Let’s get one thing straight. I’m a PC person. A Windows woman. A Microsoft madame.
What can I say? I’ve been a technical editor for 15 years.
But I love my iPhone.
I didn’t think that switching from my old cell to a smartphone would make that much of a difference in my life. But it did. And as with other breakthrough technologies — the DVR, for example — once I started using it, I couldn’t imagine going back.
I now sleep with my iPhone. Why? Because it’s also my alarm clock. Oh, and I can text my friends at 11pm while I’m lying in bed, when I finally relax enough to remember what I forgot to tell them earlier.
I now spend more time at the park, the pool, the coffee shop … heck, just shopping. Why? Because I don’t have to stress about missing emails and phone calls while I’m away from my desk. I can actually enjoy being away — can let go of the dual ball-and-chain of the desktop PC and landline phone.
I now worry less. Why? Because my phone is also my calendar. Wherever I am, whenever something comes up, I can check my phone and make, confirm, or decline appointments. What a relief.
It’s also my personal assistant. Yesterday I had to pick up my niece from preschool at 3:00 pm — something I don’t normally do. So I set a special alarm on my phone to ring at 2:50. Then I dove into my work and didn’t think about the appointment again — until my alarm began trilling at 2:50 on the dot. Appointment kept, worry eliminated.
Maybe I’m addicted to my phone. I know that I now feel unbalanced, unsettled … unprotected, even, when it’s not in my pocket.
But if I’m addicted, so be it. There’s no going back. Because to me, the iPhone represents freedom. And I do love my freedom.
Thank you, Steve Jobs!
Samantha Enslen is a proposal editor and an inveterate PC user. She runs Dragonfly Editorial.