Demons of Technology
We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.
As usual, I was among the last people on earth to get a smart phone. I think there are three tribesmen in the jungles of Brazil who still don’t have them, but I finally do. I’ve even learned to make phone calls on them, although that, apparently, is not the primary purpose for having one.
Most people I know text, work their emails, read books, watch movies, play all sorts of games, and do just about everything except talk on them. I text now and then, glance at my emails once in a while, and make or receive two or three phone calls a day on mine—well, on a busy day.
The main reason I bought it was to use the Android GPS on a recent vacation. Sorta like the time years ago I bought some motivational course because I wanted the tape recorder that came with it. By the way, all my decisions are rational. I never do anything on impulse. Ever . . .
Anyhow, the primary function of my smart phone is to weight down my shirt pocket. I know, I could carry it in my pants pocket, but by the time I retrieve it from there, whoever called me has made three more calls.
So why would this phone, which I use so rarely, run out of juice and need to be recharged in the middle of the day. I knew when I got it that, unlike my old cell phone, which needed a charge maybe once a week, this one would need to be charged every night, but this fool thing wouldn’t even last that long.
I took it to the AT&T store where Chris, the friendly and helpful manager, told me it was because I left my navigation function on and that it sucked juice out. He showed me how to turn it off. (Okay, laugh that I had to be shown.) That made it last much better than before. It would make it to mid-afternoon without a charge.
After putting up with this for a while, I went back to see Chris again. This time he called someone in his company’s technical department. When he got off the phone, he told me that my Pantech Burst had a normal battery life of around eight hours before it had to be recharged. There was nothing wrong with my phone—just with my expectations.
*Censored* *Smoke escaping from ears*
Should I accept that or see about going back to my old dumb phone? I really gave this serious consideration, especially since I didn’t take much advantage of the features and capabilities of this one.
A couple of weeks ago my twelve year-old nephew was at our house while his mother, my wife and their older sister looked at family photos. Nick decided to join us men in the den rather than listening to all the cackling in the kitchen.
Like most kids his age, he sat playing with his smart phone most of the time. At some point during the afternoon I mentioned my gripe with my phone and he piped up and told me I needed Juice Defender.
Juice Defender?
Yep. He told me it was a free app I probably just needed to activate.
I should have handed him my phone right then and asked him to do it for me, but I missed that opportunity. I couldn’t find it among my apps, so I looked it up online, but I couldn’t download it from there. Back to Chris at the AT&T store.
Chris wasn’t familiar with the app, but he found it on my phone and activated it. It was free.
I don’t know what kind of magic hocus-pocus this app provides, but all of a sudden I find that my phone uses less than half the battery juice it used to use. I still have to charge it every night, but it’s usually only down about fifty per cent when I plug it in instead of being totally dead.
You’d still laugh how little I understand about it, but at least it holds a charge decently now. If you have this problem with yours, try Juice Defender. It saved mine from the junk heap.
Finally, after having this phone for two months, I’m almost happy with it. I wonder, though—why do they put the volume control on the side where your fingers naturally fit when you hold it? Apparently I turn the ring volume down all the time, and then I can’t hear it when it rings. *Sigh*
Do you have problems with any of the devices modern technology has placed in our hands to make us feel foolish? No? Then you’re almost certainly under fifty and likely much younger than that.
Tell us about your struggles with or victories over the demons of technology.
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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.
For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.
Contact him at davwalktx@yahoo.com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx
Filed under: Miscellaneous Tagged: AT&T, David N. Walker author, Juice Defender, Pantech Burst, smart phones
