On Dating an Early Adopter

Creative Commons image from Flickr user Brad Frost

My boyfriend loves the latest. The latest what? Yes, exactly. The latest everything.

Health tracker?
     Yes.

iPhone?
     Yes.

Social media platform?
     Yes. (Don’t ask me why I still have a Foursquare account...I didn’t want it in the first place.)

Gaming system?
     Yes.

I, on the other hand, am not an early adopter (in my work life, yes; in my personal life, nope). Let’s just put it this way: I watch Matlock. I still have a TV/VHS player combo. I love vinyl albums. I still wear t-shirts from high school.  It took me 6 month, maybe even 9 months, to update my cell phone to the last operating system, and now you want me to do it again?!

I’m not saying I don’t enjoy and appreciate progress. I definitely do! It’s just that I don’t like unexpected problems popping up… Let me break it down.

Dangers:

• Bugs! Software glitches. Errors. Lost files. Frozen screens. Inaccurate navigation maps. No thanks. Not until you work the glitches out. See you in 3 years, new iOS. 
• Recalls. How annoying is it to just get started with something only to have to send it back for a replacement, repair, or refund? Why not just wait for the updated version to come out? 
• Money. New things are expensive (whether it’s financial or time to figure it out--both of which are very valuable). I’m the kind of person who doesn’t like to buy something without having the cash in hand, and I like knowing that what I’m buying is going to be valuable, useful, durable, and something I’ll appreciate for a long time. Sometimes these new technology pieces are just fads. I wait it out. 
• I drop things. I'm not proud of it. New things tend to be fragile. See previous bullet point about things being expensive. 
• My boyfriend often tells me “You should start using this” or “Why aren’t you on this?” or “I think you’d really like this” or “If you had this then you could just do ….” Very considerate, but just because he likes something doesn’t mean I’m going to like it. Plus, I’m stubborn sometimes. 
• I’m trying to simplify, reduce clutter, and appreciate what I already have. Why add another device to the pile, or another app to juggle or waste more memory? 

Benefits:

• He helps me know what the latest thing is so I know what the heck I’m reading about on Mashable. 
• I get to enjoy the benefits of new technology without having to deal with having it myself. Want to try out this app? No problem, I’ll just use his phone/tablet/television/all-the-things to learn my skills so that by the time I update/new purchase whatever it is I’m actually capable of using it right away! 
• He and the technology developers (I suppose they get some credit here) get all the bugs worked out by the time I work up the energy or desire to update my technology. Fewer annoying glitches! 
• It all balances out and eventually I stop being stubborn if I feel like the technology is actually something I could/should use. 
• He gets really excited, and I love seeing him get really excited. Enthusiasm is attractive. 

So, while we don’t exactly have the same approach to this aspect of life, it all seems to work out. How about you? What's your take on early adoption? What about times when you and your partner's differences compliment each other?

Screen-Free Week: A Pledge

A couple of months ago, I got a smart phone. And it is great. But I kind of always have this nagging feeling that it has taken over my life, and I haven't quite figured out what to do about it.

The other night I was reading an article on Power of Moms about Screen Free Week, which is next week, April 29th-May 5th. My daughter isn't old enough to have any screen time really, but I started thinking about my own screen time, and suddenly I really wanted to participate. At first I thought, "But I can't do that, because I don't really watch things on TV (just on Netflix and Hulu) and I need my phone and computer for . . ." I started thinking about the things I actually NEED to use my screens for, and I realized that compared to the number of things I actually use them for, the number is small.

For screen-free week, kids are asked to give up ALL recreational screen time. They are allowed to use the computer when it's necessary for their homework assignments, and that's it.  My husband said he would go no screen with me, but his job relies very heavily on using a computer, so he'll just eliminate all extraneous screen use. For me, that's a little squishier, so I'm setting some specific limits according to the things that are "needs," sort of.

1. I can keep this blog running by checking once in the morning to make sure posts go up, and once in the evening to make sure posts are scheduled for the next day. I will probably ask one of the other contributors to take care of the blog promotion via facebook and pinterest. I should limit this time to half an hour or less total for the day.
2. I can send picture messages of CB to her grandparents, else they will suffer serious withdrawals. Other pictures and videos I want to take of her need to be done with my camera to keep my phone from being a constant temptation in my hand.
3. I can check my email once a day to make sure I don't miss anything time-sensitive and essential, and I can reply to things that fall into those categories. 
4. I can answer text messages, but not initiate long text conversations just because I'm bored. 

Here are some of the things I want to do during the week (which I am listing now so I won't suffer withdrawals and wonder what to do with my life.

• Organize my closet and ditch the clothes I no longer wear because they are from my freshman year of college.
• Use the fabric I've been saving and sew myself a bag from one of the bags I have pinned on pinterest (print before the week begins). 
• Make the Mother's Day presents I've been wanting to make for my mom and mother-in-law.
• Go to the library and check out books for myself and CB.
• Start a new book to fill the hole left by my recently finished Malcolm Gladwell book.
• Cook something new and exciting.
• Finish getting the spare room ready for our home-stay Korean student, who will be here in a week.
• Go for lots of walks.
• Listen to more music and podcasts while working on things (rather than sticking the TV on in the background.) 
• Finish/start my spring cleaning.
• Spend time at the park with my husband and baby.

When I finish, I'm going to write a post about it, so look forward to that. And if you want to join me, you'd better tell me now before I unplug!