Delete, delete, delete!

I think I’ve told you before that I love technology and all that it can do, but that I am aware of the down side to it as well. One of the main downsides is that unless you remember to delete things you don’t want people to find, there is a good chance that someone will discover it!

Best Friend has a new mobile phone. It was given to her by another friend, who had just upgraded to a shiny new one.

The friend who gave it to her is quiet and has a certain ‘good girl’ image. She’s not. And we now have proof.

It is important to remember that if you give a friend your old mobile, removing the sim card is not enough. You need to check what has been saved on the phone itself.

And delete anything before you hand it over.

Best Friend was playing with her new toy, figuring out how it worked, when I suddenly heard a gasp and then hysterical laughter.

She handed the phone to me.

There was a message from Quiet Friend’s boyfriend. It was a picture of him in a state of…um, excitement and the (completely unnecessary) information that he was horny and waiting for her.

Best Friend doesn’t feel that she’s going to be able to look at her (or him!) in the eye with a straight face for quite a while! I think she has some excellent blackmail fodder…

One of my addictions!

It’s amazing how easily we come to rely on technology and don’t really notice how much we take it for granted until it’s no longer there. I got an email from Best Friend today; she had been silent all weekend, which had been odd. She had been looking after 5 children and so I had been expecting desperate texts from her, yet…nothing. When I got into work there was an email saying that the little people had dropped her mobile into the washing up water, so now she had no mobile and, worse, no numbers!! We are in the process of sorting all of it out, but she admits to feeling lost without her phone.

I find it hard to manage without my mobile and hate not being able to contact people. It’s not as though I’m always getting calls or texts, but as soon as I find I’m not in signal range I get all panicky. I’m the same with the internet and emails. I have several email accounts at home, my main one that friends use and then other ones connected to various things on the web. On the rare occasions I can’t get online to check my mail I feel a bit odd and as if something is missing. But there are times that I thing it’s getting out of hand. The one day I stopped and thought was when I left the house carrying my laptop, checking I’d got both mobiles (my own and the work one) and turning my ipod on! As much as I love technology even I thought it was a bit too much.

Is there anyone under the age of 25 who remembers the old word processors, passing notes in class at school instead of texting, receiving a hand written letter from a friend, address books you have to write in and seeing an old fashioned dial landline that wasn’t a statement of retro chic!

As much as I sometimes think it’s all a bit too much, I can’t stop myself from eyeing up the latest mobile, feeling awe at how much they can cram into such a small thing and wanting the next, more advanced shiny new toy. I love the ping that says I have mail, the beep of a text coming through and the little lights winking at me when I turn the computer on.

Anyone else for Technoholics Anonymous...