The Single Focus Phone Check

What did we do without our smart phones?  How did we manage without a single device in our pocket or purse that can do so many things at once?  It's a phone, it's a camera, it's even a video camera.  It has my calendar on it, it has all my contacts, I can pay for my coffee with it, it tells me the time, I can read and send emails from it and I can search the entire World Wide Web from it.   It is invaluable.

I heard a statistic recently that on average, people check their email forty times each day.  I thought that number was ridiculous at first.  Sure, those people in an office at a computer probably checked email all the time but that's because they're at their computer all day.   What about those of us who don't have a desk job?  Then, as I noticed myself pulling my phone out of my pocket again and again all day long for all sorts of varied smart-phone needs, I thought it might not be so out of line. 

Each time I pulled out the phone--to answer a call or check my calendar or see what the weather was--I would also note if new emails had arrived, and if so, I'd check them.  So I decided I'd do a count of how many times each day I checked emails.   It turns out, this is a more challenging thing to do than you might realize...

A long time ago I had a friend who had been a smoker for thirty years, but had been smoke-free for ten when I met him.  He explained to me that when you did something so often for so long, that you could have a cigarette out, lit and in your mouth before you even knew what you were doing.   I remembered that story when I was trying to count my "phone interactions" because I realized I was pulling the phone out, doing something, putting it back in my pocket without even thinking about it.

The other thing that I found interesting is how you can get sidetracked with the phone.   What time is it?  Let me pull out the phone and see.  Oh, look at that, I have two text messages.  Are there new emails?  Ah, only spam.  <puts phone away>.  Wait, what time was it?  I had looked at the phone which had the time right there on the front, but for some reason I didn't look at that piece of information.  because I got sidetracked with several other things my amazing smart phone can do.

I'm pretty sure my smart phone is smarter than me most days.

The Big Boy Update:  My son has a cough.  Earlier today daddy told him to cover his mouth when he coughed.  The next time he coughed he put his arm over his mouth and daddy said, "that's better" to which my son replied, "no, it doesn't feel better." 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles: "It's Frere Jacques!"  My daughter loves singing Frere Jacques.  She sings it in English and French.  The other day the song came on while she was in the tub and before it got to the part with the words she exclaimed, "It's Frere Jacques!"