Saturday, June 28, 2014

wishing my phone a little more smartness, some zen and some 'gingerly' sense

As I was coming to terms with a huge mistake I did and blamed my phone for the same, I got a mailer from Indiblogger announcing a contest that asks to Give your phone a super power and tell us how it would help you see what others can't see and do what others can't do!

I wish my phone could alert me if I missed an urgent sms just as easily it lets me know when to take my supplements by set alarm. I wish it could be a real Zenphone. Well, now I can get my wish fulfilled it seems. Just like wishing for pocket phones in my teenage made me see this wonderful device later that can be carried in the pocket and that enables talking anywhere in the world. Who had imagined it 30 years ago. Yes I am old.

I am one of those old people who don't check their phones every now and then. Well, to clarify better I must add that I do it only when I am out of home and feeling bored in the company I am ;-)

But at home the phone is an abandoned device that is to be found sometimes with the home land line phone put to the only purpose it serves. Finding the lost cellphone..errr.... the 'smart'phone who can't even tell where it is lying.

The most irritating it becomes when I miss some important call or sms sent to me. Some of them really need instant attention and I just miss seeing them on time. The smart phone is not smart enough to let me know what I missed.

The most horrifying thing happened last week when a friend sent sms around dinner time that was not seen on time as usual. Later, well after midnight when I was winding up work I just checked my phone and saw the message that sounded like a minor health issue and I replied instantly. What else I could think eating garlic could do? My phone should have known what distress garlic caused when it received the sms about garlic sickness.

Next day I kept planning to call her as she had not replied to my message but it slipped out of my mind as usual. My phone should have reminded me to call, telling me how urgent it was.

And then I get a notification in my mail box that a post on her blog is trending on Twitter. The universe decided to tell me what the 'stupid' phone couldn't.

I click and check, crash landing here, the same night had been horrendous for her. I kicked myself for not having called her as soon as I saw the message in the midnight and also not to have seen the message on time. I blame my phone to not have warned me how urgent it was. I blame the smart technology to not differentiate between messages on a personal phone and suggest appropriate actions while the digital technology keeps suggesting options when you Google search. My phone should have had a filter to screen all the messages and tell me which one to address immediately.

Imagine, if a search engine can spy your mail and facebook interactions and suggest you adverts accordingly, how can cloud computing not suggest and alarm phone owners about urgent messages like this? I was really angry with myself but was equally blaming my 'smart'phone as well. Almost like we blame others for our mistakes sometimes.

So if you insist, I would equip my 'stupid' phone with a superpower so it can come to me like a tail wagging puppy whenever I call it and whenever an urgent message comes. I will give it a cute name I promise. 

Okay, I will name it Ginger as Garlic caused such a havoc. Garlic is bad however tasty it makes the food.

I would also give Ginger the superpower to sense the urgency and let me see the picture. Not the 3G type, real picture you see.

Ginger would know my schedule and set the alarm by itself, will come to me 'gingerly', wagging its tail to tell me what is the next thing on calender.

No I am not planning to become a vegetable human anytime soon, I am planning to get smarter with a phone that has a tail and walks 'gingerly' behind me ;-)