Life Before Cell Phones

As everyone knows David's cell phone went kaput in Minnesota. So David's been using Alpa's cell phone during the trip. I talked to him shortly yesterday. Enough to know that they enjoyed the game and that they were eating Chipotle and Quiznos in their hotel room, watching the rest of the NFL games. I stayed up waiting for a phone call later in the evening. Unexpectedly, I received a phone call from Sita saying that Alpa's phone was almost dead, and to conserve minutes she was telling me goodnight from David. At first I didn't understand, then finally realized he didn't take his charger with him. I guess his cell phone tends to keep a charge oftentimes up to a week so he didn't think it'd be an issue. However, as what I thought with David's phone, I'm sure both of their phones were searching for service the entire time they were in the Mall of America and that runs your battery low. Just a guess. So that leads us to today. I received another phone call from Sita telling me that their flight was probably going to be delayed by an hour. At this point the phone is basically dead, because as they talk it's beeping telling them it's about to run out of battery life. After our conversation my mind started reeling, because they have a layover in Chicago and have a very short period of time to get from one gate to the next. I just figured they're more than likely going to miss their connecting flight. Before jumping to conclusions I hopped online to check the status of their flights. Looks like their fligh left only about 40 minutes late and their connecting flight is running on a 1 hour delay at this point. Whew. So hopefully they won't miss a flight, but will just end up getting home later than planned. I don't know when we'll hear from them or even if we'll hear from them.

This whole cell phone thing ircked me to begin with. However, being a part of the "Analyzing Family" I started to analyze and pick apart the situation. Now I'm just thinking to myself, "How can we learn from this?" As for the phone dying, you can't do much about that. And the obvious answer that comes to mind is to take your cell phone charger. But I'm looking at it even deeper than that. What did we do before cell phones? We survived. Yes, I know, hard to believe, but we did. Don't get me wrong, I think technology is awesome and I couldn't imagine life any other way. It has made life so much easier...or has it? I hate the feeling of walking out the door and if I forget my phone I feel as thought I'm missing a limb. Or if the internet doesn't work you feel like your world's going to end. Oftentimes it can become more frustrating than helpful. Not to mention it's made us even more needy of individuals. We expect our friends and family to be available at a drop of a hat whether it be for them to call you or you to be able to reach them at any time. And vice versa. So all this analyzing begs to question, what would happen if you just stopped using your cell phone cold turkey. I'm sure you'd have withdrawal and some anxiety first, but then would get used to your old ways. Maybe you'd become less needy, and not expect so much from those around you too.

This thought process then lead me to think about something else. I've always wondered and pondered the idea of simplifying my life. You know, the minimalist type of mindset, where individuals have just what they need and nothing more. It's an interesting concept. However, thinking about the idea makes me feel that it'd close to impossible for me to be able to get to that point. I'm sure it'd be a heck of a lot cheaper though. But it's something that you have to go fully into and not just halfway. Kind of like being a vegetarian. I know in other's eyes you have different levels of being a vegetarian but in my mind it's either or. Hmmm...something to think about.

Enough analyzing for now. That is, until my mind is taken over by another situation which leads me through the entire process of pondering and analyzing again.