Mr. FixIt was out doing something with the truck last weekend and dropped his phone. We all drop our phones. Almost always it’s pretty inconsequential…unless you don’t have a good case. However, there comes a time when that one drop knocks you out of the game. That’s what happened to Mr. FixIt’s phone this time. For some odd reason, it was turning Siri on and off…over and over and over. Sometimes you could get it to stop if you poked it enough. It got a little frustrating, to say the least.

I told Mr. FixIt I could do a factory reset and see if that works, but we found out it erases everything and you lose your contacts, photos, messages, apps…the works. If you back it up to the cloud first, you can reset the phone then run the backup program. Unfortunately, there’s a little problem with that.

Mr. FixIt was never a big phone guy. He hated talking on it. He had a separate digital camera he used. Facebook was just an afterthought…something to look at a couple times a year to see what was happening. Then, I came along…and created a monster. You see…with all my traveling, I really wanted him to have an iPhone so we could FaceTime, which was great. He didn’t need one with lots of memory, he said. He just wouldn’t use it, he said. However…he soon discovered all the cool things the phone could do and before he knew it, it was full. 

Too full to update. Too full to run a backup. Too full for his free iCloud amount. It didn’t really bother him much. If he ran out of room, he’d take off an app, or remove some photos he didn’t want. It only became an issue when we needed to try to do a factory reset. You remember how, every year at tax time, I brush the dust off my laptop and turn it on only to find out there’s all these updates and scans and downloads I have to do before I can even BEGIN the taxes? Well, the same thing is happening with this phone.

We don’t have an Apple store within a hundred miles. The Verizon store isn’t much help either. We’ve taken things to the local “tech” place before only to be bitterly disappointed. I know we could just go buy a new phone, but before we slap that kind of money down, I’d like to try to fix it myself. I have as much or more techie experience as they do anyway, so I set to work on it yesterday afternoon when I got home from the farm.

Speaking of techie things, when did they get rid of iTunes? Somewhere along the line, they introduced something and very quietly swept iTunes into the virtual dustbin. While it was often a pain in the rear end to update and use sometimes, it was really great for backing up your iPhone and restoring after a reset. As it is, I have to upload all his pictures into the cloud. But first, I had to expand his cloud memory. But before I could do that, I had to get the phone to stop constantly running and stopping Siri. 

Sometimes when I sleep on a problem, I wake up with the solution. That’s what happened when I was staying at the farm. I woke up in the middle of the night and knew…all I had to do was turn Siri off and we’d be able to access the rest of the phone. Sure enough, I found the setting, turned off Siri, and got to work.

Have I told you our internet out here in the country is powered by two possums and a squirrel? And sometimes the squirrel is tired. Land sakes…it took six hours and the upload indicator line was about a quart of an inch long. At this rate, we should have it backed up in…say…a week or two. Anyway, the bottom line is…it’s always something. You never know when you’re going to have a technical glitch and it’s going to totally throw you off your schedule as you deal with it.

Remember when we didn’t have cell phones? When we actually DID things…like go to the library and look something up. Or…read a newspaper or magazine. Or have a hobby like woodworking or stained glass or crossword puzzles. Are we more interesting people now that we know how to find the median rainfall in Zimbabwe or who the actor was in that insurance commercial? Are we happier? More content? If it all went away today, would we know how to bake a cake or fix a pot roast? What would we do with all the time we spent looking at other people’s lives? When Facebook and Instagram and Snapchat went offline for several hours the other day, how many times did you pick up your phone to see if it was back? 

I am getting weary of this phone thing. But…I write. This is my platform. How long will I keep doing this? Will I still be telling you stories when I’m 75? 85? 95?!?! I don’t know. This part brings me joy, and I think it sometimes brings you all joy, as well. So, as long as there’s joy involved, I’m in. But, yeah…technology can be a major time suck. 

It’s all about balance.

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“Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

Philippians 4:11-13 ESV