Around a year back, my brother gifted me an iPhone 3G. It was a welcome upgrade to my 2 year old iPhone which had seen better days. It was all sparkly and shiny and I was thrilled. In a moment of infinite wisdom, I plugged it in for charging around 7 feet above the ground in a precarious position. As soon as the next email alert came in, it vibrated and fell to the ground, completely trashing the screen.
Despite all attempts to get it fixed, including spending hours with technicians and a lot of money on replacement screens and whatnot, it never worked properly again. It finally croaked a few months later.
Source: flickr.com
Ya, totally my mistake. Ever since that incident, I have been super careful with my phones. I recently got the iPhone 4 and have always been on full alert. I have a delicate darling in my pocket.
Having these toys is like having a new born baby that never grows up. You have to care for it every moment – when you pull it out of your pocket, place it on the table, operate it, constantly keeping it out of reach from naughty kids. God forbid it ever slip out of my hands and crash on the floor.
Source: flickr.com
Cell phones started out pretty dumb. You could make calls, and that’s it. Over the years, they have incorporated an amazing amount of function. My iPhone is my lifeline, always keeping me connected to the world. The amount of time I use it through the day is significant. There was a time when I always chose a dumb phone simply because there was little to do being connected 24/7. Those days seem like a blur – its been four years now.
For something that ends up being used as much as they do, cell phones are getting notoriously delicate. You got to literally worship them so that they don’t break into tiny pieces. Replacing a carrier subsidised phone at full price, simply because it slipped from your fingers is agonizing.
Source: flickr.com
As a man, I have a place to keep my phone all the time – my pocket. It is a safe, soft place with easy access. Of course, I have to be careful not to bump into anything hard, lest I squash my phone on some wall. Delicate darling after all.
My wife is struggling though. Between chasing two babies all day and carrying half the house in her giant purse, filled with diapers, sippy cups and baby clothes, she has to worry about her iPhone. In two months, it has several scratches and now a crack, despite having a soft case. So my wife’s iPhone now needs more care and attention than our kids, like that needs to be her highest priority.
Source: flickr.com
And this is across the board, with all the emphasis on delicate, gorgeous, super thin and sleek design, practicality goes out the window. It’s the customer’s problem though, he should be more careful – like we need more things to worry about. So much for making life easier.
This is what it has come to, us having to care for these gadgets more and more, losing focus on the more important things. They are getting more useful and yet expensive to replace. What a life – can’t live with them, can’t live without. Delicate darlings indeed.
Filed under: Opinion
Genotrance 
Interesting blog. Though my experience has been really quite the opposite. I have the IPhone 3GS and it has all the scars to show that is probably just got back from war. Nevertheless it ( and thank god !!) it still works great. The worst fall it has has was from my car on to road as I opened the door. In fact one of the things that really impressed me about this gadget was how little care it needed. I think I better start giving it a little more attention. Cheers !
The BB is hardier… but ya, i know what u mean… luckily I only wear jeans, so always stuff my phone in the pocket!
It’s like liquid oxygen- jeene nahin dega, marne bhi nahin dega!