Technology Scares Me.

I didn't get a cell phone until I was 23 years old.  That was about 6 or 7 years ago.  Not that I'm old, but kids these days can hardly believe that no one had cell phones when I was in high school.  My first phone was a really cute little flip phone that I bedazzled with pink self-adhesive rhinestones.  Oh yes I did.  My second phone was another flip phone sans bedazzling.  It seemed like everyone had that same phone at the time:  my then-boyfriend (now ex), my cousins, everyone.  Then everyone upgraded except for me.  It worked just fine for me, so there was no reason to upgrade.  I didn't need a fancy smartphone.  What the hell would I do with all that capability at my fingertips anyway?  I barely texted.

Then, it happened.  My screen wouldn't work.  It was time to upgrade.  I had my beloved flip phone for close to 4 years.  It was time to upgrade.  I walked into the phone store and told them, "I need a real keyboard because the touch screens scare me, and I need to access facebook."  I left with a lovely BlackBerry.  I loved that thing!  I slept with it under my pillow.  The little blinking red light beckoned me to see who called or emailed or texted or facebooked.  I even used the bbm feature.  The guy I had been dating for about a month when I got the phone made my screen name "Miss Cuss-a-lot," mostly because of my potty mouth.  My beloved CrackBerry, I mean, BlackBerry has been through a lot with me.  I dropped the poor thing more than I care to admit.  Text message conversations (mostly with boys) were read verbatim to my closest girlfriends for the purpose of analyzing every word and intention.  Tons of pictures of my dog were taken.  Facebook was checked obsessively.  Voicemails piled up because I really hate listening to them unless I have to.  What happened to me?  Wasn't I the girl content to have a flip phone with only 400 text messages on my plan that didn't need all the fancy stuff?  Now I don't listen to voicemails??  It's amazing how quickly we adapt.

Sadly, my BlackBerry (aka My Precious), started to go the way all cell phones must go eventually.  After nearly two years of faithful service, it began to die after being unplugged for only 20 minutes.  It was annoying as all hell.  Just this weekend, I upgraded.  I got a refurbished LG Quantum.  This thing is fancy.  It even has a touch screen that I am already becoming adept at using.  And I already downloaded 12 apps, including Angry Birds.  I can finally see what all the fuss is about on that one.  During this transition to the new phone, I have been declaring my uncertainty with technology.  I imagine the new phone being scared of me breaking it.  I guess what I'm really scared of is that I'll prove too stupid for the device I'm using.  In reality, on-line tutorials and some good old-fashioned playing around is all it takes to master the unknown.