I might Be Smarter Than A 5th Grader, But I Don't Think I Am As Smart As A Smartphone

I had some time this afternoon between lunch with my son and his 2 kids and my oldest grandson's basketball game. I've needed a new cell phone for a while so I decided to go have a look. I walked out an hour and a half later (late for the basketball game) with a brand new smartphone that I am fast beginning to fear is much, much smarter than I am.

So far, I have figured out how to do exactly what my old phone could do....make a call, answer a call, send a text, answer a text and check messages. Even answering a call took me a while to figure out. It seems you have to slide the green button instead of just touching it. Who knew? I know I am a little late to the party for this whole smartphone thing and I'm feeling a little like I showed up for it without getting the right message about the dress code.

Fortunately, I have some tech-savvy kids who will help me learn to use it and I am signed up for a class at the phone store in a couple of weeks. Yes, a class to teach me how to use my phone, how crazy is that? Even crazier is the fact that the class is at 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning.

I tend to be an impulse buyer and things usually work out, and I'm sure they will with this phone. In the meantime, do any of you who have these too-smart-for-their-own-good (or at least mine) phones have any suggestions for me? What do you like about them and what do you use the most? I don't want to use up too much of my limited smarts spending  a lot of time learning things that I don't really want to know.

When Calls Drop, Who Calls Back?

There's a lot of talk about cell phone etiquette, but I have an issue that I never hear discussed and I think it needs to be addressed. When you are talking to someone and one or both of you are on a cell phone it is not unusual to be talking, talking, talking and suddenly realize that no one is listening. The call has dropped. 

Here's what usually happens with me when a call is dropped. I realize I'm talking to no one, so I immediately call back the person I was talking to. The call goes right to their voice mail because, of course, they are trying to call me back, getting my voice mail because I am trying to call them back. I think, oh, he/she is calling me back, so I wait a minute for the phone to ring. He/she thinks, oh, she is trying to call me back, and they wait a minute for the phone to ring. When the phone doesn't ring within a few moments, I think, oh, he/she is waiting for me to call back, so I call and he/she........well, you get the picture.

I'm suggesting an easy solution that will save us all a lot of time if only you will accept me as the Queen of Cell Phone Etiquette and follow this rule:  The person who placed the original call is ALWAYS the one to call back. Simple. Easy. Problem solved.

Now I'll start working on a rule for that guy standing next to you in line at Starbucks describing his conquest from the night before.