The Droid...The Great Equalizer

When I noticed that several students who lived on government assistance with shelter, food, and education, but never appeared anywhere without their tech “toy”, I wondered at the choice. But over time they taught me a lesson. I learned hese “toys” were actually phone, dictionary, social network, encyclopedias, calendars, library, and news sources. When an unexpected question came up in class, these students quickly found answers on their Droids and iPhones.These “toys” enabled and empowered them to do what, just a few years before, only the wealthy had been able to do.

The fate of human dignity is partially in the Droid, to paraphrase an Abraham Lincoln quote in the movie, "Lincoln".

 

Applying the lessons of my students, last November, when unemployment checks came too late to make February’s rent payment, I chucked the apartment and kept my Droid. A roof over my head would not get me a job, would not bring me hope. Only technology and transportation could accomplish that.

Use the library computers, some said. But the library only allowed users to sign up for one-hour blocks. Then the user had to give up the seat to the next in line. Even though I type 85 words per minute, finding jobs to apply for took longer than that. Applying for them, completing the pages and pages of computer-based forms, took another one to two hours. With my Droid’s hot spot connection, the one-hour computer limit was no problem. Laptop and Droid in hand, I found an outlet and took as long as I needed.

Use a coffee shop, others said. There’s no time limit there. But $4 and $5 coffees quickly added up to more than the phone. Besides the Droid’s hot spot allows me to use a pass key and protect my identity, not an option on public WiFi.

With laptop and Droid, too, I could work anywhere anytime. I wasn’t limited by the availability of public WiFi and hotspots.

For contact information, I provided companies with Internet address and mobile phone number. In reality that is safer than giving a street address anyway, and no one needed to know that I didn’t have a home to call my own.

I did find a room to rent, with access to a kitchen and bath shared with two other people. But only a room. Again the Droid was my savior. With very little space for “stuff”, I loaded books on the Droid’s Kindle, installed a Bible app so I could keep up with daily devotions, and uploaded other work tools onto the little pack-of-cards-sized box. Using the scanner on my printer, I scanned and saved records and documents on to a cloud-based service. Wherever I am, my books, files, and address book come too—all on that palm-sized Droid.

I logged interview dates and times, and preparation and follow-up tasks onto an online calendar; and set alarms to remind me of deadlines and appointments. Then when working three and four jobs with day and evening hours on any seven days of the week, the Droid told me what day it was and when I had to be where.

When there wasn’t time enough to travel home between jobs or appointments, but too much time to just waste, apps allowed me to read e-mail, telephone job contacts, conduct research on the Internet, chat with friends, and catch up on the latest news as reported by nine papers, including the BBC and Reuters.

Notebooks created on an Evernote app let me catalogue research, photos, and notes for writing projects; maintaining book lists; and other miscellaneous information such as a snapshot of library and store hours – all easily accessible, available whenever I need it but taking very little messenger bag space. Unlike pieces of paper, the information is never lost.

When unexpected free or wait time comes up, a glance at my phone tells me what’s open, what still needs doing, and enables me to effectively manage the time.

When my daughter and her family took a sabbatical year and needed help with unfinished household tasks in preparation for their house sitting family’s arrival, I created an Evernote folder with photos of maintenance and lawn helpers business cards, a list of tasks to complete, and names and addresses of other contacts.  As repairs were needed, I snapped photos and e-mailed snapshots of the problem, and then followed-up by e-mailing progress photos to the kids. A broken part? No problem—take a photo, show it to a hardware store clerk, and get what was needed. I snapped copies of receipts and e-mailed those by “sharing” to the kids’ personal e-mail accounts, where they could download them to their income tax files. All this …done from my car.

Job hunting. A Droid specialty. I filled Evernote folders for each lead with job descriptions, company information, and lists of questions. At an interview, it was easy to flick to needed information, and pinch and zoom for easy readability. Interviewers watching me flip to my list of questions and to work samples were provided evidence of my mastery of technology.

Medical information for doctor’s appointments – on the Droid.

Language translator? On the Droid.

Weather information and alerts. On the Droid.

Directions from one place to another? On the Droid.

Camera, video camera and flashlight? On the Droid.

“Stuff” worth hundreds of dollars all on a gadget that costs about $90 per month.

Given the choice again between shelter or Droid? I will choose the Droid. Opportunity. Information. Virtual ssistant. Voice. Empowerment. A great equalizer.