the cost of Staying connected

Note: Originally posted on social media, Aug.20, 2019. I still have bad luck with phones. It never annoys me anymore. I am lucky to have a way to stay connected. There are big problems in the world, but this isn't one of them. 

The Cost of Staying Connected
What does this photo represent?
a)a yard sale b) a big spender c)a techno geek d) a hoarder e) other.
​Three years ago I bought my first mobile phone. I resisted for a long time. My kids hated when I was travelling & they had no way to contact me. (They seem to have gotten over that ). I was fine to stop at local courthouses (where there is always a payphone) & check in with somebody once in awhile.

At the age of 21, I traveled around Europe. My only connection with my parents was the letters we exchanged via planned American Express offices. Phone calls were too expensive and saved for important communications (I ran out of money, I visited your cousin in England, I'm getting married....that kind of thing ). I used a camera with film. I lost film. Some of it overheated and some of it was double-exposed. Photos from that time in my life are mostly blurry, but I love them. I don't have many. That seems to be okay.

My first mobile phone was kind of fun and it had a great camera. I took alot of pictures, maybe 7000 or more - because clearly I need 7000 photos in a cloud somewhere. Ha! Six days after the two-year warranty ran out, my first phone died. It was a sad and frustrating day. I was convinced by the salesperson at the store to go with a better phone this time. Better? I want that camera! Nope. They don't make it anymore. I gave in to the "better" more expensive phone. A pretty good camera they promised. One year warranty. 3000 photos and a year & four days later, it died. I was mad and frustrated this time. "Does your company plan this?" I asked the poor kid at the phone store. I've heard of this 'planned obsolescence' thing. He queried me on whether I really believed their company would plant something in the phone so it would die immediately after the warranty expired. "I don't know. Do you know how they put these together in China?" I asked? No answer. Ok. I seriously just didn't want another phone. But how could I do that? My life is set up around the convenience of this thing. Airbnb guests. Texting my kids. Checking emails when I travel. Posting pictures on Facebook. OMG! They've got me. I just want a simple old phone. Please? "Well, you could get a flip phone, but by the end of 2019 it will no longer work" the salesperson said with a shrug or a smirk or both, I'm not sure. He mentioned something about needing a 4g phone. What? Oh for the love of Pete! Sigh. Alright then. Give me the phone. The case. The screen protector. The insurance. Headphones come with the new one? Whatever. I'm crossing the border. I need a phone and a camera. Done.

Two weeks later I return from my trip with a crack in the back of my phone(long story). Superficial damage, no worries, I've got insurance. Oh there's a deductible? What? $200? That is more than what my very first phone! Forget it. I'll live with a crack Fast forward 3 weeks and I'm travelling again. Phone dies. Because of the crack I have to pay the $200 to replace it. Four days after receiving the second phone, it dies. Same symptoms. Same death. No time to send me a new phone. I'm leaving the next day, so I have to buy a temporary phone until I get home. I'm staying in a casita in the desert by myself my last night. I need to be in contact with the shuttle driver. One cannot be without a phone! First world problems I know, but how did I get here? I arrive home, order my new phone then go to return my temporary phone(I was told I could do this within 14 days). Nope. We can't accept that. It's not from a corporate store so you have to return it to that particular retailer. Lucky for me, there's one an hour from here. So I have two more days to make that trip. As I look at all these boxes, packages, gadgets and dead phones, I'm asking myself, "Are we really the most intelligent species? Top of the food chain? Biggest smarty pants?" Joke's on us & our opposable thumbs

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