Technology is great. The advances in the medical field alone, in the last ten years…
Okay, but this isn’t about that. In my humble opinion, technology isn’t just for making things happen faster and supposedly (often) better. Technology is fun. I am certainly one to hop on any interesting-looking technology train when it comes along. I’m not an “early adopter,” though. Usually I don’t jump on the the little push-car that gets that train started. I wait till mid-train when things are moving a little slower and the cost is a little less.
Yeah, I’m not sure that metaphor works as well as I’d hoped.
Recently I wrote about getting a smart phone. I dragged my housemate into the 21st century shortly thereafter, and she is still muttering about those darn kids and her lawn. But I see her internetting on the go, and I know she reads books sometimes, and we sure text a lot more now that she gave up the flip phone…
And me? I’m still having fun. Since I wrote that post, I have found some more awesome apps.
I talked about Duolingo, Kindle, Cozi. Now I’m on Lose It! and – just found today – the S Health app on my Samsung Galaxy.
My health kick lately has been aided by Lose It! and a pedometer, but today I forgot to take my pedometer to work. “Moooomm…” my 16yo told me when she called about a lack of milk and I complained back at her. “Use your phone!”
Wait, what? My phone will track my activity all by itself? Then why would people need a Fitbit?
Turns out, yeah. My phone will count my steps for me. Coolness! I tried it out. Surprisingly enough, my little technological wonder does it better than my wee free powered-by-my-movements-apparently pedometer. It wasn’t fooled by me swinging it in my hand! It knew when I trotted up stairs! It was fun.
Okay, but maybe it’s a little much to walk around with my phone in front of me, watching the numbers go up.
To grab a friend and drag them along so they can see how cool it is that the numbers roll up as you walk.
And it’s probably silly to walk across the office for something, realize you forgot the phone, and go back and grab it then go on with whatever it was you were doing.
Yeah, that seems like it would be a bit much. But today I reached five thousand steps in my work day for the first time. My phone celebrated with me, with a good shake and a little trumpet note and trophy next to my step-count.
What will they think of next? Well…I just caught the tail-end of a Verizon commercial and saw that there’s an app that will find my car when I lose it in the parking lot.
Technology, man. It’s pretty awesome.
Yes, it is. 😀
Huzzah for technology!
I’ve only had a smartphone for a few years, so it’s still something of a novelty for me. Favourite things:
– the “next bus/streetcar” app — I can see where the next vehicle is (GPS!) and get a fairly accurate estimate of when it will be coming
– the ability to look up movie showtimes, restaurant reviews on Yelp, store opening hours and locations, city maps, etc. while I’m out and about
– having my calendar, my shopping list, and appointment reminders/alarms with me at all times (I just use the ones that came on the phone, no fancy apps)
And yes, I also use my phone for Internet browsing and texting. Next up: making better use of its photography and music-playing abilities. (VERY late adopter here.)
In other technology news, I got an ereader before I got a smartphone, and still use that more than the phone for reading books. My favourite thing about the ereader is that I can read big heavy books without killing my wrists/hands (or my back from hauling them around).
Other ereader benefits (vs. print, not vs. reading on smartphone):
– carrying several books at once without additional weight or space (e.g., while on vacation)
– saving shelf space
– saving money (ebooks are often cheaper than print, and out-of-copyright ones are free)
– the ability to search in-book (especially useful for giant fantasy tomes) and to look up definitions of words without leaving the page I’m on
– the ability to change font size (some older paperbacks have teeny tiny print)
I expect I’ll always read and own print books as well. But it’s nice to have options. 🙂