Last Night a Smartphone Saved my Life…
Well, not really…
Technically, it was not last night, but the night before – and death probably wasn’t going to be an issue if we’re getting real honest, but what’s life without a little drama?!
Every now and then something happens that makes that little light bulb DING moment when you realise you’ve been taking something for granted.
Mine occurred this weekend just gone. I’ve had a Smartphone for a while and love how easy it is to check emails/social media/browse the web/text and phone all in one nippy little device. But, it takes my Grandparents and a day in the Lake District to make me really appreciate this little piece of technology, which has somehow become a very important part of my life!
So, we’re up in the Lakes – which is a gorgeous, awesome, amazing place, with some really stunning drives to be had (to add to all its already humongous list of things to do there!). Well, after years of trips up there with friends, family, partners and my Grandparent’s wealth of knowledge (nearly 60 years driving/walking/adventuring up and around the entire Lake District), we figured it would be like any other trip.
With the trusted TomTom, affectionately named Doris on hand to help – even if we got lost (impossible surely?!) we’d get home thanks to the trusty Sat Nav. Not if we ended up “on the other side”. The other side? I hear you ask. It went a little bit like this…
The Lake District
“I don’t recognise this…Do you recognise this?…”
“I don’t recognise it either”
Cut a long story short and we end up a liiiittle bit lost – and who came to help? Not trusty Doris, the long-time Sat Nav saviour extraordinaire, who seemed just as confused as ourselves at times! – But Google Maps, on my mobile!
Cue Smartphone!
So, I pull out the Smartphone and head to Google Maps to pinpoint our location – which was surprisingly much quicker than the TomTom (I know, I wouldn’t have thought so either!!) I didn’t expect to have signal up there, let alone Google Maps! But sure enough our location was pinpointed and directions to where we wanted to be were put in and a route was calculated…well, let’s just say a hell of a lot quicker than it was to type about it!!
This happened around 3 times, each time Google Maps & my Smartphone came to the rescue! What about the DING moment? Well, the Grandparents we’re in awe of this Smartphone – telling tales of times gone by when they’d broken down and had to walk 10 miles to the nearest place with a phone to call for help, with only a bedraggled almost unreadable A-Z map!
Hoverboard - BTTF
The thing they couldn’t get over is how fast technology has come along. With comments like “We never had any of this in our day” and “I wish I’d been born when you had, you’ve got so much more to help you!” they couldn’t get over that something that fits in my hand can do almost the same as their laptop at home.
Well, the DING moment came shortly after, I thought to myself about how often I use my phone, how handy it is, and how many problems it had solved in seconds. Then I thought about life without it – shock horror!!! It’s bizarre, we managed fine without all these fancy things back in the day, but now we’ve got them, how could we survive without them!?
I realised then how easy it is to take these things for granted – with technology developing at an increasingly rapid pace, more and more we’re introduced to things that once we’ve experienced, we can’t imagine life without!
Now if they’d just hurry up with the hover board Back to the Future promised us…
