In Praise of My iPhone

I am not the most technically advanced person on the planet, but I do love my iPhone. When I retired and gave up my work iPhone, my daughter Hannah made sure I had a new one. Almost every day, I find out something new. I especially like the banking app. I can track expenditures, automatic deductions, deposits, etc.  and pay our cleaning lady, occasionally send money to my children, and deposit checks (unless more than $2,500 - I wish). There's an app for nearly everything these days - even tracking my blood pressure. I begin each day by reading the news on several different sites (love the New York Times). Phone calls, photos, videos, text messages, email, and map guidance for driving are easy. I can access Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and lots of other programs. Need a level, flashlight, calculator, weather forecast or just the time of day? It's right there. The possibilities are endless.

I remember our family's first foray into technology. We bought a $99 Texas Instruments computer from Toys R Us and hooked it up to a small color TV. It had no software--you had to plug in a cartridge. I'll confess I became addicted to Parsec, a space invaders game. In my job at a nonprofit in Philadelphia, we were putting in a computer network and I was able to get a 286 computer at a bargain price. Then we could at least do word processing (this was way before Windows software).

When I went back to work, I had to learn fast as technology evolved. This included complex fundraising software and its coding system. In fact, for several organizations I managed data conversions from previous systems and even index cards. By the time I retired, I'd become quite adept at most of the Microsoft programs. I was able to write and design publications through Adobe desktop publishing and upload them to the printing company electronically.  

These days, its mostly doing some freelance work on my desktop computer (not a laptop fan) and writing this blog. It's safe to say that I never would have become a writer without a computer (remember Wite-Out?). I can feel the tech world whizzing by (the Cloud is still a mystery) and know that my grandchildren will be light years ahead of me very soon, but that's as it should be. I can remember my Dad marveling at the word processing program in his office and saying I would love it. How right he was.