Swift Technology, Slow Transition

Yesterday, I received a phone call from the American Red Cross asking if I would attend an upcoming blood drive, and if I would be willing/able to donate blood at said drive. The person on the other end asked me if I had taken advantage of the app that the Red Cross has available, and I responded that I did not, nor do I have a smartphone with which to download and use said app. I felt it would be best to cut that line of questioning off before it had a chance to progress. No, I don't have that app, nor do I have the technological capabilities to get and/or use this app of which you speak, so don't bother wasting oxygen telling me that I should go download it.

I also made the comment that I am one of the few people my age to not have a smartphone. Certainly, when I was back at college, that held especially true. I remember standing in hallways waiting for classrooms to open up, looking around at the people around me; most of them have their attention firmly focused on their smartphones. I would usually leave my phone in my residence hall room; I was...embarrassed by it. This only got worse as the years continued and the status of the phone worsened.

I have a basic cell phone. I can send and receive phone calls and text messages with it. That's about all I can do with it. The ability to search the internet is now virtually nonexistent - the home page now longer shows up, most websites give only a warning about "untrusted security certificate", and those few websites that do actually show up are scrunched up to the point where they can be viewed only one character at a time.

The reception is frequently poor, and sometimes nonexistent. It has developed a tendency to shut off on its own for no readily apparent reason (apparently this is a sign that the battery is old), even if the battery still has sufficient power left, and especially if it has been shut off recently. It also gives no warning that it's about to shut off - it just does so - and the only indication that it has shut off on its own is that it won't respond when a key is pressed.

And yet, despite it all, I still keep it. More than 90% of the time that I am using it, I use my cell phone as an alarm clock (it has an alarm clock function). On occasion, I will use it because some website that I am trying to use has sent me a multidigit passcode, which I must enter for security purposes. It fits my needs well enough.

I am aware that there are far more advanced phones than mine available on the open market. I am somewhat reluctant to purchase one of these newer phones, at least before it has been thoroughly tested by the thousands of other people who seem so intent on having the latest model of some phone. The reason for that it that there are always some problems that don't emerge until you're actually using the item in question.

This model has poor reception. This model has poor battery life. This model has batteries that are prone to spontaneous combustion. This model will permanently bend out of shape if you sit on it. Call me old-fashioned, but I would prefer to not have a bent-up phone that just set fire to my buttocks.