I encountered an article about "wristbands." A wristband, in my experience, is a skinny plastic envelope thing attached to one's wrist when he is hospitalized. It is an ID device presumably to keep the staff from losing you, or confusing you with someone else. No. THIS ITEM of which I read (and I still have no idea what it is all about) is a very popular device related in some way to something called "apps." This app thing apparently is somehow related to your phone.
I was well-lost at this point, yet it seems this is not the newest thing in this World in Which We Live Today, for it has evidently been around for two or three years. But its popularity is exploding, I guess. If I understand it at all, and don't take any wagers on that, this device keeps track of your activity, prods you when you are sedentary, monitors your sleep habits and your dietary patterns. Probably keeps track of your heart-rate and checks your blood sugar and cholesterol, and buffs your fingernails. Or maybe not. I said I didn't understand it.
I get a total feeling of alienation from the WWWLT1. In fact, I wonder who took us over and why I didn't see it coming. It sneaks up. One gets a computer, which by the way, I am told a PC is a thing of the past. Then one puts his phone in his pocket and carries it with him wherever he goes. Then...
We've been had, folks. You are now paying more for your electronic devices and their support systems than you imagined a few years ago you would ever shell out for an automobile. Add it up. My telephone is a telephone. It has no apps, I do not text. My computer does have a cable feed, as does my tv. The monthly cost for those things alone, and it seems to increase about twice a year, is now over $220 a month. I never ever had a car payment that high. Groceries, yes, groceries cost a lot more than that, but still.
And I have no wristband. That I didn't get at a hospital.2
1As to the WWWLT, while I was preparing this I heard a comment on tv to the effect that "if you don't tweet for six or eight hours, you are irrelevant."
2Okay, I do have a wristwatch with a band. But I don't wear it anymore. Phone, you know.
15 comments:
I don't have cable; don't watch enough TV to make it make sense. So I go ahead and spend on my phone -- iPhone 5, with a corresponding $85 monthly bill. I use the snot out of it, but somehow that bill seems out of kilter given that my home Internet bill is only $35, and I use that more.
More and more, I want to live a mostly unplugged life.
Wristbands are rubber bracelets worn for any number of reasons, usually to show support for some cause or other (back in the 70's I had a POW bracelet) - why not monitor your health with them? I don't have a smart phone because I don't need one - I wish I did. Some technology is doofy, some useful - pick and choose. It all came to late for me...Would have loved most of this stuff when I was younger...
Jim, were it not for Spouse's need for HGTV, I would probably ditch cable. One does what he must do.
Shelly, yes, now that you have time to smell the flowers!
Grace, wristbands are also used as admission tickets to many entertainment venues. "Would have...when...younger." There's the key. I probably would have, too!
I'm a complete failure at getting unplugged. I'd like to think I could turn it all off and walk away, but that is probably mere fantasy.
Chuck, you do like your electronics!
I could do without cable and the house phone. I like the internet and the cell phone to text the kids who don't like to chat on the phone. I'd love to ditch a lot of the electronics in the summer as I just want to be outside and forgetting all of this stuff.
Lin, communicating with the kids is important. Being outdoors in the summer is important. ;-)
The eternal internal battle between going hermit and having computer fun. Sigh.
Shark, does induce internal tension!
I only have free apps on my phone. Well, one to be exact. It finds my phone for me is case I misplace it. Now to get that app for my glasses.
Vee, the "finder" for our lost phones is the belief that one or the other of us will know where her/his phone is. Then calling the other will, with luck, generate an audible sound which can be traced.
Vee, and why do you "lose" your phone anyway?
For the same reason I lose my glasses - I'm absent minded.
Vee, yeah. Me, too.
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