By Shannon Williams
Well I wrote about purposely going off the grid, and my experience and need to “check out of the world of computers and cell phones,” but when we are taken off grid due to a breakdown or needed repairs, it really makes you look at just how dependent you are on those darn machines. I am using my trusty “hotspot” as I write this, due to the recent falling collapse of the tower.

The day started off with a 7 am video meeting (I work with projects in three time zones, so I have early meetings and late meeting often). I was having trouble getting connected to the meeting, and finally it dawns on me to check the internet in the house. Ok, it was down so off I go to plan B and was only 7 minutes late to the meeting! My next meeting was a Zoom video meeting with my siblings and the assisted living facility that we have my mother in. I was the one who set up the meeting and again, I do what I have to do to go around a few systems to get the meeting going. I was trying not to lose my cool at the computer, as I needed to be fully present in the meeting about my mom. Well, that did not work, just not enough “juice” to host a video conference, so now on to plan C. A good old fashion conference call, so that meeting was 15 minutes late! It was a Monday morning for sure.

I needed to look at the rest of my day to see what I could rearrange and then climb under my desk and change my printer/ scanner to hard wire. It was at this point that I wondered could I call in and just not work? I am not sure that my boss would buy my excuse, since each time there is a big storm in the area, I have been able to keep working without any bumps. So, off to prepare for slow speeds and three more steps to do to complete each task. It really gets me to thinking about just how dependent we are on cell phones, apps, websites and google.

When I travel these days, everything is on my phone. My parking spot reservation, my boarding pass, the directions of how to get to where I am going and the notes as to what I am supposed to do. I return to my hotel, which I have checked into on line and begin to try and find something to eat and have delivered to the hotel room by a service. Then I have to scan all the receipts into my phone and the app that tracks it all for me. It has just been recently that I stopped printing out paper copies of all of my travel arrangement and just depend on my phone.

That is not always a smart plan, as I was driving from Oakland to the central valley in California and my phone just died!! It was just gone, with no warning, no hospice care, just done. I had traveled that road before, but not enough to know all of my exits, and with no phone there was no one to call. OK, I played old school and stopped and asked for directions. I got a big laugh, when the clerk at the store I stopped at wanted to send the directions to my phone!! That year, I asked for a AAA atlas and I carried it with me for a few years.

When traveling, I am always concerned about misplacing my phone or forgetting the correct cord. I travel with my laptop, cell phone, iPad and apple watch and all have to be charged up each night and several take different cords. My husband often forgets his cords and then I have to share, which was not part of my wedding vows! I know that I can do most of what I need to on maybe just one of these devices, but they each have a different purpose, so I travel with them all !

I am always trying to learn more about how to use all of them to make my life easier, but after days like today, I just might go back to a number #2 pencil and a big Chief tablet.

[Mar-8-2022]