iUpdated
Well folks, it's official; iUpdated and have finally joined the masses and taken the giant leap into the 21st century via an iPhone. This seriously deserves an applaud. Unbelievably to most people, until now I had been rocking an ancient LG enV (I've been using the same exact cell phone model since high school!!!), and I've been so attached to it that when I dropped mine in the bathtub in 2010 I forgo the free phone upgrade and instead hit up my little sister to see if she could find and recover her old EnV for me. It's the kind of phone that you can drop a million times on solid pavement and never have to worry about it, like serious construction-grade sh*t, and I loved its simplicity. People seriously used to think that the phone in my hand at the farmers market was most likely a toy for my toddler in the stroller, and my friends were at whits end in frustration over the fact that they couldn't even forward me a contact - they had to manually text it to me. Not that I cared much, I was really very happy with the fact that my phone worked solely as a phone. And I was secretly overjoyed that I didn't have to struggle with having too much screen time while playing with my kids (they saw me on the phone enough as it was just from talk and text!), or simply being too chained to my tech.
Truth is, I've never been much of a phone person (my old friends will vouch for that). My father gave me my first cell phone when I went away to school in Toronto as a high school sophomore, and while it was super cool for my social status (not to mention easier to chat with boys), I really wasn't very attached to it. I always felt it was some sort of leash - chaining me to always being available. What if I was at the movies? Or in the middle of a run? Or just deep in conversation with my roommate? Or in the shower? I hated getting a nasty voicemail from my friends wondering why I was "ignoring them". And so eventually I stopped listening to my voicemail. For the majority of high school my phone sat at the bottom of my backpack on vibrate. I would take it out when I needed to make a call, or when I was waiting for a specific call, and at the end of the day I would browse through my missed calls and texts and respond when I felt like it. I know, it was super selfish and superior... But it worked for me. As an adult, this attitude proved to be problematic; my cell phone habits (or lack thereof) projected me to be irresponsible and unavailable. Once I realized that, I upped my game a bit and made more of a point to be reachable (though I'm still not yet that great at voicemail). Because of all my cell-phone inhibitions, I was never really interested in a smartphone. To me, that was just asking for 7 more ways to be disturbed (Really, being a human being today is like running your own small business: daily phone calls, voicemails, emails, facebook messages, and text messages are just a few of the many ways people may reach out to you and request a response!), and the thought of that was daunting and exhausting.
Well! Recently my husband came home with two sparkly iPhones - a bonus gift from a client of his who had seen his cracked cell phone screen. :) And so I was coerced into iPhone reality. And I'm loving it! Shocker there, huh? Anyways, now that I'm in, I seriously need some great app suggestions!! Please comment and let me know what apps are most beloved by you or your tots! Obviously, I'm already using the basics like Instagram (you can follow me @freidafroo), Pinterest, Google, Chase, and Pandora. And I'm particularly loving having The Onion and TED talks live and always available in the palm of my hand! I'm completely sold on this whole app thing - tell me your favorites!!
P.S. Is this for real??