Being stuck at the doctor's office with a bored teen can be dangerous unless you can think of something to distract or engage them with that makes the creeping hands of the clock move a little faster. Since that's exactly where I was recently with exactly that sort of "company," I quickly asked my son [aka Court Jester] to help me out with my new cell phone.
None of this will be news to most of you, but for a brain-fried mom approaching the big 5-Oh, everything he tried to teach me was excruciatingly slow for me to take in. First, CJ deleted the Blue Tooth option from the menu, since I'm never ever going to use that function, and it just drains the battery sooner, he said.
Next, he showed me how to put a question mark into text messages. (Yes, stop giggling. I DO know how to text.) I'd been scrolling between menus to get to the Insert option, which never went smoothly given my fading eyesight, large fingers hunting very small keys, etc. Now old Mom can zoom right up to the number 1 and find the question mark there! Makes texting Fresh Prince: "Did u know ur cleats r under the couch?" so much faster.
But the final lesson was one that blew my mind. My brilliant son informed me that one has only to text ChaCha (the letters corresponding with 242 242) to get answers to any question one can think of sent back within minutes. Whut? 'Course, I didn't believe him and asked lots and lots of questions. I tried it. I asked ChaCha, "Who is Blaize Pascal?" using my new ability to add the question mark quickly.
Within minutes three screen-loads of encyclopedic information scrolled across my cell's window! This old dawg was really amazed. I was also informed that ChaCha will scour FaceBook, etc. to look up information on people to send you. Wow, but sorta scary too.
Before I could ask young son how in the world this service is available, are people sitting at big computers using search engines, or if this was gonna cost a fortune from surfing the Net, he was called back to see the doc.
Upon further enquiry, he told me this cool service bypasses the Internet, so it's just a regular text. Hmmm, I guess we'll see when the next bill comes in. But in the meantime, I can see so many uses. ChaCha's like having your own GPS on hand. No wonder cell phones aren't allowed at school. You could theoretically get test answers lightning fast.
It's all terribly interesting...but makes my head swim. And in case you think I'm just pulling your leg, check out further proof at Geek Sugar. (Love the quote at the end.)
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