Sometimes just upgrading isn't really worth the effort, expense

Before I start this topic, I have to say something that will disqualify me with some readers. I'm 64 years old. And while I didn't go to school in a covered wagon, I'm still a geezer when it comes to the new technology.

That said, I got my first cell phone in 1995 and have had one ever since, with a hiatus of about 10 months three years ago. I stopped my 17-year association with companies that eventually wound up being part of Verizon, because a) I was retired, b) I didn't really need a cell phone, and c) Our house is sort of a dead spot for reception.

I didn't miss it at all, at least until I had to go to the airport in March 2013 two years ago to pick up my daughter and my year-old grandson. We missed connections, and my lack of a phone meant it took us about 90 minutes to find each other.

So I jumped back into cell phone ownership with a different company. And for the first time since the introduction in 2007, I got an iPhone.

I haven't been a big Apple guy. I've never used Macs except once through work. Most of my connections with the company have come through iPods, and even then I was resistant at the start.

The first MP3 player I had was Microsoft's failed Zune.

But I've been using iPods for a long time, for music, audio books and even an occasional movie. I have an iPod Classic and have about 130 gigabytes worth of music and audiobooks on it. I had to get a new one a year or so ago after walking into the Caribbean Sea with the old one in the pocket of my bathing suit.


In addition, something strange started happening late last year. My wife Nicole, who had never expressed the slightest interest in having a cell phone, started saying she might like to have one. She was fascinated at all the different features of their smart phones.

Since I had reached the point where I could upgrade inexpensively, I gave her my phone and upgraded to an iPhone 6 plus. It's an amazing instrument, and the screen is actually large enough to use to watch videos.

I don't know if this will be the last cell phone I buy, but it had better be. It's pretty clear that I have fallen into the great trap of American civilization these days -- constant upgrading of things that don't really need to be upgraded.

I've been upgrading computers ever since starting with a 286 processor in 1989. It's not that difficult to remember a time when watching video on a computer was a far-off dream.

But with phones it seems sillier and sillier to think that people who could be working to invent new things are spending their time and energy just making old ones better.

When I think about "progress," I find myself thinking about the house my family moved into in January 52 years ago this week. Nearly everything in the house has been replaced over the years, but on the wall in the kitchen, looking old but still working, is a rotary phone.

It was definitely a disadvantage trying to call in to radio contests, but except for taking longer to make a call, this 1963 model still works.

It's worth considering the next time we think of upgrading something that is only a little bit better than what we had.