The Most Underused App On Your SmartPhone - Day 8

My smartphone sits next to me as I write. I have over six pages of Apps. I can use it to check Facebook, the Stock Market and the weather in Paris. I can snap a picture, edit it with my Camera+ App and then post in on Instagram. I can read The New York Times and listen to Pandora. I can send a text, write an email and set my alarm for the next morning.

But the thing that used to be it’s primary purpose - before it became so smart - is the most underused App of all. 

According to the IDC Research Study sponsored by Facebook only 16% of smartphone usage is spent talking on the phone !

The phone call has evolved from being "the next best thing to being there" to an intrusion and an infringement of one's precious time. 

Why talk when one can text? 

And email? It's so much more efficient to do business.

Or is it?

Is it a better use of time to watch the phone ring and let voice mail pick up - than to experience human interaction? 

Maybe.

Is it faster and quicker to reply to the phone message with a text rather than doing something rare and what in many circles is still considered polite and call me back?

Could be.

But not always. 

And here’s the reason. 

The sound of another’s voice is a source of human connection. 

Did you hear that?

It’s why radio still endures as a medium in an age of multiple choice. It’s why podcasts are increasing in popularity.

Your voice is a persuasive tool that does not translate in a text message. An email exchange might change the course of a difficult situation - but nothing will measure against the sound of another's voice.

True, it takes more courage to pick up the phone in a world that lets us hide behind our technology. But because it’s used so infrequently these days it also sends this wonderful signal that says the receiver is important enough to actually spend some time and talk with.

What a refreshing thought!

The point of technology is to enhance our relationships - personally or professionally - not substitute. There are plenty of situations where the text or email is the best and quickest route to communicate our message. But not always. 

If you don't believe me, give it a whirl this week and experiment. Let me know what happens.

note: This is Day #8 of a 30 Day Experiment. Here are the details on how it all started.

Detox Tech Diet Day 5. Cheating

Yes, its' true. I cheated. Just a little. I did not revert to my obsessive habit of checking my email every fifteen minutes  but I did check more than 4 times in 24 hours. I think I was getting a little edgy from my withdrawal. In fact I still might be.

I've decided reading two newspapers cover to cover every day can become burdensome too. The theme is repetitive with all roads leading back to money and politics. More companies choosing profit over safety, cash incentives to get people to take their meds and students to get good grades, and attempts to make BP's irresponsibility President Obama's personal fault.  I find it fascinating that references to the blogosphere run rampant in the newspapers, substantiating that bloggers have influence and blogging is not a passing fad. And how cute was it that the Times headlined Anderson Cooper and his reporting in the Gulf! The paper talking about a television station it doesn't even own!

But I am digressing. On  Day 5 I feel a bit disconnected and  very ready for this detox to be over.  In my experiment to get control on one thing it's likely I am overdosing on newsprint. And it's not even Sunday yet! I continue to be appalled at the astonishing number of people who walk the streets of Manhattan oblivious to everything but their phone conversation, including a car who has the right of way, the person next to them and in more than one rather distressing scene, the child they were pushing in the stroller. And let's not get into the texting. Oprah is on a no driving and texting campaign. Perhaps the no phone zone should be extended to walking. No laughing aloud! You have no idea how many people bump into me texting and walking and look at me like I am the one who is rude!

While I'm ready for this detox diet to be done, I am fascinated by the time it has opened up for me and what I am observing.  I feel lighter, my head feels clearer and the world has not come to an end because I do not know the details of my Twitter feed or that I've been cheating a bit.