Smart phone, dumb user

I have finally embraced the new millennium: I bought a smart phone.

I did it reluctantly. I hate learning new technology. I'd rather have to face a shambling horde of zombies than learn new technology.

I've never been one of those people that runs out and buys every new gadget the second it comes out. If it were up to me, I'd keep using my same old gadgets forever. I try . . . oh do I try to hang on to the old technology as long as I can . . . but eventually I'm always forced to upgrade (I hate, hate, HATE those Microsoft emails: "As of such-and-such date, we will no longer be supporting product so-and-so").

The one benefit I could see from having a smart phone is that it would be a handy tool for a writer. Most have an app that's compatible with Office, so you can write notes (or scenes, etc.) and transfer them to the computer (my old phone took "notes," but then everything had to be retyped into the computer).

My smart phone also has voice-to-text, so I can dictate notes while I'm driving . . . that is, if I ever figure out how it works. I'll probably still be saying, "Wait? My phone can do THAT?" three or four years from now.

I've been using an embarrassingly old phone for several years. So long, in fact, that my account was flagged with a note that said, "Give this woman a gift card if you can pry her dinosaur phone out of her hands").

I even upgraded to the old phone (which was my first text-enabled, keyboard phone) reluctantly. Every time hubby mentioned upgrading my old flip-phone to a text-enabled one, I'd say, "What do I need that for? Damn, new-fangled technology." But I upgraded anyway since the phone was free with contract, and I was hooked. One look at the bill told me how much more I used texting than calling: call usage, 6 minutes;
text usage, 743.

Okay, so maybe I was wrong about texting. Maybe I DID need texting.

I felt the same way about smart phones. "What do I need all that junk for? Damn new-fangled technology. Like I have time to play Angry Birds."

But then I got a really good deal on a Droid. And though I'm in mass confusion over the thing, I can already see it's going to come in handy for my writing life (besides just the Office and text-to-voice apps).
For starters, I'll be able to Tweet from my phone. I tend to neglect a lot of my social media sites, but I love Twitter. And since I can post to Facebook from the phone, too, maybe I won't neglect FB as much. I can also access this blog from the phone and even post and check my beloved Hootsuite (which handles the posts for many of my other social media sites).

The more I explore the available apps, the more I find to make my writing life easier.
The steady march of technology is truly amazing. It won't be long until we have something we can just plug into our ear and we can just "think" our idea, and the device will transfer our thoughts to text and put it into a Word document for us.

And I'll probably still be saying, "What do I need that for? Damn new-fangled technology."