Untapping the Glass

As I get older, I realize that there is a lot more to do in a day than there used to be. On a typical day, I wake up, check the weather on my iPhone, get e-mail, get dressed for work, make breakfast and head to the office.

 The fact that the first thing I do in the morning, besides reaching for the snooze bar another time, is to grab my iPhone. A small computer has simply taken over my life in less than a year.

I am not dissatisfied by this turn of events, just surprised. In most ways, my phone makes me more efficient. I  do volunteer work, and it's a breeze to check my e-mails without getting entangled with work items. I get a lot more accomplished in a day, and I am better organized with the calendar feature. I've not missed a doctor's appointment, or a birthday of a family member. I can even send them a digital greeting card with another app.

But there is some unpleasantness. I am constantly looking down at this tiny screen and I realize that I'm taking in too much information. I don't need to skim through 10-12 blogs per day, but I typically do. I don't need to ravenously follow celebrities on Twitter, but I do.

On the flip side, I've been able to be more social. This has led to the pleasant side effect of rediscovering my passion for collecting records and music. I guess it's a mixed bag, but I feel I have learned to temper my taps with real face time, not the Apple-trademarked video chat service, but actual physical presence among other flesh and blood humans.

For now, I will share my latest music sampling, The Black Angels, Phosphene Dream. It's a new-wave psychadelic style band that a real-life human introduced me to.

My maxim for the day, when it comes to my iPhone:

Things won't start looking up until you do.