My Phirst Fone

Cellular Phones. Ugh. 

One of my friends is on her 5th Cellphone.

One of my friends bought a brand new phone because it was blue, 

and then realized that the blue was really just a sticker. 

One of my friends left his phone on the bus and never saw it again.
One of my friends is forever complaining about her phone contract. 

You probably have a story too. 

Well last week was a rather gloomy one for me, 

as I said goodbye to, and reflected on My First Phone. 

I was 19 when I bought my first cell phone. I was the last of all of my friends and most of my peers. When it comes to technology I'm a late bloomer. With such a large university campus, in such a large city, and such a large number of friends (I had almost 40 contacts.. woah!), it became quite important for me to have a cellphone if I wanted to have relationships with new people. Lately my phone has been developing new features every week. First it decided to stop showing me who was sending me text messages, then it stopped saving messages to my outbox, and last week the speaker stopped working and I was unable to hear incoming calls. Features, not flaws. It added some mystery to my life. 

I caved. I went to the phone store and asked them for a non-fancy phone that was just like the one I was ready to retire. Would you believe that they ONLY have fancy touch screens or super basic flip phones? What happened to the phones with buttons? I like buttons. I like sewing buttons, big red buttons, and buttons on my phone. In fact the sales lady looked at my as if I had three heads when I told her I wanted a basic phone with simple features. I had to explain to her that I'm not a "phone person". 

Long story short, I bought the simplest phone that wasn't a bulky flip phone. It is, I regret to inform you, a touch screen, and apparently it is an "Android" which I think means it can use the internet? maybe? Anyway, it only stays charged for about a day, and it looks pretty fragile. It is also much more difficult to use, I even did the grownup thing and sat and read the ENTIRE user manual. The manual, for the record, did not come with the phone, you have to look them up on the internet now, but the good news is you can do it on your phone...if you KNOW HOW! For those of you who know me well, you know this is terrible news, as I lose my phone ALL THE TIME. Either the couch starts ringing, or the pillow buzzes, or I find it in the car a week later. 

My old phone lasted 4 years, stayed charged for a week, was petite, and never had a scratch (even though all it went through), and it properly texted all of my messages. My new phone is built not to last, stays charged for one day, is much bigger, has a thin screen, and often mistakes "I"s for "Os" and "K"s for "L"s. My old phone was so simple to use. For a so called SmartPhone this one isn't a very smart phone, it can't even open the lovely picture text messages my mother sends me of my guinea pigs without being on the internet. I just fail to see how this is progress. Sure my new phone looks prettier than my last, but that's about the only positive difference, and I don't really care about looks. Shouldn't phones be progressing to stay charged longer, to be sturdier, and for each letter to have it's own button? I guess this is just a reminder that newer, flashier, and fancier isn't always better. 

I'm sorry I'm so sour. I'm going to miss my old phone, but I guess an "upgrade" (if that's realllly what it is) is good once and a while.

Welcome, new phone :)