It's Complicated

Some of you may know that I've had a rocky relationship with my iphones over the past few years. Yes, I'm on my 3rd now. (Do they have to put so much glass on them?) Anyway, for me, my iphone is like that annoying little sister that never leaves you alone and is always bothering you, yet you can't live without. I am completely dependent on it at times to get where I need to go, to fast-foward 4 minute-long messages from certain family members (you know who you are!), and to capture those precious moments throughout the day like Ila farting in the bath tub or dancing to Michael Jackson. Yes, there are many ways I have fallen prey to it's sleek looks and endless opportunities for entertainment and convenience, but a lot of times it's just too much. I know it's become the norm to not even go to the bathroom without your phone because... what if you fall in the toilet or run out of toilet paper OR an earthquake happens WHILE you are on the toilet and out of toilet paper (no, that didn't happen to me, but what if it did!?) .... you get the idea, our dependency on them has become a bit extreme.

I am just as guilty as the rest of you with this mentality, but what I absolutely can't stand is the expectation of being REACHABLE at all times. Since everyone has a cell phone now, (and most are as addicted as I am), it's become the norm to have one's phone attached like an extra body part. That's why I sometimes like to put mine in "time-out" by leaving it in the kitchen to pretend it's a landline. . . but then what if I want to check my email while I go to the bathroom?! "Un-shun" as Dwight Schrute would say. Sometimes I feel like it fills in all those extra moments in the day when I could just relax and not feel like I should be doing something because I can. It's clearly a struggle for me, and it's easier to blame technology than to just develop a little more discipline I guess. But as a stay-at-home mom, it IS nice to be connected to friends throughout the day, check the weather instantly before heading to a park, or look up recipe ideas for that night if I haven't planned yet. 

So you're probably wondering about the photo above and I can explain. You see, when other frustrations occur while ON the beloved phone, (let's say your husband hasn't touched the knee-high grass in the yard since we got back to Cville and takes his very first day off to go surf crappy waist-high waves in VB and then gets stuck in hurricane traffic on the way home) - it is NOT looking good for mr. iphone3 (above). 

As much as I tried to convince him to let me just get a landline for the kitchen (with a cord!) and a car phone for emergencies, he laughed and promptly ordered me an iphone 4. I did experience 5 days of freedom though and it was lovely and peaceful. I completely excused myself from contacting or being contacted by anyone except a few emails. But then the iphone 4 came and I realized I could do things like this:

and this:

and I was already hooked. 

Maybe I need some anger management you might say? Naaah, just a really huge case for my iphone. And c'mon, I've had very few pregnancy outbursts lately so I think I was about due for one.