Technological crutches

This morning I thought about something which made me very uneasy about technology (or at least, my use of technology). In general I’m very absent-minded about things. I frequently misplace and/or lose objects that were, only moments before, securely in my possession. While searching for one thing, I’ll put something else down. Inevitably, I’ll walk away with the “one thing” and leave behind the “something else”. Then I’ll get in a panic and begin scurrying about, frantically looking for the “something else”.

The thing I seem to lose most is my phone. The great thing about that is… I can use my wife’s phone (if I can find it…or her) to find my phone. I either call my phone with hers or I use the “Find Me” app to ping my phone so I can locate it. Works every time!…so far. The wonderful and the terrible thing about doing this is that I never have to retrace my steps in order to find my phone. Yes, pinging my phone is extremely handy and much less stressful than thinking through all my previous actions and going back to each of the places along the way where I could have set it down. On the other hand, it deprives me of using my head (which is good for the brain) and it makes me dangerously reliant on the wifi/internet/satellite network being available at any given time.

So, going forward, I’ve decided to do one of two things: Option 1) Try harder not to absent-mindedly leave my phone (or any other thing) some place where it shouldn’t be. Failing that, Option 2) Resolve to faithfully resist using the “Find Me” app, and instead undertake the arduous task of retracing my steps. For that matter, I’m going to hold myself accountable by calling my wife right now and informing her about my responsible plan of action. So…has anyone seen my phone?