Here’s a riddle for you: What has two legs, two arms, a superfan shirt, and can’t snapchat?
Answer: The only girl at Boston College without a smartphone… me.
Is my answer an exaggeration? Probably. But it sure doesn’t feel like one. As far as my memory can serve me (and, to be fair, my memory is awful), every single phone I have ever seen in class, at a party, or just walking through campus is smart. Most of the time this doesn’t get to me, but being human, sometimes it does. I fully understand and appreciate the fact that I attend a great school and that I have great friends and family. I live a comfortable first world life, and all I can ever be is grateful for the myriad of opportunities I have. Yet sometimes it’s too easy to feel ungrateful. When everyone around you has something you don’t, no matter how petty it is, you will notice its absence in your life. For me, these are the things I’d give anything to have, except, of course, $30 a month.
1. SNAPCHAT/INSTAGRAM
I take ugly pictures like it’s my job. I’ve simply embraced the fact that my face seems to have more muscles than most. Yet right now my only platform is Facebook. Imagine the possibilities if I could run my stunning face through a filter or two, or bombard my contact list with countless embarrassing pictures with zero repercussions. Can you guess which one is me? Hint: I’m the prettiest!
2. CANDY CRUSH
I’m only on level 267 and it is shameful. If I had a smartphone, I’d be on like level 375. Right now I can only play through Facebook, which means only when I’m procrastinating doing homework. I’m a total embarrassment among my friends because I simply can’t keep up. Actually, I’m an embarrassment because I play it in the first place!
3. TRANSLOC
This was never too big of an issue until junior year. Now it’s the pits. I live on Foster Street, exactly 1.0 mile from Conte Forum. Dang straight I calculated the distance. On average, I walk that route four times a day, and of those times I catch the bus twice at best. While my shapely calves may thank me for this fact, the rest of my body does not as it speed-walks to econometrics at 8:30 a.m.
4. GPS NAVIGATION
Speaking of travel, do you know what it’s like to show up to the first day of your summer internship a full 40 minutes late? No, you don’t because you have a smartphone. You don’t have to sit in front of a computer for 30 minutes before driving somewhere you’ve never been, using Google Maps Street View to look at every turn for landmarks in case a street sign is missing. You don’t have to pull over to the side of the road to call your parents and have a panic attack because you were just honked at 10 times straight for driving too slow and you have no idea how to get back to Rt. 20.
5. BEING LEFT BEHIND
Everything above is meant to be a joke (and I hope you found it at least a little funny). Of course, it can be annoying to walk to class when I’m feeling a little lazy, and I would certainly love to send funny pictures to my friends on Snapchat, but these problems are superficial and in the end detract nothing significant from the quality of my life. Yet there is one thing I’ve slowly become more aware of as I’ve grown older, and that is that I’m getting left behind. I don’t use a lot of the same technology my peers do, and as I transition into the professional world, this seems more and more daunting. I don’t use and/or can’t access a lot of social media platforms, and thus I miss out on connections I could otherwise make. I can’t relate to most jokes or anecdotes relating to smartphones and the technology that comes along with them, and thus I can occasionally feel isolated from friends and coworkers. Worst of all, I am less comfortable with using new technologies, whether it be hardware or software, than the average BC student because I’m not exposed to new technology as often as they are. Ultimately, I’ll most likely take the leap and buy a smartphone once I graduate and enter the real world, but until then I’m going to keep complaining and not doing anything about my problems.
Sources:
theinquierer.net
bcheights.tumblr.com
itunes.apple.com