So I spent the entire day studying up on Twitter and (I think) more or less figuring out how to work it for my nefarious purposes. Wanting to establish a new account for the Camptown Ladies in addition to FaM’s Twitter account I signed out of the FaM account and tried to create a new account.
Well. You have to have a cell phone, because they won’t let you sign up unless they can text you a verification code.
For all practical intents and purposes, I have no cell phone. I do have an LG 440G, but I got it unwillingly, only because with no pay phones available anymore I had to have something to call roadside service if my car breaks down.
I never use it. I don’t want to use it. I have enough electronic crap and gear to have to figure out, thank you very much!
So I haul out the instruction booklet, which I carry around in my purse, knowing someday I’ll have to figure out how to dial the roadside people.
This thing is utterly incomprehensible, because it’s predicated on the assumption that you already know how to use a cell phone. And it’s incomplete. I finally find about three lines purporting to explain how to send a text message, but nothing about how to receive one.
I look the little bastard up on the Internet. The user manual posted there contains nary a word about text messaging.
There’s something about SMS’s.
I’ve never heard of an SMS. Finally, after cruising the Web again in search of a definition, I gather this is a synonym for text message. Probably. Roughly.
Okay, so I study the instructions about what to do when you receive an SMS. The button they say to use appears not to be a button but a tiny painted-on white dash. When you do figure out how to get this bizarre button thing to work, it brings up nothing. However, figuring out to make it work does use up your minutes.
When you attempt “using your navigation keys, go to messages,” you never do arrive at the menu thingie that shows in the online user manual’s image. There’s no way to find “inbox” because the screen that (I guess) it appears on does not come up.
See why I don’t want to own a smartphone? I can’t even learn how to use this thing, the dumbest of dumb phones. How am I going to learn how to operate a really sophisticated piece of electronic detritus?
Anyway, I wasn’t able to set up a new Twitter account for the Camptown Ladies. Oh, well…
Do you want me to create a Twitter account for Camptown Ladies for you? I can, just email me 🙂 You really shouldn’t HAVE to have a cell phone for it but you should have an email address to associate with it.
That would be awesome! The girls would love it… 😉 More later.
I share your “angst”…This whole electronic/cell phone mess floors me. DD has took up residence in a new state and is “shopping” for a cell phone plan so that she can get off her G-mother’s plan. After some research my “prodigy” has found that her G-mother is getting taken to the cleaners….BIG SURPRISE… The phone store “dude” signed her up for a bunch of crap she doesn’t use and on top of that her plan is crap. DD with her discount from her new employer can get phone service for her and G-mother for just about half what the old plan cost…..with about 20 times the internet and phone capability. She has forwarded me the info and I swear I feel like it is in Mandarin….If this is “progress”….no thank you…..
What an outrageous rip.
The thing about it is, you don’t really need about 95% of that stuff. Just the ability to make a phone call is all that’s needed. But we’ve convinced ourselves that we “NEED” all the other doodads and services. I mean, really…you can’t read a map? You honestly can’t figure out which way is north? LOL!
In 70 years on this planet, I’ve had one, count’er (1) friend who truly could not read a map and could not navigate a strange city without someone riding shotgun. It was a real, certifiable disability, not “too lazy to pick up a map.”
She was amazing. One time we stopped at a three-way intersection. We needed to turn left. She studied the map, absorbed in its intricacies. “Okay, we go right here,” said she. “NO!” said I, “lookee here, this is where we are, this is the cross road, that’s where we’re going, and it’s to the left.” She looked at the map again, gazed around at the landscape, thought about it, and said, “No, I know we have to turn right.”
LOL! She and the other four people on this earth who are so afflicted need a GPS. The rest of us…not so much.
Heh…her flummoxization is about how I feel with the damn cell phones.
Merchants are not helping the situation by going along with the idea that we all must be able to wave our phones at a machine to charge up our goods. It’s probably to their benefit, because they can engross a lot of information about us without having to ask. But it’s just. not. necessary.
Funny you are absolutely right about the notion that we NEED a cell phone. In the Spring I took DD out to her new home in the West. Traveled 3.5 days to get there and then spent a couple of days looking around her adopted home. I always had my trusty cheapo(Virgin Mobil) cell phone at my side. DW has the same cell service, just went out 2 weeks ago and called me on DD’s phone to say she had no service what so ever. DD did some research and it seems that is one of the only areas in the Country where there is no service for Virgin…..I hadn’t a clue that I had no cell service for at least 3 days…..
3 days? OMG! And you LIVED to tell the tale?
Ugh this is why I refuse to talk to anyone in the stores – I will do my research online until I’m clear and then insist on getting that in writing when I commit to something. I think the used-car salesmen tactics have spread wide and far to all technology.
Interesting. You’d think that there would be at least 2 alternatives. Well, could be a reason why Twitter is getting pounded lately on Wall Street. Seems lots of poor decision making going on there.
It turns out the reason is, speaking of pounded, Twitter has been hammered by trolls planting truly obnoxious, aggressive messages and turning normal people off. They’d ban the creeps, but then the creeps would just invent a new persona and resurface. The idea is, Twitter now has a record of your cell phone number, and if you try to re-up they can keep you banned on the basis of the number.
So, it IS reasonable. I surely can understand why they would do that. But why not also let us give a land-line number that their machine can send a machine-generated voice message to? One of the gigantic internet monsters does that all the time.
Aaaaand the cell phone “madness” continues. DD is ready to leave her G-mother’s plan and strike out on her own. She wants unlimited text and talk and 3 Gigs of internet….Verizon will provide this service for right around $85 PER MONTH “for the privilege” IF you have forked over the $4-500 in cash to purchase a “smart phone”, This is over $1k a year for phone service….Serious money from where I sit. I suggested she buy $1K worth of Verizon stock instead….
{GASP!} {wheeze} {hyperventilate}
!!!!!!!!!
Where on EARTH do people get the kind of money to cough up 85 bucks A MONTH on top of all the other monthly gouges? When you consider that most people have to pay for the roof over their heads — mortgage or rent — and their wheels — at least one car payment — on top of the electric bill, the gas bill, the water bill, the trash pickup bill, the cable bill, the high-speed internet bill, the Netflix bill, the website hosting bill, the health insurance bill, the dental insurance bill, the car insurance bill, the renters insurance bill (if you’re not rolling dwelling insurance into a mortgage payment), the pet health insurance bill, the credit-card bill(s)… Lordie. Even without a mortgage or a car payment, there’s no way in hell I could afford $85 a month +++ for the privilege of carrying a pocket-sized computer around.
Do you realize how much that adds up to? That’s $1020 a year, plus the $400+ for the phone…we’re at $1420, and we don’t even admit to the fact that most people discard their pricey device and trade up in about 3 years, never even running out the contract to pay off the damn phone.
It’s incomprehensible. Either most people must earn one hell of a lot more money than the median income in this country (throwing the “median income” deeply into question), or most people must be in hock up to their teeth.
Hate to “clutter” your blog with “whining” BUT I’m in the “front seat” of this roller coaster ride and I thought your readers might benefit from this…..”challenge”. Couldn’t agree more with asking “how do folks do this”? She has asked around where she works and explained the cost of $400 for a device being a pretty big obstacle. Her co-worker sheepishly confided in DD that “actually” her device was over $800 and that her “payment” for the phone is “in her bill”….the $165 per month bill! DD said at this point ….”she had an out of body experience”…. To make matters worse her boss at her new job continues to make comments as to how nice it would be for her to have a “more sophisticated phone” so as she could perform her job tasks “more efficiently” ……And IMHO it’s only gonna get worse…. I just don’t know how these kids do it!
Oh, my goodness! Almost a thousand bucks for a freaking PHONE?
My son’s former employer (not the current one, I think) paid for his iPhone and the cost of the connection. If her employer expects her to be “on call” 24 hours a day, as seems to be the current style, then her employer is the one who should pay for the connectivity: gadgets and wireless connection bills.
Arrrghhh! This is the reason we need unions. And it’s the reason big corporations bought elected officials and marketing campaigns to get rid of workers’ representation and workers’ rights. One lonely young woman can’t very well stand up to a company and say “if you want me to have a ‘more sophisticated’ phone you either have to pay enough for me to afford it and still eat or you have to pay for the gadgetry.”
Son’s current employer doesn’t expect him to work nonstop, 24 hours a day. So as a practical matter he doesn’t need to be connected for that company’s benefit, and so, quite reasonably, this company doesn’t pay for his phone. Maybe she should look for a job where they hire employees, not slaves.
I’m late to the party on this topic, but just wanted to add a few points.
* Most of us find a smart phone is easier to use than a “dumb phone.” There is a lot of user research and design work done to make them more intuitive to use. Scrolling through tiny screens with tiny text and navigating via multi-purpose keys is really a pain. A smart phone has a qwerty keyboard (either a physical one or an on-screen one).
* You should set up an account with a service like HootSuite or something similar to manage your multiple Twitter accounts. They have a free version, so you can try it out without a lot of investment (other than time, which is a considerable investment, I know, but still…)
* If you have a smart phone you can also download apps like Facebook and Twitter so you’re not forced to sit at home managing your publishing empire social media. You can do that anywhere there is a signal (if you pay for the data) or free Wifi.
* Damn, am I spoiled in having an employer that has not only negotiated dirt rates for unlimited data and voice (it comes out to around $55 a month), but also pays for the entire bill (unless I use more than the allowed 20% for personal use) and up to $200 for the device. Yeah, I have to keep it on most of the time, but I can’t recall the last time I got an urgent work call, and I’m happy to check email every hour or two when I’m out and about during the week.
One thing I forgot to note, if you do decide that you may benefit from a smart phone to help you manage your publishing empire, the cost of the unit, data plan, and minutes would be a business expense. Maybe that changes your perspective a bit.
All those things are undoubtedly true. But I can’t afford $55 a month for a cell phone. Without the piddling teaching income, I’m trying to live on $1195 a month. With food, utility bills, gas bills, medical bills, and the cost of two dogs, I simply DON’T HAVE an extra $55 a month. Often I end the month in the red, having to draw down savings just to survive.
Even with the teaching pittance, there really isn’t enough to lock myself into an extra monthly gouge.
If the naughty book indeed do create an income — a highly dubious proposition — then maybe I can afford to catch up with some of the things I need (probably do “need” a cell phone) and want. But for now: every dollar that I draw out of savings is a dollar I won’t have when I’m in my 80s or (god forbid!) 90s, when I really WILL need the money for personal care, health care, special housing, and transportation.
Pay it through the S-corp? Yeah, I could pony up $55 a month out of the $5,000 that remains to run this thing between now and the end of March, when it will be flat broke unless the porn starts to make money. You understand how HIGH the likelihood is that the business will fail…80 PERCENT small-business startups fail, and this one is problematic an a number of ways. The only thing standing between the S-corp and bankruptcy is raw luck. And I haven’t seen much of that yet. 😉