All Relative

All Relative

Posted under Living With Low Vision, Low Vision Info

Sometimes change is the hardest thing to agree with. As a person with a visual impairment sometimes I get so comfortable in my rut that I cannot see the good things staring at me. Early in the cell phone craze I got one of the newfangled Razor flip phones. I was cutting edge at the time and felt very wise to have chosen purple for a color. The phone was very user friendly with the minor exception of being able to text. Since I knew that texting was just a fad and would never amount to anything anyway, I disregarded that ditch. I could hear the numbers and make phone calls by voice activation. I could do some other cool things to. Well the day finally arrived when through planned obsolescence the battery finally gave up and no replacements could be easily found.

My husband who loves new gadgets had gotten himself two iPhones in the space of my staying stuck to the Razor. Then yesterday, I had to jump. I went from the trusty Razor to the know it all iPhone. I would be embarrassed to admit this but I stood in the Verizon store with my back to the public silently wiping away tears of remorse and dread. What would happen when they stripped out the contacts and rendered my purple faithful companion decommissioned? After all I knew what I was doing with my tried and true friend. But it was time. Like keeping around a very old pet to satisfy your own levels of need I had to succumb. The procedure took way to long at the store and by the time we left almost two hours later my head was splitting. It hurt so bad that when we arrived for a lunch out I ordered pie for dessert. That is how bad I felt.

So then I spent the rest of the day and long into the night letting my husband set up a variety of things while I took over some small set up’s. Then by nightfall I had a fairly comfortable working relationship. Siri and I also have come to grips with some issues. One of which is that I ask her very little, she  answers whatever she feels is important and then tells me to go do something else in the meanwhile. And I do.

My husband’s relative good technical skills helped me tremendously.  My relative discomfort from getting behind in a world quickly moving past me was enough of an incentive to act radically. While everyone knows it was a relatively painless switch from one phone to another I still must admit that I was nervous at the impending conquest.

Here I am today. A new day bright with possibilities and all the wonder I can muster on behalf of technology.

Come along said the spider to the fly.

Blessings, Denise