Tyranny of the New

I have a new phone. Unfamiliar. It makes different tones to the old phone, has a range of different features. None of the notifications sound the same. Some of the notifications I had disabled have now come to life again, as the apps are downloaded, which means my attention is constantly pulled towards the device as it chirps and chimes and tings.

The on-screen keyboard is different. Smaller. Harder to use. And the autocorrect still hasn’t learned my ways, so the messages I send out are frequently…weird. Riddled with typos and uncapitalised usage of the letter i as a single word.

I cannot communicate in the ways I am used too, as reliably as I used too, and it is frustrating as hell.

But the old phone had definitely seen better days, and it was time to make the upgrade. And for every old, familiar habit that has been frustrating, there are a whole bunch of outdated apps and habits that did not survive the transition.