It’s true, I’m afraid. I am living in the technological Dark Ages. Prepare yourselves, people, for some frightening lack of electronic sophistication.
I have the world’s oldest, ugliest cell phone on the planet. It doesn’t flip or slide or any of that cool stuff — it’s just one of those oldies with the screen right above the keypad. Ring tones? Bwahahahaha. I think not. Camera? Nope. Whilst the rest of the world is clicking photos left and right and sending them hither and yon on their cellular contact list, yours truly doesn’t have that capability.
Over dinner the other night a friend was telling the rest of us how she has to “toss off” with her new cell phone. Not wanting to look any more pathetic than I already do, I said nothing but I was lost. I have no clue what “tossing off” is. Actually, it sounds like something…never mind, probably best not to go there.
Yet another friend was talking about setting the alarm on her phone rather than the alarm on her bedroom clock. I…uh, am pretty sure my cell phone doesn’t have an alarm. If it does I am dead certain I don’t know where/how to find it. 
Bluetooth? Hands free chatting? Y’all know, I don’t even have to say it. (H)
Okay, so let’s hear it. Where do you fall on the technological spectrum?
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I’m a techie. I have 4 digital cameras. My cell has a nifty keypad for texting, though I don’t do that much, as well as a camera. I have 4 mp3 players. A netbook computer and 2 desktops.
I love gadgets.
My phone flips open, and it does have an alarm (there is a tools menu if I click enough buttons to look for it). But otherwise, it sounds a lot like yours. No camera. No bluetooth. No web browsing, gps, games, tweeting, calendars, email, games, ring tones, nada.
It could send text messages–you have to use the number pad to enter the letters. But we don’t pay for that, so its 20cents a piece whenever a friend decides to text me. I have probably texted back 3 times ever.
Hubby’s phone is a step up from mine–his has bluetooth and a camera, though we shut off the service that let him send photos soon after buying it because it was like $20 extra a month and he never took photos (that was years ago…i think the cost has gone down or been bundled with text & web & stuff since then). Our total cell bill for both phones combined is $50 a month and we never use all of our whopping 300 shared minutes.
Our phones are currently 5 years old, and his battery isn’t charging that well anymore. We’re actually considering buying new, fancy phones with all the bells and whistles for ourselves. Coordinating family schedules has become a pain in the neck now that kids are starting school, and the calendar-type feature (plus the GPS) is starting to look really attractive, especially if we can sync up with each others calendars so he doesn’t have to ask me when everything is happening.
My husband finally got me an iphone, which is really nice. I taught myself how to take pictures, how to do most of the things, but use the calendar feature. That’s probably the most important. I love my iphone mostly because it is user friendly. I couldn’t figure it out otherwise.
Since I am retired with a limited income I can’t keep up with technology! Also I don’t think I need all the “stuff” that the tech companies try to convince us we need. I like to stay connected personally. I am a person that believes you should not be talking on the phone if you are driving, even hands free. It is a distraction that causes accidents. My car is a no phone zone. My cell phone does flip up to use & is probably about 4 years old but rarely gets used. Due to that I have a Tracfone with no contract. It is nice to have when I need it. If I was so inclined I could text & take pictures but I never activated those functions. All of this said I am about to buy a digital camera which I am very excited about. The hardest part is deciding which one will be right for me. Price, of course, is part of the decision.
(H)
Enjoy the weekend.
So I thought I was knew tech stuff, but I have no idea what “toss off” means on a cell phone. I have a pretty new phone, but the battery totally sucks and I really wish I had a different phone right now. They did a horrible job with the design of this “smart phone” IMHO. Still waiting for the iphone to come to Verizon, so I’m stuck for a bit longer with the phone I have right now. I do text, but am not super fast at it.
I’m a complete and utter geek. I currently have 4 mobile phones (2 of which are permanently off though – they’re just back-ups really), including my iPhone, my MacBook Air, an old HP dualbooting Windows XP and Ubuntu (for those of you who don’t know what dual booting is it means running 2 Operating Systems, and Ubuntu is a free one) a Netbook, 2 digital cameras an SLR (big techie semi-professional one) and a point-and-shoot, and my Sony PRS-505 eBook Reader. The last is definitely one of my favorites, I have 3,000 eBooks (I’d have no-where to put them in print!) and it certainly cuts down on packing for trips and gives me a lot more choice – i can decide to read what I want whenever instead of picking out books then hoping I’m still in the mood to read them later
Jennifer, I’m with you. Have a cell (bought for me by my son so his sister’s school could reach me) that is really heavy. It has no VM, does not take pix or access any APP, & I use it solely to receive calls from my daughter’s school, my son, my BF in Brooklyn, & the doctor. To place a call, I use it to check to see if Borders has a particular book (usually, does not) or to call a store to check what hours it’s open.
Don’t feel badly–there’s a lot like you–for instance, me.
Patricia
I’m in the same place that you are. My cell phone is not attached to me in fact the only time it is on is when I’m travelling. My camera is a little more sophisticated because I can download pictures to my laptop but only if it is attached by the proper cord but I have no idea where the cord is or how to program it to make it download them.
I’d say that I’m technically adept but I know a lot of people with nicer technology than me. My current cellphone flips open, has a camera, can send text messages, has an alarm, has bluetooth and can of course make and receive calls. I’m currently pricing a new cellphone has I have a nasty habit of dropping my phone – as I’m young I get funny looks when I say I don’t want the latest technology. I do think an iPhone would be nice, but I can’t justify the cost for something that would get damaged easily.
I do have a laptop and digital camera. I’ll likely be getting an e-reader in the next few months but that’s because I’m sick of reading ebooks on my computer and am often too impatient to wait for titles to come out in NZ (for Blaze its usually a 6 month or longer delay).
I’m not too bad but….
I don’t own an Ipod or any other “i” thing.
I just got a digitial camera last year.
My cell phone is a pay as you go job from Virgin Mobile — but it does text, take and send pictures, have ring tones, an alarm, etc., that I do know how to use.
I don’t have an eBook reader.
I don’t get wifi. I don’t get netbooks. I don’t get how they work and I don’t get how you work them into your internet plan and if they cost you more and require you to have a separate plan on top of what you already have for the house computer and I don’t get routers.
I don’t do blue tooth, don’t know how to order Starbucks (a decaf mocha frappa wha?), and I definitely don’t get the iPad. :-S
Julie
Your phone sounds just like mine – it’s slim has numbers at the bottom and a screen at the top. Other than that it has large font for texting and reading texts as I hate having to change my glasses around all the time. Oh and it has an alarm setting.
My children on the other hand have touch screens, cameras, music, changable ringtones etc. with theirs and I get quite lost if I end up using thier phones :-$
I’d have more techno-gadgets if I could afford them.
I still want to know what ‘toss off’ means in regards to a cell phone, LOL!