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The Indispensable IPhone 4

by

CJ Mackey

iPhones have been in our family since they first came on the market, so I had always been sold on the benefit of the phone and the technology. But it was only after my phone was stolen that I realized how truly dependent on my smartphone I had become.

The first week of the New Year started off a little shaky in my household. The kids had been on break for a week and a half, and we decided to take them to an early movie and spend the evening getting them prepared for school. Unfortunately, as we wandered back to our car, I discovered I had left my iPhone sitting in the cup holder of the theater, and even though I raced back to claim it, I discovered someone had already laid claim to it in the short time it took to get back in the building. We filed a police report, reported it stolen with AT&T and even though we had the thief caught on video camera, I had to acknowledge a few hours later that my phone and all the conveniences of my life I had added into it, were gone.

While the iPhone has apps like \”Find my iPhone\” and the ability through locator services to remotely wipe the phone, I still felt it necessary to change all the passwords to my accounts that I had starting accessing through the phone. I started first with my email accounts, both personal and work so the person with the phone could not set new passwords on any of my other apps. I made my way through the multiple banking apps – Citi, Chase and ING Direct accounts that I frequently accessed. I went to the next tier of convenience apps I had installed, like my car insurance, my pharmacy and the local Five Guys restaurant App for placing hamburger orders online so I could breeze into the restaurant and go straight to the pickup counter.

That didn\’t begin to cover the myriad of other apps that I realized I had come to rely on for my phone. I use Common Sense Media to find ratings on the video games my children want to purchase, and Flixster to find ratings and tickets for movies. I have Amazon and eBay apps so I can shop from the road as I sit next to my husband in the car. And of course, I have an app from my cable provider so when I am on the road and can\’t get home to watch that NFL playoff came, I can set it to record to my DVR.

For the first few days, post the theft, I used a spare iPhone 3 that we had in a drawer. While the technology had been astounding to me when we first got it, I was amazed to see how much the iPhone 4 had improved upon that technology in a short period of time. I couldn\’t download my work email and had to wait patiently when I touched the screen for the action to place, and was completely confused at first when I exited one app to find that it stopped running and wasn\’t continuing in the background as the ones on my iPhone 4 did.

Probably the most telling of all things regarding my reliance on the iPhone was my refusal to use the laptops in my home to complete those same tasks. Being in a technology job, I have multiple laptops, MacBooks and desktops all at my disposal in my home, let alone those I have available at work. I found that I kept forgetting that I could (and used to) access all the full websites from my laptop to do those same functions.

So as I sit here happily synced to my iTunes from my new iPhone 4S, and transfer my bank funds, check on my prescription pick-up status, and text my son that the game he wants is inappropriate for his age group, I say a little thank you to Apple for making my life that much more manageable.

C. J. Mackey is a working mother of three, balancing a full time career while taking an active role in her children\’s lives. She has an advanced degree in engineering and over twenty years making technology decisions for fortune 500 companies. For more information please visit our website at http://cjmackeypress.com/

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