Tracey Jackson

WAS IT GOOD FOR YOU? HAND ME MY iPHONE

Apr 23, 2012•by tracey •Comments

I have been trying to wean myself off spending eighteen hours a day online.  Having gone to the Genius Bar four times in one week, and finally letting them strip my computer and then me, moi and I had to actually put everything back on.  I used to have someone do this for me. But I decided it was time to take the big girl step and learn how to wrangle this machine to the ground or at least get it working or at least be able to back everything up and then reinstall it. And you know what I did it!!!! Big back pat. I am not scared by the spinning wheel anymore.

Though I was  sweating bullets and it took hours and hours of labor. And one hysterical call to Apple Support, where when the guy asked me how I was I said “about to jump out the window.” Otherwise I was a veritable computer wiz.

Then yesterday in the New York Times there was an article called THE FLIGHT FROM COVERSATION about how many of us are on our own little islands  using only our smart phones and computers as our way of communicating. This  has resulted in people being more isolated than ever before while they think they have never been more connected. This is not the first time this has been stated, but it’s a song one hears more and more. And I personally feel the impact.

I have made three steps to lessen my addiction. I still need this guy, my little man who seems to prefer his buddies in the Apple Store to me. But we are going to spend a bit of time apart each week.  I am proclaiming Sunday offline day.  I hope I can stick to it. I did yesterday.

I’m also trying to not stare at my iPhone all the time.
I am stopping myself before I reach for it seven thousand times a day. It’s rather like when one quits smoking, that impulse to light up, you stop and say “Do I need this? ‘ I literally stopped myself twenty-five times today;  Seven before I even got to my office. Three in the cab, one while waiting to pay for some wrapping paper, one while ordering my coffee, another while the guy made someone else’s and then when he handed me mine and I took the first sip…. Ah, an email to go with that morning cup of coffee. I wonder how many people reach for their devices for a post coital email check? Not nearly as sexy as the post coital cigarette. Remember the feel and look of the smoke curling out of your mouth,  coupled with  some sexy conversation?  Compare that to, ” Wow, Apple is down two percent in after hours trading, and I emailed Dirk at four I wonder if that means the deal won’t close?”

So, while I will still be very attached to my iPhone, I need a life without it.

And last but not least I signed up for Rescue Time. I actually did this last week. Rescue Time is a free site that tells you how much time you  are wasting and how much time you are actually being productive. Are you sitting at your desk and getting your work done, or are you spending twenty minutes looking at  the destination wedding photos of someone on Facebook you don’t actually know? Rescue Time will tell you, and at the end of the week it sends you a graph telling you if you  were productive or sucked into the vortex of Gilt Group, Tweetdeck and Gawker for much of the day.

I also made a vow that I would not spend most nights glued to this thing. I would get my blogging done early or blog shorter many days. I would devote more time to my family. Glenn and I actually used to watch movies in the evenings or TV and read together. Lately we are each at our own command central.  It does not help your sleep or your love life if you work right up until bed.

There is the proverbial time and place for everything,  though thanks to all this technology everything seems to be in every place and we are often not in the place we are actually in.

Lucy and  have a regular Monday night date with Gossip Girl. Tonight is extra special as my friend David Patrick Columbia is on it.

So as Gossip Girl says…xoxo