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Tag: cell phone

Time to Think

Sun, June 10, 2018 Published by

“I hate my mom’s phone and I wish she never had one.”

Those are the bitter words of a seven year old girl whose teacher had asked her to name an item she wished had never been invented. Like many of her classmates, she chose the cell phone. It appears as though that girl is jealous because her mother appears so bound up in tweeting and texting and emailing that she has no time left for her, and last week her poignant reflection boomed around the internet, read no doubt by most people on their phones.

The problem is the pressure that so many of us place on time. It is too easy to view time as a commodity that needs to be exploited to the full. We can end up cramming every single second with activity so there is no space left in our lives at all. Pope Francis has invented a word for this tendency ever to increase the pace of life. He calls it rapidification. A faster pace of life means an ever greater consumption of the world’s finite resources, and so Pope Francis suggests that the pressure we are putting on time has become a critical issue for the future of the planet.

It may be that an eighth century Saint can pour some wisdom into this very contemporary conundrum. Bede was a monk who lived in the North of England around 672/3 – 735. Bede had a fascination with time. He monitored the tides, he watched the movements of the moon and stars, but Bede had a very different understanding of the purpose of time. For him time was not a commodity to fill up but a means of marking out the spaces where he could meet with God. It was a way of ensuring that life was fitted around a daily pattern of prayer and an annual calendar of seasons and festivals that told the story of Jesus. The purpose of time was to encounter the timelessness of God and, in so doing, to discover human identity.

Maybe there is something in Bede’s thinking that can help us all. Rather than seeing time as something we have to fill up and exploit to the maximum, perhaps we might begin  to see it as the space in which relationships can be fed and human purpose explored. Empty time is good time. Being with those who are close to us is time well spent. Why not lose the phone, slow down and ‘waste’ some time with the people you love.*

Tech Tip: Dead Phone = No Phone

Tue, March 15, 2016 Published by

I remember years ago I used to have several red analog “Bat Phones” scattered around campus for emergency calls in the event we lost our phone system. We’ve since done away with those phones due to the fact that not only are we using quite a few “connected” devices in several departments, literally EVERYONE has a cell phone in their pocket, and 911 calls are free. Yet now a new problem has emerged with all of this “smart” technology – Battery Life. With the advent of the smartphone, we now have fingertip access to Music, Email, Internet, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, GPS, Messaging, Groupon, Gas Buddy, Cloud Storage … and the list goes on and on … and on. All of these apps are great! We love them because they keep us connected to everything and everyone we care about. But! They are usually constantly updating, refreshing and notifying you of changes. Keep in mind that these devices are essentially fancy walkie-talkies that are constantly communicating with the closest cell tower which is constantly using the battery and shortening the length of your most recent charge. On average, a single smartphone battery charge should last one to two days depending on usage. Obviously if you happen to talk on the phone a lot, your battery life will decrease as a phone call is the biggest battery drain. So here’s a few tips to help you extend the battery life of your phone and avoid the anxiety of being “Disconnected”.

 

I’m going to try and blend this for iPhone IOS and Android phones. You may have to poke around in the settings to find the exact places to make the necessary changes.

  • First thing’s first, check which apps are using the most battery.
    • Go to Settings\Battery to see how much battery each app is using.
  • Turn off background refresh or apps that constantly run in the background.
    • Be sure to close apps you aren’t using and turn off auto update or auto refresh.
  • Reduce message app polling.
    • Make sure email, Twitter, messaging are set to fetch or manual, not push.
  • Turn off non-essential notifications.
    • Every app wants to notify you about something. Turn off all but the ones you need.
  • Turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when not in use.
    • Your phone will be constantly searching for connection devices if these are left on.
  • Dim your screen brightness.
    • The brighter the screen, the more battery it uses.
  • Turn off vibrations.
    • Use vibration only when necessary. The more bells and whistles (literally) the more battery it uses.
  • Shorten screen time out.
    • This setting should be at the shortest time possible. Even still I’ve made a habit of instantly locking my device after use.
  • Turn off GPS and location services.
    • GPS should only be active while you’re using a map app.
  • As a last resort, turn off your phone or switch on Low Power Mode.
    • This of course reduces the smart functions of your phone but may leave you with that last bit of battery to make an emergency call.