Blog Update: Taking a Digital Break

The Pleasures of a Digital Vacation,
Prompted by Technology Failing

What Living Without a Phone Can Teach Us

You'll notice we haven't published in a while.  Part of this is due to life interfering, and part was due to taking a digital break.

This digital break originally did not happen by choice.  It all began one morning.  I looked at my cell phone to check the weather, laid it back on the desk, and went about my business.  When I returned to it about an hour later, the phone was stuck in an infinite boot loop.  That means the phone would only boot as far as the google logo before shutting down and rebooting itself.

Undaunted, I rushed to my google drive to ensure I had a current backup. I could see my backup in my Drive folder.  So I tried to boot into recovery mode to no avail. That meant there was NO WAY to factory reset my phone.  When I went to research my woes, I found that this was a known issue. LG, the manufacturer of my Nexus 5x handset, was currently facing a class action suit because this was a known issue caused by a manufacturing defect, and LG had run out of the part needed to repair my phone.

I reached out to Google Support. They offered to accept a return of my 2 year old phone to solve the problem.  Still, that left me without a phone until Google could get a replacement out.  And to top it all off, we were facing a long weekend, and even with expedited shipping, it was doubtful that Google would be able to get a replacement phone to me in time to have it for the Holiday.  No worries--I still had a PC and Internet, as well as a landline, so that meant the weekend should still be okay.

I think we all fail to realize exactly how much we depend on our cell phones to run our daily lives.  Even with a working PC, there were many things I could no longer do until I had a new cell phone in hand.

I have most of my accounts protected by two-factor authentication. That means that you need a code along with your username and password to log in.  In most cases, that code is sent to your cell phone and expires within 15 minutes.  Not having that cell phone to receive the codes meant I couldn't log into a LOT of websites, including my web hosting control panel, my credit card account, my domain name registrar, and Twitter.  Of course, in many cases, two factor authentication can be set to use either your phone or your e-mail address to receive the log in code, but delivery method is usually established when you set up two factor authentication, and of course, you need to be able to log into your account to change the code delivery method. And you can't log into an account to change it without being able to receive a code.

Beyond two factor authentication, there are many other apps and services that are cell phone reliant.  Thankfully, many loyalty cards allow you to use a phone number in place of a physical or digital card. But not all do. Many fast food loyalty  programs depend on a digital card.  And that means you cannot access them without your phone.  Balances and promo codes are just unavailable without the app.  I DID discover that Regal Movies will look up your account with an e-mail address if you do not have your card or the app when purchasing tickets, but you really DO need your phone to redeem credits or take advantage of app-only concession deals.

And Uber? Forget trying to schedule an Uber without having your cell phone. You just cannot do it.    Not being able to take Uber when you live in a public-transportation-challenged area is NOT a good thing.  I had to change some weekend plans when taking an Uber became out of the question.


And running a Smart Home without a phone is also challenging.  When I came home after dark, my lights no longer came on automatically as I entered. Geofencing does not work without a Mobile Phone.  I could still use Alexa to voice control my lights, TV, and other Smart Home gadgets, but I could no longer update or modify routines, nor control anything when outside of the house.  Those devices with Fire Tablet apps were much easier to control.  (I would have turned off the Fire TV stick for the duration otherwise, as its remote was lost years ago.) But I found myself thinking about adding a cheap android tablet to my inventory for the next time I find myself without a phone.  I had to haul the physical remotes back out of the cabinet as I had never set up Harmony on anything other than the cell.  When my no-name smart plug started acting wonky, I just unplugged it, as I was unable to troubleshoot it without the mobile app.

Thankfully, I keep my calendar and contacts synced to Google, so I was still able to access them through my PC.  My photos were also synced so that none were lost.  However, this experience taught me NOT to depend on a Google Backup for an android phone.

When the new phone arrived, it REFUSED to see the backup stored in my Google Drive.  And the reason why is totally Google's fault.  What bricked the Nexus 5x was Google pushing down an unstable Android update,  Because of that, Google stopped pushing down the update. However, that also means that Google sees the old phone as running a newer operating system than the new phone is running, (despite the fact they are both running Oreo.  Android will restore a backup from an older version of the OS to a phone running a newer version; it will NOT restore a backup made on a newer version to a phone running an older version.  This makes the backup contained in Google Drive absolutely useless.

IF you set an android phone to back up your contacts to Google, all you need to do is sign in to your new phone using your Google account, and your contacts will be restored.  However, your contacts and calendar will be the ONLY things brought over if you do not have a Google Backup to restore.  NONE of your app settings will migrate to your new phone.  If you want to ensure call logs and text messages are backed up, I suggest using a third-party app.  I have started to use SMS Backup and Restore (free) for this purpose.

Now, as I said, I was without a cell phone for the Holiday Weekend, and I was at a disadvantage already. But then the Weather Gods decided to send a tropical storm up the Gulf, and although it was far enough away that I was not worried about a direct impact, Alberto still managed to send bad storms my way.  We had lightning hit something near us, arc, and do some damage.  It also managed to take out the landline and internet for a day. (It only took the power for a couple of hours.)  THAT was when I decided it was time for a digital break, and I just decided to turn things off for a few days.  It was time for a little vacation.

I actually went out and about to see where folks were and what folks were doing, rather than checking Facebook.  I left the house and ventured to brick and mortar places to do my shopping.  I spent some time enjoying the beach, the water, nature, sunshine, and the Great Outdoors.  I made lists on paper, jotted thoughts in notebooks, and read paper-based things.  I went to hear live music instead of listening to streaming stations.  I went to the movie theatre instead of firing up Prime Videos or Hulu.  This is something I recommend EVERYONE do every now and again.  It's too easy to get caught up in living a digital life. Sometimes we forget about the pleasures we can find outside of cyberspace.  I think I was actually a little disappointed when all of my communications were back up and things went back to the new normal.

This blog will resume publishing, but probably a little less frequently.  We have a few other projects in the works that will take up a significant chunk of time, and my recent experience made me want to re-focus on bringing more balance into my life.  We also have plans to launch a sister blog soon that will focus on the less technical aspects of life.  (Stay tuned for details.)  And we also have a new article on the upcoming Fire TV Cube, a device that combines a Fire TV Stick, an Amazon Echo, and a Harmony Hub-type audio-visual component control system.

Technology is a wonderful thing...when it works. When it doesn't, sometimes that can be a wonderful thing too.  We are all a little too digitally focused these days. Sometimes it takes a technological breakdown to remind us of that.  And even the Gurus need a break from technology every now and again, especially when the weather is beautiful and the sun is shining.