Technology and I

What do we think of technology? Like it or not we all have it around us and most of us take it for granted and to a great extent, we have become extremely dependent on it (and in many cases, we're addicted to it too!)

Just for a second, think about all the things that we use technology for ... that interweb net thing (which you are using right now)..... credit cards (what would we do without them?).... and last but certainly by no means least, the humble mobile phone.

Admit it, you've got one and you're addicted to it! I know I am! Take today for instance. I went out to the shops in the afternoon to have a brows around and pick up a couple of things. While driving down to the shopping centre, I realised that I didn't have my phone with me. My first reaction was a mild panic. Some of the things that went through my mind were

(a) What if someone tried to call me?
(b) What about all the text messages that I won't be able to respond to immediately?
(c) What if I want to call someone?
(d) Am I sure I don't have it with me? (at this point there was a brief pat around my pockets to see if, by chance, and by magic, it had appeared in one of my pockets.
(e) Shit - I don't have my phone .....
(f) How would I know what time it is? (for those of you that don't know, I don't wear a watch and my phone usually doubles as my time telling device!)
(g) Should I go home and get it?
(h) How long will this take?
(i) Will the shops be closed by the time I come back?
(j) How could I be so stupid as to leave my phone at home?
(k) Have I really left it at home? (another quick pocket check).

At this point, I was very seriously considering turning back and going home to get it. Having deliberated for about three and a half minutes, I decided that I would proceed to the shopping centre because

(1) I was only about 5mins away from the shopping centre.
(2) It was almost 4pm and the shops would be closing soon.
(3) The shops won't be open tomorrow as it will be Sunday !
(4) I've been told that there was a time, not too long ago, when people didn't have mobile phones and they seemed to manage ok

Having thought about it some more, I thought that this might be a good opportunity to test myself - would I be able to manage without my phone? Am I really addicted to it (as many people tell me I am)? I decided to carry on and see how long I would last without my phone.

As decisions go, this is probably the worst decision that I've made in a long time - it's right up there next to the time I thought that it would be interesting to stick one's finger into a spinning fan, just to see what happens and it's also up there with the instant when Bill Clinton had sex with Monica L.

In the 5 or so mins that it took me to drive to the shopping centre I checked to see if I had my phone at least twice more. I checked again once I stepped into the shopping centre and probably every 2-3 mins after that for the next 20mins. It's really weird. Deep down, I knew that I didn't have my phone on my and no matter how many times I looked for it, it's very unlikely that it would show up. Still, knowing this, I continued to check. At this point, I had already been in the shopping centre for approx 30mins. About an hour later, I realised that something really strange had happened - the phone-checking frequency increased from 2-3mins to 10-15min. I'm not sure why this was happening, but I have to admit, within that hour I had spent over 150euros! Perhaps, subconsciously, I was using retail therapy as a substitute for having my phone with me. Perhaps not having my phone with me gave me the freedom to spend. I guess we will never know, but something tells me it was the former rather than the latter !

Driving back home, the mild panic attacks started again - where exactly did I leave the phone? Would I have missed any calls? How about the text messages?

Needless to say, as soon as I walked through the door, I headed straight for my desk where my phone was blissfully lying that with two messages - one from Catherine wanting to know what the main three supermarkets are in Germany and the second from Natalie letting me know that she's all alone in Prague and will be going to Munich before returning to Vienna. There were no missed calls (Phew!).

To be perfectly honest, but I don't want to go through this experience again - panic attacks every few minutes can't be very good for you and it's just not worth it. Technology is all around us and I truly believe that we should use it to our advantage to make our lives happier and more comfortable. My relationship with my mobile phone is definitely very special to me and I promise to make every reasonable effort not to leave it at home ever again.

Ok, I will say it ..... My Name is Janith and I'm a Mobile-Phone-a-holic as well as a text-o-holic !