand and hold the phone in the other hand. But what do you type with, your nose? There has been some talk about making texting while driving illegal, but I don't think it's been passed yet. I have seen people walking down the street while texting, and they don't seem to be watching where they're going. I have heard about people walking into a pole or out into traffic while doing that. What are they, nuts?

A GPS device might be handy for hunting or fishing in unfamiliar territory, but I don't do that anymore either. When I did, a map and a compass was all I needed to get around. It might be nice to enter waypoints over your favorite fishing holes, but that's about it. I never have gotten into those sonar devices that spot fish for you under water, but some people won't go fishing without them anymore. I can see it if you fish deep water in the big lakes, but I mostly fish in the river over weed beds, and I don't think those things can see through weeds yet.

I used to be kind of a Luddite in my younger days but, as I got older, I embraced technology more and more. Nevertheless, I still can't see buying something that I'm never likely to use. It's not about the money so much as it is about not complicating my life unnecessarily.

Have a nice, uncomplicated weekend.