How Technology Will Ruin Your Relationship
Don't let defective technology interfere with your love life!
We live in a cellular world. Everyone has a cellphone — probably even your 80 year-old grandmother. A phoneless life, or even an hour, is utterly uncivilized.
For the second year in a row, AT&T has come in last place in the world of cellphone carriers. Despite what the commercials say (lies!), Consumer Reports says AT&T is simply the worst. And you can't fight Consumer Reports because unlike AT&T, they have nothing to gain from lying.
Although AT&T once boasted being the first carrier to have access to the coveted iPhone, those days are long gone. Now they're not even run-of-the-mill; they straight-up suck. But what does this mean for your romantic relationship? Does your cell phone carrier affect it?
I have been in New Hampshire visiting my family since Thanksgiving. And while the home cooking and the catering to my every need by mom and dad is a blast, what isn't is the cellphone issue. I may not have AT&T (I'm a Verizon girl), but I can tell you that every time I want to call the fella I'm seeing or anyone at all, I either have to stand on my parents' couch on my tip toes trying to procure reception, or drive downtown just to have a coherent conversation in which both parties are able to clearly understand each other without enduring multiple dropped calls.
I'd use my parents' landline, but just like when I was in high school, I'd run the risk of mom picking up, either to tell me something pointless or to ask when I'll be off the phone. I could blame my lack of full reception on my rural, New Hampshire locale, and that is certainly part of it, but considering the person I call the most — my fella — is an AT&T guy, he has to take some of the blame, too.
Even in his Brooklyn apartment, there are certain spots where he needs to stand for optimal reception. If we dare to delve into the whole text message situation, we're looking at a mess: texts are delivered out of order, delayed and when one person is a faster typist than the other it wreaks even more havoc on a form of communication that should be pretty damn close to perfection by now but isn't anywhere close.
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I realize nothing is perfect, especially in the realm of technology, but between human error (e.g. sending a dirty text to your mom by mistake) to yet unresolved kinks in the system,cellphones are sometimes more of a hassle than they're worth. Adding to all this, some carriers don't allow you "favorite" folks who use competing carriers. So, you end up getting charged for minutes used dialing the people you call the most, and, I mean, just because you happen to fall in love with someone who uses a different carrier, do you deserve to be punished? The injustice!
To save money and overall annoyance, I was considering switching to the same carrier of those I call most — AT&T. But after this recent report re-verifying AT&T's inferiority, I'll wait for those in my life to switch to Verizon instead. Besides, with my luck, I'll make the jump to AT&T, the guy I'm dating will run off with someone who uses Sprint, and then where will I be? I'll be a single girl stuck with AT&T for at least year because I was silly enough to make such a concession for a guy. Ugh. Dating in the world of cellular phones isn't easy.
Does your cell phone carrier affect your relationship, too? Or am I just the only crazy one over here standing alone, on my tiptoes on my parents' couch trying to call my fella for the 15th time this week?