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From Duck and Cover to Flip and Power to . . .
4/5/2005
I wasn’t surprised, then by the premise of this week’s, USA Today story on the growing increase in such incidents in an article titled "When nature calls, cell phone owners should answer carefully."
Since I got my first cell phone, less than four years ago, I’ve gone through at least nine phones. Frankly, I’ve lost count. It seems wasteful, but they feel like disposable commodities. None of those were from being dropped in water, but I was aware of the problem from talking with friends. So, I was impressed when I read about the woman who had dropped a phone in the toilet twice: "Cosmetology student Lexi Phillips has dropped her cell phone into the toilet twice. 'Both times, my cell phone was in my back pocket,' she explains."
Now, I could see that happening. My daughter busted one of my first digital cameras by dropping it onto a ceramic floor at the Montreal Zoo. I’ve dropped my phone a time or two, causing no apparent damage. But, kind of egged on by the knowledge about the dye packets, I wanted to see how common it was, so I asked my office colleagues about their experiences.
It turns out that I work with a cell phone-dunking expert. Barely 21-year-old "Katie" admits to being a serial dunker, having submerged cell phones five times in her life, already. The incidents she revealed included:
* Washing her hands in the sink while trying to hold the phone in the crook of her elbow, result: dead phone. * Answering an important text message while standing near the toilet in a small bathroom, result: phone survived. When asked if she hesitated about dipping in for the phone, she says “It was a very important text message.” * A full-body spashdown in a campus fountain while horsing around with friends, result: dead phone. * Phone slipped out of a tight back pocket (see Lexi Phillips, above), result, dead phone. * Arm jarred while walking across a very big and deep puddle in the rain, result: phone survived.
Somehow, Katie got new phones each time! But her brother, who put one through the washing machine (must run in the family) was tripped up by the dye packets.
I admit that I’ve also dunked a cell phone. Last summer, while luxuriating in a Jacuzzi tub at a Des Moines motel after a rough 18 holes of disc golf at the Professional Disc Golf Association world championships, I dropped my Treo 600 into the tub. Luckily, I have quick hands and I also have the “Flip and Power” mantra as such a deep reflex that my training held true. I grabbed it fast, flipped it upside down, shook it briskly, realized that I could not turn off the power, and then headed for the room’s blow dryer.
After I let it sit for a couple of hours, it continued to work just fine.
So, the new mantra – half a decade deep into the 21st century - for handhelds is "Flip and Blow": Flip the phone upside down, shake it, and blow-dry it ASAP. At least until we all learn to handle such heavy, yet delicate, and very important items as our handhelds are becoming, perhaps we should teach our users to "Flip and Blow."
Even if it d'esn’t save the phone, it might keep the dye packet from dissolving!
About the author: Terry Calhoun is Director of Communications and Publications for the Society
for College and University Planning (SCUP). You can contact him through CT's IT Trends forum by clicking here. View more articles by Terry Calhoun.
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