Technology and Me by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 

Of late I have been thinking a lot about how much the world has changed since Konnie and I were in high school. Can you believe that we graduated 42 years ago?

And a whole lot has changed in this world in those 42 years. Back then personal computers were behemoths requiring a considerable amount of muscles to heft and carry. They also cost an arm and a leg. They were most decidedly not standard fare in every American home.

Of course, back then phones were for the most part attached to the wall. Some of the wealthy people had a phone attached to their cars. It was very much a luxury item. And cordless phones were a novelty, but the base was still attached to the wall. Though maybe it was around that time when they started having mobile phones, those required a large case to carry around, and there was an antenna that you had to extend to make or receive calls.

I sincerely doubt anyone back then would believe that computers could be small and light enough to carry wherever you go or that phones would fit in your pocket!

And those phones attached to the wall? Nowadays they call those landlines, and who has those anymore?

Off the top of my head, I can name one friend who still has a landline, and she and her husband are considerably older than Konnie and me.

Konnie doesn’t have a landline anymore. I certainly don’t. One phone bill is enough, and my cell phone does a whole lot more than a landline ever could do. I actually don’t bother with wall calendars anymore. My phone is always closer, so why bother?

I also don’t bother with those appointment reminder cards generally given out at doctor’s offices anymore. Within seconds of the receptionist typing in my next appointment on her computer, I have it noted in my calendar on my phone.

Need a “To do” list? My phone has that too.

It also has a calculator, address book, camera, and my e-mail, as well as all sorts of apps I’ve added to it.

With my phone, I can track my health, and record things like my blood pressure, blood glucose, and weight regularly, and it's on hand when I see the doctor!

I can do most of my banking and bill paying on my phone as well. I have apps for my bank and my credit cards. And those bills I don’t have apps for, I still have most of them on autopay. I have both my electric and heating bills on level pay and autopay, so it’s easier to budget. And I’ve gone paperless with most of them too.

I have a whopping two bills that are not paperless or autopay. I do have several that are not autopay, but they are still paperless. I have their mobile app, and they notify me by email.

I personally find autopay, paperless, and mobile apps very convenient.

I’m not so sure my husband would be able to handle it if he were still alive. He was totally against cell phones, and he hated using drive-throughs. In fact, he avoided using the ATM as well! And he insisted on hand delivering payments if it was local. He would mail the ones that had to be mailed, but he refused to go autopay. He honestly thought once it was started there was no way to stop them on our end and you’d end up overpaying.

He also thought having the utilities on autopay meant getting shocked by large withdrawals. That’s what level pay is for.

Man, when I switched, life became so much easier.

All my money is directly deposited and most of my bills are automatic, so I don’t have to remember to get them paid on time, and for the few that aren’t, I can pay most of them on a mobile app. So much easier. And the only time I need to go to the bank is when my sister-in-law gives me her share of my cell phone bill. So just once a month, and just once a month I hand deliver my car payment to the credit union.

Plus, I always use the drive-through if I can, one less time to climb in and out of my car, and no standing in line!

Except when the app doesn’t want to open. Which was one issue I was having two weeks ago. Now the issues I was having with that one app and the internet have been fixed. Getting in touch with my internet provider and the owners of that app was the hard part.

Boy was all that a pain!

And in the end I had to factory reset my modem and delete and then re-install that app.

Happy writing everyone!