I forgot my cellphone today.
It doesn’t happen often, I’m pretty good (read: obsessive to an alarming degree) about keeping track of my phone and keys and iPod. But I’d plugged it in to charge and I left earlier today and, well. I was almost to work (45 minutes away) when I noticed.
So? No big deal. I’m a big boy, I can live without a phone for 9 hours.
Only a friend called and wanted to get together for dinner, and I needed to call home and coordinate it, and it’s all long distance from my job, and then I was supposed to meet everybody at the restaurant and had no way of letting them know I would be on time or late or early or broken down somewhere on I-4…
It is truly amazing how quickly and totally I have become dependent on having immediate access to everyone I know. Years have gone by since I really sweated out having my car break down, since I can always call for help. I barely use the thing, really, rarely more than a call home every day to make sure nothing needs picking up. But it’s there if I need it.
Little scary, really, as I have reservations about becoming dependent on any external device or system. But I also notice I rarely see anyone stuck on the side of the road anymore. Used to, fairly often, and I’ve given rides to more than a few, especially if people with kids were stranded. And the few times it does happen now, they’re almost always standing there talking on a phone so I can drive by with a clear conscience.
Whatever else the last decade has brought us, instant and clear communication from almost everywhere is one of the best things ever.
Unless you forget your damn phone, that is.