25 Comments

I held on to my iPhone 7 for as long as possible because I don't like change, it did what i wanted, and when people made fun of my low number, it became a sort of strange mark of Luddite pride––2024 version. Then it finally broke, and I leapfrogged everyone who had made fun of my 7.

Expand full comment
author

Great minds, David 🤝

Expand full comment

Still have 7S

Expand full comment

New phones. Exciting for about two seconds, and mostly because the packaging is so cute. After that it's a period of fear and trepidation and then, as you say, everything is just the same just a grand more expensive.

Expand full comment
author

I'm still in that fun will-my-card-be-on-Apple-Pay-or-not stage when I go to pay. Lends a touch of daring to my transactions.

Expand full comment

Wow, Jill, from tone-deaf billionaires to modern conveniences that drive us crazy to the natural wonders of the wild garden, how does it all fit together so elegantly? This was such a fun read, thank you :)

“It will never know my face again, a melancholy thought.” I’ve also experienced that melancholy moment, when I realized that my current phone will apparently never recognize my yawning face 😢 Technology must have limits, I suppose.

We have an abundance of cute and wonderful wild neighbors here, but I do often wish we had hedgehogs. They are ridiculously cute! Wishing you all the best, on your phone and in your garden!

Expand full comment
author

Yawning face, sunglasses face, face buried in blankets - 🥸 does not compute. Thank you for this comment, I must confess I did wonder if it was all a disparate bridge too far (dragonflies and iPhones? Ok Jill) but I’m happy with the end result and glad it reads well. And the hedgehogs! Oh my, are they ever cute. We are having building work done and the architect reminded me that if we want to replace a particular boundary fence we have to leave “hedgehog highways” free 🥰🥺 basically little holes or flaps in the fence so they can run free. The actual official name is hedgehog highways, I didn’t make it up. Is that the best thing ever??

Expand full comment

🤣Sometimes I sigh and shake my head, and whisper, "Seriously, phone, it's like you don't even know me at all"🤣 Anyway, I've shared with my family about the hedgehog highways. Best. thing. ever. Finally, a government policy I can really put my full support behind. Did the hedgehogs have to organize and protest to win these historic concessions? My imagination really took off with this whole topic, I laughed so much, thanks for that.

Expand full comment

At the age of 75 soon I dread new tech.

Yesterday my sister FaceTimed me and I couldn’t answer it on my phone…. But there she was in my living room on my iPad I use for games and reading!!

And I have a composition book for passwords!!

And yes they speak another language! And Apple help is worse than the dentist!

See you soon🙏🏼🥰💗☮️

Expand full comment

1) Great post

2) This made me glad to be an android user, though it is basically the same as iPhone- except for the text chain oppression. 🙃

3) Now the dragonfly design for the "thopters" in the dune movie make more sense.🐉🪰

Expand full comment
author

Ha Joel said the exact same thing re point 3! 🤝

Expand full comment

Great minds think alike. 🙂

Expand full comment

That ad was really disturbing and it's hard to believe it was a mistake. A company of Apple's scale with it's maniacal need to control EVERYTHING virtually rules out the notion that something could make it into the world without a team of people running forecasts and simulations to gauge the impact on every possible demographic even those still in the womb. So where the fuck does that leave us? I did hear they're finalizing a deal with OpenAI to include it in the new iPhone. The singularity may be upon us.

Expand full comment
author

"even those still in the womb" 🤣😭 definitely an attention-grab bid, I reckon, although interesting that Tim Cook apologised for it. A bid too far, perhaps. ChatGPT as the new Siri? Makes sense. I wondered why OpenAI was bothering to spend so much time and effort on robotics when it could just limpet on to all of our bodies in our phones.... Time to go back to pen and paper?

Expand full comment

I’m screwed if I have to start writing by hand. Maybe a manual typewriter.

Expand full comment

seeing as you mentioned Euripedes: Customer goes into 'Philosophy Tailor' and asks the assistant why the shop is called that. The assistant shrugs, selects some trousers for the customer to try on and says 'Euripedes trousers, you pay for these trousers!'

Thankyou, I'm here all week!

Expand full comment
author

You and Joel should have a Dad-joke Off. Winner loses. 🫣

Expand full comment

Oh, Jill! 🙌 Awesome post.

I remember David Attenborough once saying in a documentary on ponds that if the dragonfly nymph were the size of a small dog it would be the most dangerous animal on the planet. 🫣 They make very pretty grown-ups, though.

Expand full comment
author

Excuse me, going to google pictures of naiads and imagine having one as a terrier-size pet. On a strong chain.

Expand full comment

🤣 You'll be invincible, Jill! 🤣

Expand full comment

We talked yesterday about a new phone for JoJo and some sort of part laptop/part tablet’y thing ahead of three months of interrailing next year. The thought of passwords and a machine that can outwit me at the first swipe of a wotsit terrifies me. Everything works at the moment … change, eek! Also, meadows at home. We’re on board! Envious of your adjacent water.

Expand full comment
author

No-mow-May is a thing, apparently. Although in our case, it is definitely more of a permanent lifestyle choice than a seasonal flight of fancy. Can’t offer any tech tips (obviously) but good luck wrestling w the beast, whichever direction you decide to go in…

Expand full comment

Our meadow is permanent, with pathways cut through for grandkids to potter along. They’re here soon so I’ve just refreshed the cut as far as the walnut trees. Love to see the tall grass swaying.

We were lured into the Apple galaxy and with a brother in law who has a family discount, I suspect we’ll stay there next time around. Hopefully pretty foolproof, even when the fool is me.

Expand full comment
author

I like the idea of permeadow…. Might have to steal that. 😏

Expand full comment