Nearly four years ago I received (reluctantly) an iPhone, a model 4s.  It was my first venture into the world of smart phones, a world I had long resisted.

Well, there is nothing worse than a convert (to the smart phone – converts to Catholicism are just fine; I’m also one of those).  So it wasn’t long before I was checking email, sending messages, checking the weather, making flight plans, downloading podcasts and listening to music on the iPhone.

I became phone dependent, a frightening condition I had to come to grips this week when my smart phone went stupid.

What I mean by stupid is that it stopped being able to send or receive data.  In other words, no email, no functioning apps – all that was left was, well, a telephone.

I called our technical guru and he did a few tests and checked my account and determined that the problem wasn’t on his end.  I called the cellular provider and they did a couple tests and determined that it wasn’t on their end.  I took my iPhone 4s to the Apple Store and the clerk smirked at me for having such an old phone.

(An aside:  I was the only person in the store not wearing jeans, a t-shirt, grandpa’s Converse basketball shoes and earrings – and I’m talking about the guys.)

Anyone, the overbearing Apple associate poked around at the phone and said it was a hardware problem, my ancient phone wasn’t worth repairing and I should get a new one.

Thus, I’m awaiting the arrival of an iPhone 6, which is larger than my dying phone and likely will do many new things I don’t need but which will become necessities in a few weeks.

I’m not sure this is progress.