A new era: my first smartphone

I am certainly not the first person to switch to a smartphone. When I look around me, sometimes I think I am the last person to do so.

Image via Wikipedia

Furthermore it has taken me a long time to make this decision. I work from home, so I am not that often on the road. The most time I am away it is private. And do I really want to be connected to the world 24/7?


I belong to one of the last generations who grew up with well ... nothing of the kind. We had limited tv with programs for kids only on wednesday afternoon. No computer, dvd-player, games console or mobile phone. I was over the moon when I got my first cassette player. And yet we survived and we were even happy!

Image by Jemimus via Flickr

Remembering those days, I am not always sure I want to be connected 24/7. When I go on holiday I would like to hide myself from the world. No tv and no computer. Well at least I managed that untill I started my private practice. Since then my views have changed a little. I do feel the need to be able to get in touch in case of emergencies and to anwser quick questions.

Image by karlaredor via Flickr

Also I am a little bit paranoid when it comes to my internet connection at home. I have more than one computer in case one breaks down. [Let's be honest here, more than 2 as well] But I vividly remember changing providers about 3 years ago. The new provider promised I would be only the next day, it took 18 days of frantic phonecalls to both the old and the new provider to get me connected again. In those cases 20 computers in the home would not help. And as I handle sensitive information I do not use internet cafe's or unprotected wifi.

So now I have a back-up plan. My HTC ChaCHa should arrive within a few days. And I bought a new dongle, hopefully fast enough for internet. I think that will cover me for most emergencies.

So how about you? Do you want to be connected 24/7 all the time or not?