My Electronic Companion!!

"Always be pressing my buttons, mane!"

My 'Torch' into the world was diminished the day I forgot my Blackberry at home. Er - don't tut and roll your eyes at me; we all know how it feels the moment you realise you left your beloved phone behind. For me, that sinking feeling came a week ago as I was stepping onto the train to work. Even though I normally read a book or the paper on the train and shouldn't technically miss the phone, all I could do was think about it, left all alone on the charger with no-one to respond to its random noises or acknowledge its red bleeps (aww, diddums!). Once I'm at work, I can pretty much use the work phone and access any social site to contact my family and friends but I'm at a lost when I'm waiting for a bus to the station with nothing to 'fiddle' with (keep it watershed, ladies and gents!), so it really shouldn't have been too much of a deal ...

Honestly, I'm not a maniac (well, not completely) but I thought it would be interesting to explore just how much we depend on our phone nowadays and more precisely, the smartphone. I treat my Torch like my personal PA; it's my shopping list, my wishlist, my light into the social world. My notepad, my dictionary and my compass should I get lost. My methodology for remembering birthdays, my camera for those special moments and alarm clock. It even - and get this - enables me to speak to people via a mini microphone and if I don't remember the number, there's this app call 'Phonebook' that enables me to look it up (with another app to stop me from having to speak to those I'd prefer not to - ha!).

But that's my point, our phones are such a significant tool within the modern life that it only becomes apparent when you've either forgotten it or lost it. But being so dependable in more ways than I have already mentioned, how could it not be? On a BDSSer night out a few months back, our BDSSer Bi even found the time and signal in the club to examine potential properties (granted, the place was dry) showing just how integrated our lil assistants are in our everyday lives.

However, I liken it to our very own electronic pet since it demands attention in return for fulfilling so much for us. Eager to stay on form, it practically throws a strop when it's in need of some juice (i.e. battery power), becomes erratic when it has a fever (i.e. caught a bug), and appreciates a stroke or two (i.e. a good wipe of the screen!). Some of us even go as far as to find it a lovely coat to protect it from the elements (i.e. case).

Those of us with Blackberries had real problems getting our 'pets' to behave last week when Blackberry Messenger went down lol; it was a real pandemonium. I had rebooted mine about 3 times before I figured it had to be something else. Alas, I must hang my head in shame and admit that I pulled out my 2nd Blackberry to send a 'test' message to the 1st one as my mini experiment. It got to the point where BDSSer Sel and I labelled the messages we sent with the time we were sending them lol. What made me laugh is that even in the midst of an obvious problem, you still had those serial broadcasters sending their ' if you don't send this on your whole phone's operational system will be deleted' crap (or something to that ridiculous effect). A system update a few days later and all was well.

I remember the days when you had a diary, an actual alarm clock (or in some cases, a mother!), an A-Z,  MSN and then a simply Sony Ericsson (or BT Cellnet for the unfortunate ones!) - those days are long gone and have been replaced by our lil electronic companions that seem to do it all. Not so much I wouldn't know what to do without it, but I can honestly say I'd struggle a whole heap going back to the pre-smartphone era.

I hope to be as appreciative of the Playbook; when I eventually get one!

Do you have an Electronic Companion? Be it your tablet or laptop, your mp3 player or your kindle, is it something you'd struggle to do without?