Instant gratification...instant altercation: Gotta love technology.

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Do you remember your life before you owned a cell phone? I have vague memories of memorizing people's phone numbers, but those days are long gone. I don't know anyone's phone number or email address. Technology has helped me save so much room in my brain...though mainly only to use the spare brain cells to learn how to use the technology that saves the room in my brain.

There are those of us that feel like we forgot something important if we leave our house unarmed with our cell phone....something important...ya know, like underwear, but even more important. We forget how to function. Pretty scary thought to think that we no longer know how to exist without our cell phone. But something that strikes me even more isn't what happens when we're the ones who forget our phone...it's the reactions of others on the other end of the line.

Today I left my phone in my car...something that's not uncommon when I go the gym. I consider myself a pretty connected person, but even I have my moments where I need to get off the grid for a bit. From time to time, if I know I have to be available, I'll work out with my phone...begrudingly. Today happened to be one of those days that I needed to escape and just let myself give into the trance of the stairmaster...in hopes it would help me get out of this funk I've been in lately. Fail.

I got back into my car after some serious cardio and a good ab workout...and pulled my phone out to see what I missed. 4 emails and 2 phone calls...the 2 missed calls were from the same person. I called right back and got no answer. I shrugged and went on with the rest of my day...kinda. I called the person back about 20 minutes later...still no answer. I have to admit I was a little frustrated.

Never thinking the person who called me would be aggravated, I found myself getting more and more frustrated for not being able to get through. Remember the days of cassette answering machines...when you never knew if someone was going to answer...and they didn't know it was you calling because caller i.d. was still kind of Jetson status? Gone are those days. Now we live in a time where being unavailable is being rude...or makes you seem suspect. Everyone wants everything right NOW.

After a couple hours, the person called me back...questioning why I wasn't available. I quickly apologized, but was tempted to question why THEY didn't answer. But what's the point...I didn't feel like getting into an argument...aside from the fact that I had a good reason for not having my phone on...so maybe they did, too. All I know is after we hung up, I missed those days of simpler times...rotary phones, beepers, and dial-up internet. Those were the days.