And Then My Phone Died

I knew it was coming even though there had been no warning signs. “It’s not going to live forever,” I was told, but I didn’t believe it. But when Jodie’s phone died suddenly a few months ago—working one moment and then totally uncommunicative the next—I began making preparations. I was ready but I never expected it to happen so soon.

One day last week I checked my phone in the office to see if I had any new messages. The screen was black. Maybe the phone was turned off? Maybe a restart was needed? Nothing worked.

Luckily there is a phone repair shop just outside my building. The salesman/technician began a careful investigation into the source of my phone’s failure to respond. “It’s the motherboard,” he concluded, when I returned to the shop an hour later.

Everything was in my phone. Calls, contacts, codes. Camera, social media, messaging—the necessities of life. Not to mention Waze and Maps to navigate; a clock to wake me up in the mornings; an app to track my running. Music, podcasts, ordering taxis and coffee, and reading the news—I use my phone for everything.

The phone was dead. How could I live without it?

Seven years ago, I wrote in a blog article: “My phone serves its original purpose. I use it to make and receive phone calls.”

I wrote of owning a dinosaur-era mobile phone. I was far behind the times back then. I had yet to own a smartphone!

I recall the days when I used paper maps when I traveled. Back then, in pre-history, I called people when I wanted to communicate with them. I had an actual camera for taking pictures and an alarm clock on the shelf next to my bed.

And, I managed just fine.

But now my phone was dead. Luckily, this was a problem easily solved. I pulled out my credit card and within minutes I was up and running with a new phone. A fancier model with more storage and a stronger battery, and all at a cheaper price than what I had paid for the last one.

I held a page in my hand listing all the apps I needed to install, all the passwords that would give me access, all the settings that would get me back to where I wanted to be. Where I needed to be. I had prepared for this moment!

My phone was dead. Long live my new phone!

Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash.

Related article:

My Dinosaur Era Mobile Phone