“Phone, a convenient tool which brings me a little trouble”

Nowadays, society's dependence on technology makes it necessary to use cell phones everywhere in life. Although the original intention is to make our lives more convenient, it still brings me a lot of trouble.

I have a bad memory, so I often take out my mobile phone and realize that there is no battery. Sometimes, when there are many things to download for daily tasks, I don't know which software to choose and often click on some advertisements by mistake, all of which causes a little inconvenience.

Being unfamiliar with cell phone software may lead to some distress in life. The last time I took the bus, I forgot my card. I heard someone say that I could use Alipay, but I didn't know how to use it. At that time, a lot of people were waiting in line behind me. Because I was in a hurry, I touched another button by mistake, which made my phone switch to a page. In the end, because I couldn’t figure out what to do, I had to get off the bus and walk to my destination.

Nowadays, many activities require mobile phone usage. Once, my partner and I went to a restaurant to eat together, but customers could only scan the QR code on their mobile phones to place an order. However, we two old people did not know how to order. My partner tried to use the camera function to scan the code, but even after half a day, we couldn’t scan it. Later, we went to find someone to ask and learned that we had to scan through WeChat. It took us 10 to 20 minutes to order a dish, which was very annoying.

During the pandemic, it was even more obvious that we couldn't leave the house without our phones. Even going to the supermarket requires your phone to scan the itinerary code. I didn't know it at first, but when I went to the market alone once, the staff kept asking me for my itinerary code. I didn't realize and thought that they were asking me what my itinerary for that day was, so I kept yelling, "I'm at home! I'm always at home! I just came outside this one time!" Later, a kind person told me it was the code on my cell phone and pulled it out for me, so I could get in. At that time, a lot of people were afraid of contamination and did not accept cash payments, so I always had to learn how to pay with my cell phone. However, since it was a special time, I understand the reasoning behind this.

The good thing is that there are always strangers willing to teach me to use my cellphone features. Although I am always afraid of meeting bad people and won’t ask for help, there are still a lot of good people in this world. One time, I was at the market and didn’t know how to use my phone to enter, so I wandered around the entrance for a long time. Luckily, there was a kind person who noticed my dilemma and offered to help. Eventually, he managed to set up my phone properly and allowed me to enter the store.

Although the overreliance on technology can cause some trouble for me, I still think that using cell phones is a positive change. In my case, my son and daughter are usually very busy at work and there's no one at home with me, so I often take my cell phone to listen to music, watch dances, and listen to comedy, which I really enjoy. On top of that, sometimes, when my son and daughter are far away and can’t come home, they can also chat with me through video call. So actually, cell phones also increase the happiness of people's lives.

- Anonymous

文彦然｜Content curator

Iris｜Editor

孙逸铭｜Translator