Why I'm happy with my Dumb Phone

The other day, I was answering some pressing questions regarding the mechanical function of a gas pump when my phone rang. It was a call I'd been expecting and needed to take to get a quick answer.

Having exhausted my gas pump knowledge (easily accomplished within ten seconds), I assumed the subject had been fully discussed and I told Big Girl, "I need to take this, just a minute, please."

Well, one minute was not actually one minute, and when I got off, she very calmly said, "Mom, I was talking to you and you interrupted. Whenever I interrupt grownups you tell me to wait but you interrupted me."

Wow. She was right. In my mind, the subject had been thoroughly hashed out, but she wasn't finished yet. I should have asked her if she was done before turning my attention to someone else.


There have been many times I've been interrupted by life one way or another when having long discussions with Big Girl (she is nothing if not thorough in her quest for knowledge.) Obviously, I can't neglect every interaction but her mature statement of her feelings made me realize that at least once too often, I made the wrong choice for that moment.

I'm sure everyone has seen the articles circulating on Facebook about Moms on iPhones and the various rebuttals. I take a middle of the road stance on that particular topic. I don't want to be glued to my phone to the exclusion of my children, but I also think children need to learn that Mom (or Dad) doesn't need to witness every tiny detail of their lives. I think you can take things to an extreme either way.

My extreme is a super obsessive personality. Collections are out of the question. When I find an author I like, I read all his or her books back to back like I can't get enough. I researched cloth diaper brands for close to six hours (after kids were in bed) before going with my first choice. When I started blogging, I planned to blog every day and almost threw in the towel when that didn't work.

So an iPhone plus an obsessive personality to me spells disaster. I need the un-accessibility at times. I need to be unplugged from the world and know it will be okay if I miss a Facebook message or a once in a lifetime deal on Craigslist, etc. Strangely, cheapness doesn't really factor into my decision.

I just last year got a phone with a pull out keyboard for texting, which is a great source of amusement to Little Girl. I can also take pictures and have a choice of four different ringtones. Whoa.

I can count on one hand the number of times an iPhone might have come in handy over the past year and each time, there has been a simple solution.

1. We were looking for the farmer's market and the billboard advertising it only posted the website, not the location. Solution: call someone to look it up. When they didn't answer, I did what people have been doing since Lewis and Clark (and way before) and followed my inner compass. Found the farmer's market in 30 seconds.

2. I needed to run errands but was waiting on someone to Facebook message me back. Solution: send them a Facebook message explaining I would be unavailable until x time and to please call or text me at my number.

3. I got stuck in a ditch out of town in the middle of nowhere. Solution: I looked on my car GPS to find a towing company, then when they couldn't help me, I had them give me three other potential numbers. That one's a stretch because cell phone service was spotty anyway so I'm not sure if a smart phone would have improved my experience.