Back to the Future

IC XC
✙
NI KA

WAY BACK IN 1999, working for my first tech firm – called Online Partners – I was the first person in my office to get a flip phone. Sprint had these cool little models that looked like silver communicators from Star Trek. They had tiny little monochrome screens. I was walking by the store on 16th and Potrero (it’s still a phone store but now AT&T) and decided, “Hey, I work in tech! I should have a cell phone.” When I got back to the office I was King of the Hill for about 20 mins. The head of security came back with a much higher-end model and then everyone was switching to Sprint. Thus began my cellular life. In those days you had limited minutes and limited text. I couldn’t even take or send photos from my phone. Later I would get phones with cameras and things like maping directions. Then I got unlimited minutes and, for a while, I would take long drives and chat on the phone with people as I drove through exotic parts of the country.

I got my first Android smart phone in 2010. It was rapidly downhill from there. It’s hard to believe it’s only been since 2010. It feels like it’s been an eternity with the internet in my pocket. But no, it’s only been since 2010. Even that summer, driving across the country, a friend got stressed that I didn’t have on-board navigation. He paid to connect my iPad to wireless data. (who was doing that then? I think AT&T.) I used it exactly once to find a hardware store. Then I cancelled the data plan. I know darn well how to drive across country, thank you. Go that way, very fast. If something gets in your way, turn.

Anyway… so the smartphone happened that Autumn. And chromebooks and tablets and higher end models of smart phones, and faster tablets and chrome gadgets and cellular internet and unlimited data.

I was sitting in my apartment which – thanks to connected smart devices – literally turns off at 8:30, including the internet. And I picked up my smart phone and I looked at it. I said, “You’re the only wildcard here as far as my internet access is concerned. You’ve got to go.”

And so I tossed it.

A month after making a change, I’ve been on a flip phone. For a month. I’m not dead. Sometimes I leave the phone home because no one calls.

Downside

You know, kt9 texting can bite. If I’m going to text more than a few words, I’ll call you thank you. I can no longer text from my computer since it’s not a smartphone Google Messages don’t connect. I don’t have live streaming radio and music. I was particularly fond of using my unlimited data to access content in Hebrew to work on my immersion.

Upside

Where do I begin?

1. I’m no longer at everyone’s beck and call.
2. I’m no longer glued to a black monolith.
3. There’s no adult content on a flip phone.
4. There’s no mediae to consume.
5. There’s no way for you to contact me without a text or a call.
6. When I left the house last week without the phone I just shrugged my shoulders.
7. It’s much smaller and fits in my pockets easier and I’m not worried about breaking the screen.
8. It cost $90. In full.
9. Time.
10. Peace of mind.
11. Silence.
12. Prayer.
13. My desire to have the sum-total of human knowledge at my finger tips at all times was silly and egotistical.
14. My perceived need to get in touch with people instantly was silly and egotistical.
15. My sense of self importance because I can be got instantly was silly and egotistical.
16. I realized that your perceived need to get me instantly is actually your problem, not mine.

Now, I do consume mediae. My parents bought me a nice tablet a year ago for my birthday. I download music, audiobooks, podcasts… when I have my backpack, I carry it and listen via bluetooth. I cannot just decide to stream Kan Radio as I walk, but I can set it to record a few hours of Kan Gimmel (The Home of Israeli Music) and then listen to it later. I can also listen at home any time I want (until 8:30).

I have so much time now. But. I don’t. I’m still not back to that place in 1999, before the world changed. But I’m one step closer.