theworldofdale

Posts Tagged ‘smartphones’

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nobody needs you that badly

In Communication, Relationships, Technology on November 5, 2010 at 9:43 pm

I have a cell phone.  You probably have a cell phone.  The last two standing of my cell-less friends got them years ago.  I have a smartphone with access to the internet, my Twitter, Facebook, and Gmail acounts.  You can reach me in at least 5 ways via a device that fits in my back pocket.

I’ve had a cell phone since I was a freshman in college.  Before that, I had a pager.

I was a 16-year-old girl living in southwestern Ohio, and I had a pager.

The point of a pager is so that people can communicate with you at a moment’s notice.  It’s urgent.  You can’t wait until they get home and check their answering machine.  You need to know if they are going to the football game this weekend, and you need to know RIGHT NOW.

Can you even imagine a scenario where a 16-year-old’s attention was needed that urgently?  The only people who take 16-year-olds seriously are 16-year-olds.  Every other age, younger and older, all know that 16-year-olds are the least significant and most attention-hungry members of society.  What argument can be made that results in a 16-year-old having a pager to be a rational decision?

I’m still not that important.  No one needs to get a hold of me at a moment’s notice.  I’m not saving anyone’s life.  My input is not needed to make time-sensitive decisions.  I have no one for whom or to whom I am accountable.  There are absolutely zero reasons I need to be reachable at all times.  Nobody needs me that badly.

And yet, my phone is less than 2 feet from my left hand even as I type these words.

Just in case.

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don’t send chicks pictures of your junk

In Relationships, Sports, Technology on November 3, 2010 at 7:27 pm

I really don’t understand sexting.  Maybe it’s because I’m too old (at 31, I’m ancient in terms of technology, modeling, and professional sports), but I don’t get the interest in looking at a 2″ square picture of a naked? body.

Call me a prude, but I haven’t flashed anyone.  You have to earn this shit.  I see no point in leading men on by flashing them- they will naturally think that the next step is that they get to touch them.  No, you don’t.

Even more bizarre is the epidemic of men sending pictures of their dicks to women.  There are a few problems with this.

  • Pictures of dicks aren’t difficult to get.  In fact, I could go up to nearly any random man at a bar and ask to see his dick and he will be more than willing to oblige.  You are not sending me something unique.  There is no mystique to a picture of your dick.
  • Dicks aren’t sexy.  We don’t get off by looking at dicks.  Honestly, they tend to ruin the mood.  What the hell am I supposed to do with a picture of your dick besides make fun of it with my friends?  Hmm… yeah, go ahead and send it.
  • Once you’ve sent it, you can’t un-send.  As Brett Favre has discovered, pictures of your dick are never seen only by the intended recipient (see above for why).  All too often, the senders of dick pictures are men who shouldn’t be sending dick pictures- married men, bosses, gay priests, and members (haha) of Congress.

I understand that smartphones are the wave of the future.  Suddenly, the world is in your pocket, and that’s a powerful thing.  But the other thing in your pants?  The world prefers if you keep it there.