June 3, 2017
There was a day when I felt I was on the edge of technology. I remember having my pink Razor flip phone and thinking how cool I was. Even before that, I had a grey flip phone. The caller ID (that was a green screen–anyone remember those screens?) constantly said CALLER UNKNOWN. It could have known the caller if my parents had paid those extra charges. But I still felt light years ahead of all the kids with the bulky Nokia phones!
Now, I’m pretty sure my son can work some technology better than me. Ok, that’s a bit of an exaggeration (yet his skills at finding YouTube on any device he is holding astounds me) but I have no doubt by the time he’s ten he’ll be giving me great big sighs, rolling his eyes, and saying “It’s sooooo easy Mom. Here, just let me do it.”
We made the first leg of our trip back to North Carolina (the short hour and fifteen-minute flight) without having to pull out his tablet. Lots of toys and games. I’m sure the guy beside me was tired of me constantly bending down to dig in my backpack but there were no two-year-old meltdowns so the annoyance was worth it to me. The tablet is always my last resort in case a meltdown does occur. That, and I brought some M&M’s. Because when does chocolate not work?!
The second leg flight was just over three hours so I had high hopes of him watching a movie on his tablet (falling asleep?!?!) and me watching one on my phone. I even asked for the complimentary headphones on the first flight in preparation for my two hours of solitude.
I got his movie set up and grabbed my phone. I had remembered to download the United app before the flight. A mistake I had made in the past. Apparently long gone are the days of TVs in the headrests. It took me a few too many tries to get connected to the free WiFi but I managed. I began scrolling looking for the perfect movie. I haven’t seen a movie in ages so I figured I’d have plenty to choose from.
Finally settling on a movie, I cued it up and untangled the ridiculously long headphone cord. Why in the world is it like 8 feet long?! It was given to me on an airplane where I clearly don’t even have one foot of space.
The OtterBox on my phone has every part of my phone covered up. I can’t complain, though, because it has saved my phone too many times to count. I start pulling off all the pieces looking for the headphone jack. It is nowhere to be found. I turned the phone over and over. The lady beside me was probably concerned at my behavior. I couldn’t get the case off completely because it is so drop-proof (again, I’m thankful) but I was convinced there was no headphone jack. How is that possible?!
Meanwhile, Liam is refusing to wear his headphones. And he’s not watching a movie now because he feels that he must constantly touch the screen of his tablet thus taking him away from the screen he’s supposed to be on. He sees my mess of a phone, grabs it and says “Broken? Liam fix it.” I have this sinking feeling my two hours of bliss have gone up in a cloud of smoke.
When I see the lady beside me pull out an iPhone I decided to ask for her help. She had an older phone but told me she remembered seeing that the new iPhones would not have headphone jacks. What?!?!?! As my ‘old brain’ is trying to grasp how anyone could ever listen to music in public again on an iPhone and silently cursing the Apple people, she explains that all the new iPhones are set up with Bluetooth capability. Meaning I now need to go buy Bluetooth headphones instead of relying on the free pair from the airlines!
I continue to secretly curse Apple and then begin to feel old. Is this what I am now? One of those old people of my past who can not adapt to the changes of technology?
I had to call a friend just last night to help me set up Liam’s tablet because the YouTube tutorial videos just were not helpful enough.
I know my husband has a set of Bluetooth headphones but they are the huge Bose kind that are also noise canceling. I really, really hope that they make much smaller Bluetooth headphones (because I just don’t have room in my giant backpack containing toys and food for Liam) or I will continue my silent cursing of Apple…!
UPDATE: My sister has informed me that my phone most likely came with a pair of headphones. Yea, I’m pretty sure those are long gone… 🙁
