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I recently had another lesson in just how much we have all
come to depend on our cell phones. I
don’t know about you but my phone seems to have become an extension to my arm –
it’s always there. My teenagers are just
as bad. Every conversation with them
these days seems to happen by text.
A couple of weeks ago, I was at a local shopping centre with
my uncle and he was waiting at a cash register to pay for a purchase. I needed to go to the washroom so he said to
go ahead and he’d catch up to me.
Sounds simple, right?
Well, when I came out of the washroom, he was nowhere to be seen. Since he’s from out of town and didn’t know
the shopping centre well, he ended up wandering in the wrong direction.
No problem; I just whipped out my trusty phone and then…….
froze. You see, he’s a little bit out of
the loop technologically and doesn’t carry a phone in his pocket.
I must have looked like a deer in the headlights standing
there with a phone in my hand with no clue what to do. When was the last time that I went anywhere
with someone who doesn’t have a phone in their pocket? He had dropped me off at the door earlier and
then parked the car so I didn’t even know where the car was to go meet him.
I haven’t had a problem like this in YEARS! Back in the day, when you were temporarily
separating from someone in a public place, you would synchronize your watches
and decide that you would meet in a certain place at a certain time and you
made sure that you were there because there was no way to let the person know
where you were. Nowadays you both go do
your thing and then call each other on the trusty cell phone to decide where to
meet. I don’t even own a watch anymore!
This story did have a happy ending. The mall wasn’t a big one and I managed to
find my uncle without calling in a search party.
It wasn’t so long ago that the thought of having a phone in
your pocket so that you could be constantly in touch with people was unheard of
but now we take it for granted so much that someone without a phone in their
pocket is the odd one.
Don’t worry Uncle K, you may be the odd one but we love you
anyway.
Kathy
I have an ex sister in law who doesn't have a cell. It's beyond annoying when you can't seem to find them.
ReplyDeleteWow. That brought up all sorts of bad memories of being separated from my mom and no way of getting in touch with her. How true this is! We just had a discussion the other day about how, thanks to cell phones, we have become people who don't plan ahead. We don't have to!
ReplyDeleteGlad you found your uncle without too much fanfare. :)