In Praise Of My Smartphone

I am usually of two minds when it comes to technology.  On one hand, I can see (and use) many benefits.  In the medical field it is saving life and limb, we have improved communication (I get to see my nephews every week!) and information is widely available.  I also see it's evils, I see little kids who have to be bribed to put down the ipad and play, people torturing others via social media, and just a lack of appreciating real life.  I think it gets to me the most when I am somewhere amazing and when I look around all I see are people with their heads down checking messages, looking up random stuff, playing games, or posting a selfie (that doesn't even show the place).  I feel like people miss out on just looking at something, or hearing something, or eating something without posting a picture of it.

All of this to say, lately I have totally fallen in love with my smartphone.  Um wait a minute you all say, isn't this a book blog?  Yes it is and give me a second and I will tell you how the two are related.  In my line of work we have bursts of " Ahhh get moving quick, ah crap do this, so that ahhhh..." and then the rest of the time is pretty much waiting around.  We wait to get a call, wait to get to destination, wait on the nurse, wait on your partner, wait on your intern, wait to get back to the station.  In fact I would say up to 75% of our time is spent waiting on something.  Here is where my smartphone comes into play.  I keep a book on in the background almost all of the time.  I can not tell you how much reading I have gotten done in the hallways of hospitals, in the EMS room, or at the station all because I could pop up a book in seconds and get a couple of pages read.  Now of course I don't ever do this while I am with a patient, but all the rest of the hurry up and wait time is fair game.  I love that I don't have to carry a book around with me, I can access almost instantly any book I want, and as long as I have at least one up and downloaded I don't even need a signal.  This has been a sanity saver on many occasions as my job can be quit stressful, and the ability to read a couple pages and calm down has probably saved me from running my big mouth on more then one occasion.  This application of technology is quit awesome and I fully endorse it. Happy Reading Everybody!