Local View: Cellphones bring new set of frustrations.
I am temporarily without the use of a cellphone. The ordeal began at 4:30 p.m. one day recently and ended out of exhaustion at 8:30 p.m.
My sin was to attempt to replace an ailing and old smartphone with a new one.
I was sent home with the new “device” — this is what a phone is now called — and with written instructions. The first item should have given us a clue of the difficulties to come. It asked to read a “text” — a text is now what a message is called — on the “old device.”
But the old device was traded in and stayed at the phone store. The incredible saga continued with at least 35 calls to the “solution specialist.” This techsavvy lady, by the way, has not set up her voicemail and her email account is “nonworking.”
Myriad calls to a variety of levels, both at carrier and phone manufacturer, served only to verify the fact that in this modern age, generations do not and cannot understand each other, as hard as we try.
Today I understand my doctor better than I comprehend a young tech-industry employee. This is good, because given a choice, I would rather understand the person who might keep me alive. My prayer to God is that in 35 years, he (or she) will create a new tech generation, and that the current generation will be cursed, as we old folks have been, to suffer the indignity of being thought of as stupid, slow-witted, feeble-minded, senile and probably worse.
So if you need to talk with me, Reach me at home. I will pick up my old Ma Bell black wall-mounted telephone and cordially greet you. I hope this column, borne out of a deep and sincere frustration, serves to motivate others. As I learned in typing class in my old red-brick high school: “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.” If you remember this, you are my kind of person.
Peace and love to all, and pray for me. I am returning to the phone store. As a peaceloving person, I will be unarmed. I will ask my mother, resting in peace, to provide me soothing calmness from above to address this challenge as the gentleman that I believe to be. Thanks for listening, I feel better already.