Smart phone = Stupid person?

My very old sort-of-smartphone died in my pocket last Friday. It is now Thursday, which means I've gone six days phoneless. After an initial feeling of loss, confusion and out-of-it-ness (much like coming off drugs), things have brightened up considerably. I have felt like a puppy off-leash, inspired to run around and yelp with freedom. When I was at the playground with Isaac, I was at the playground with Isaac (yelping). When I was waiting for the walk-sign, I was waiting for the walk-sign, not yelping, but also not in my in-box!
I've been very "present".

Now my new smartphone is here and I feel very middling about it. I did take it out of it's box, but then I also just stuffed it back in. It felt too cold, hard, computer-y and heavy. I thought there is no way I want to put this thing up to my face. Then I saw it has earbuds so I wouldn't have to put it up to my face.

The guy at Verizon said the screen resolution is beautiful, and that I wouldn't need to get up from the couch to turn on my computer; it's that awesome. That means that if I keep this thing, I'll have access to crazy infinite amounts of information anytime, anywhere. Jeremy calls the web the Internets. I'm scared to get tangled up in the Internets!

I know I am going to check my email way too frequently. I'll check the weather, look for directions, take pictures, surf a little, yet perhaps still feel unsatisfied. It's only been a week;
I remember the feeling of seeing the little red splat on the message icon on my Blackberry.
I felt Excitement! Curiosity! And then disappointment when it was only a notification of a change in terms from Chase bank. 

I listened to a interview on NPR where the interviewee (I can't remember his name!) talked about how we are conditioned as a rat can be conditioned, to look at our email.  He said when you occasionally gave a rat a treat after they heard a bell, they always reacted to that bell.

I don't want to be a rat! I don't want to be a momma (and I have been with my defunct blackberry) who looks at their phone while they push their baby in the swing. But I also don't want to lose out. I don't want to miss something important, I want to see some beautiful resolution!

In a wonderfully synchronistic and serendipitous moment, my step-mom sent me a link to another NPR interview addressing exactly what I have been pondering. The interviewee is MIT professor Sherry Turkle. She has been studying how technology affects ourselves and our children for a very long time. In this interview she questions what is gained by always being on and available to anyone at anytime.  My favorite quote was that the greatest gift you can give your child is to leave your phone at home.

I'm not a nut. I'm not going to give up a cell-phone completely, but I've decided as of this moment, to get a dumber phone and enjoy my own smarts.