Yesterday some time my cell phone, which was an iPhone 11, died in that it would no longer place or receive telephone calls. Indeed, communications wise, the only thing it would still do is text another iPhone. I discovered this when I went to make a work call after I got home.
I've never been a fan of cell phones. I hate them, actually. They do some good things, like allow me to be in contact with my family in a way that my father wasn't after I'd left home for college. That's about the only thing I like about them. Modern cell "phones" are actually iPods and cameras, and little computers, and I like some of those features, but I'm not fooling myself they have anything to do with cellular telecommunications
The major thing the cell phone has done, however, is to allow my office job, that of being a lawyer, to intrude into my entire life, all day, and every day, long. Being a lawyer is already a difficult job and it taking over everything all the time is really miserable. Abraham Lincoln, when he was a lawyer, didn't have his clients sitting at his dinner table or bothering him on Sundays. Every modern lawyer does.
I hate iPhones for that.
And for that reason, at age 62, nearly 63, I just decided not to replace it. Unable to place my call, I came back into the living room, and while I thought twice about it, as I was fearful of the reaction I might and did get, I told my wife "my cell phone is dead".
As soon as she believed it (there is honor in being a prophet, save in one's own household) she sprung into action. It was already evening. "Are you saying you want me to go get a new one?"
I answered truthfully, "no, I'm not".
Now, to explain that, my wife loves cell phones. I think everyone in the family loves them, save for me. So she takes care of getting the cell phones, not me. I'd be poorly suited for it at best.
Anyhow, she asked again, "if you want me to go get one I need to know right now so I can do it".
"No, I don't want you to go get one, it can wait".
Not believing that, it was followed up with the same question, at which point I answered truthfully. "I don't want a new one".
That really sprang her into action, "I'll go to Best Buy right now". My reply, again truthfully, "I don't want a new one, I hate cell phones and I'm glad its dead."
That was met with a scoff and she left with my dead phone and returned with a new one. It's an iPhone 17. Because of the codes involved in doing that, that meant that I had to finish setting it up, which I reluctantly did last night.
Defeated by technology. Not in using it, but in being made to use it.
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