I was a late-comer to mobile phones. Part of my resistance was to telephones, generally. A disembodied voice does not give me sufficient clues about the information I am receiving or a response to what I have said. Phone calls often leave me more dissatisfied than not. Early on, there was also a concern about being interrupted as my Enneagram 5 (Investigator) does like solitude.
I’ve now had several mobile phones (favorite was the Blackberry with its Qwerty keys). My current iPhone Xs should hold me for quite some time. That is, of course, unless Blackberry makes a comeback.
As an Investigator, I do make a fair amount of use of the web connectivity that comes with modern mobile phones. To have this capability, the manufacturers need to pack more and more into a confined space. For a small item, the apps don’t add any weight, but the hardware to run them is constantly being added to. Smaller but heavier seems to be the order of the day.
I have noticed that when I take the iPhone and its holster off my belt, I am not only lighter (a lighter physical burden to be borne) but brighter (relieved at not being responsible for being on-duty).
So much material is packed into such a small space, the phone has a gravitational field all its own. Yes, the phone becomes an object to orbit around rather than simply being a tool with a refined skill set.
Questions of accountability and addiction come to mind. Where is the loco of contra? Is turning the phone off good self-care or a betrayal of social norms to be available 24/7 and prefer quick answers/memes to a considered response?
Mobile phones seem to be energizing to many, but not for me. I’m glad to turn it off at night and delay turning it on in the morning. I don’t appreciate how the phone’s natural desire to be of service plays into my natural sense of being the center of the universe and need to be available. I cherish time enough to join the deer, coyotes, and buffalo in roaming ranges.