This week is all about mobile devices.
On a recent holiday, we realised how much we used our mobiles after an unfortunate incident of a £400+phone bill for using the internet (Because we forgot to purchase the cheap roaming!). Since then I have downloaded the Data Manager app to see exactly how much I am using my mobile – and how much more I need to utilise Wi-Fi. Although I never actually reach my contracted limited on MB!
So how did I get to being so immerse in this digital culture after so much resistance?! I had my first mobile in 2001 at the age of 24. It wasn’t until 2008 that I had a mobile that accessed the internet – or one that I used anyway. The assistants in mobile shops would look at me funny when I said I just wanted it for texts and calls! I tried a kind of Smartphone in 2008 and hated it – although functionality was not so good with the touch screens then. My partner got an android about 6 months before. It wasn’t until 2011 that I finally started using the internet on my phone (Samsung – it’s always Samsung – that’s 2 plugs in this blog now!) – to look at forums for H807. Then I got my Smartphone in the later part of 2011. (So you see – I haven’t really used it for long).
I joined Facebook in 2009. I started using eBay in 2010. I deleted most of the people I ‘know’ on Facebook in 2012. Close friends and colleagues and family only now – I went from over 300 friends to 68 in one day. For volunteers and other colleagues, I am happy to know them through Linked in. But I don’t really use this account very much. I joined Google + but only know 6 people! I use Google reader to catch up on blogs.
So – you don’t really realise how quickly a device can change the way you do things, how you can get addicted or connected. I still text my mum and dad and close friends. I Facebook my brothers and sisters. I email colleagues mostly.
Mobile devices can be useful. While sailing we have used a chart GPS app to plot locations (especially useful when the GPS provided is not very good). At a recent teambuilding we went satellite geocaching. We used our phones to look up answers, and to phone the other groups – so we could strategically answer the questions and make it back quicker – so they didn’t have to think of the answers when they got to the hotspot. On a recent training trip to Northern Ireland there was no phone signal, and my laptop had the Wi-Fi device disabled. My phone was crucial.
I have adapted my mobile to suit my daily life. But does it blur the boundaries. My Smartphone is used for Facebook, eBay, internet access(like who is that actor or finding a recipe), emails, as a clock, as a music player....and as a phone. I do have a work blackberry and keep access to work emails on that, not on Smartphone – although I sometimes get tempted to look at them. I also have a kindle (actually I have stolen it from my partner!) for downloading my papers so I can read on the commute to and from work. This has truly revolutionised my study. I travel for 2 – 3 hours a day, and so can get lots of reading done. I plan my week at the start and download everything I need in preparation.
So there is some compartmentalisation. I am not sure that I could be without my phone now. Although I do NORMALLY switch it off while on holiday. I don’t really look at it while at work and don’t take it to lunch. And it stays on the fireplace most weekends.
Looking at what I use it for is interesting though. My job now is different. I train and enjoy the subject I work in. Study is part of my free time and overlaps with my work areas. So life has a blurring of boundaries- but I don’t think that is a bad thing. When I was a pub manager, I didn’t have/do these things. There was a clear distinction between ‘life’ and ‘work’. But then I was working 60 hours a week in a very busy trade. Now I work 35 hours a week in a less frenetic organisation. I have more choice in what I do. I know how to ‘Switch off’ from all areas.
So, my name is Sam , and I am a mobile technology addict!
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