I feel like we, as a society, have grown too dependent on our devices. I had plans to go to a movie with a friend of mine (10 Cloverfield Lane) yesterday morning. I wanted to see the movie, and my friend said he wanted to, but his wife didn't want to go. So earlier in the week, we made plans to see it yesterday morning for a matinee. I get to the theater and wait until the last possible minute. I hadn't called or texted, because this was something that was pretty well set in stone. I'd already purchased us tickets, and I figured he would just pay me back. But I finally got worried and text messaged him. His reply was that his wife was sick, and that I should have checked my Facebook page for a note there.
I haven't used my Facebook page since like December 13th.
I get that he had a family emergency, and I wasn't upset about that, but to assume that I spend my time tied to my phone enough to have the "foresight" to check my Facebook page from the movie theater instead of him just calling me made me feel a little irate.
I wound up giving my other ticket to a couple behind me. They offered to pay, of course, but I waved them off. It was a measly $7.
Instead of fully enjoying the movie (which I still did, save for the very end), I sat there thinking about the better times. Like how we used to survive before cell phones became so prominent. I mean, I once had a girlfriend (No, I'm not lying. I wasn't always a despair-filled, ugly, cynical asshole) before owning a cell phone. And we trusted each other enough to not be in constant communication with one another. Now, before you say anything, yes, she left me after a year, and I looked her up on MySpace (name drop!) several years later to find that she was married to the guy she left me for, and that they were engaged five months into us dating. So yeah, that's a thing.
The point is: it was possible to function as member of society without being 100% connected to every other aspect of your life 24/7. I miss that shit. I miss writing adorable emails to a girl I like, only to be stuck in the limbo of waiting, where you don't know if she's read it, or if she'll ever write a reply. Now you can sent a text message and know the instant it's been read and when she's replying to it. It takes all the mystery out of it.
I miss going to the gas station before a long road trip and buying a paper atlas to plot my course, instead of just typing in a destination and having my phone plot waypoints and rest stops for me. Where is the sense of adventure? I once drove from Oklahoma to South Carolina SOLELY on HAND WRITTEN directions from my dad. I had gotten to a point that the interstate I was on was under construction and there was a detour, but the signs were torn down, and I wound up driving 20 miles on a closed section of road.
I miss having a rotary dial phone and the feeling in the pit of your stomach when you're dialing your crush and hovering over the finger hole of that last digit before chickening out and hanging up the receiver.
Here's some other shit I miss:
I miss having a group of friends who I got together with on the last day of the weekend to sit down and play pencil + paper role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons (in my day it was Advanced Dungeons and Dragons -- I remember what THAC0 is, bitches), Shadowrun, and Star Wars.
I miss having the metabolism of a teenager and just eating crappy food all day, but still having the energy to get out and pitch a 9 inning game of baseball.
I miss vagina. It's been... way too long.
I miss the camaraderie of my brothers and sisters in arms. The time I spent in the Air Force was the most functional formative period of my life, but it was also the most adventurous and fun. I discovered myself and made some lasting friendships as well as got a chance to see the world.
I miss my dogs.
