Being Low Tech in a High-tech World
January 27, 2020

I recently took a cross-country flight and got to observe first-hand both how
behind I've become in relation to technology and the benefits and downsides of
smartphones.

When I was young, people watched in-flight movies--you were handed a set of
earphones that you plugged into your armrest, and part-way through the flight a
screen came down from the ceiling. Everyone on board watched the same movie at
the same time, as in a theater. A few years later, things had progressed to
seat-back screens where you could choose from several different movies all
showing at once. But I hadn't been on a long flight in years, so I was surprised
when everyone simply got out their phones and used the plane's wifi to stream
movies.

I don't own a smartphone, so I spent the next five hours alternating between
writing in my notebook and reading Annie Dillard's "Pilgrim of Tinker Creek."
During the flight, the guy in the next seat glanced over at me every few
minutes. I'm not sure if he was bothered by the reading light--if so, I'm sorry,
sir--or if he was trying to figure out what I was doing. Perhaps he was waiting
to see how long it would be before I pulled my phone out, like a normal human
being.

When I got to the gate for my connecting flight, it was delayed with no definite
takeoff time. Circumstances forced me to stick with this particular flight but
while I stood at the gate, I watched probably a dozen people come to the
counter, wave their smartphones and ask to be rebooked to alternate airports.
They strode off to new gates with new flights. In the end, my connecting flight
was delayed an hour.

After I landed, I went to pick up my car. The week before I flew out, I'd
printed out directions to my destination using one of the most popular map
websites. They were convoluted enough that I had spent fifteen or so minutes on
my second flight memorizing a half-dozen street names in the order of the turns
I'd be making. Fortunately, after the lady behind the counter handed me the
keys, I asked her the quickest way to my destination. She took out a paper map
and marked a two-turn route. A route the mapping website hadn't offered at all.
This new route ended up being not only easier, but quicker.

So in the end, not having a smartphone was actually helpful on this trip. The
passengers on my second flight who rebooked themselves probably ended up
arriving later than if they'd just waited. In the case of the rental car, I
ended up with a better route simply by asking another human being rather than
the internet.

Yet several times during the day I nevertheless felt the tug of wanting to have
a smart phone. That makes me wonder how much of our desire for technology is due
to the benefits it truly brings, and how much is just a desire to fit in, to be
"modern" like everyone else. And in the case of those people who changed their
flights, I wonder if having information always at your fingertips doesn't
actually foster impulsive, rather than deliberate, action.

I need to ponder these questions further. But in the meantime, I'm sticking with
my flip phone.

(c) 2020 by Andrew Gudgel 
email: contact [at] andrewgudgel.com