Have you ever tried to get on an airplane, with your boarding pass showing on your smartphone, and then just as you reach the front of the line, your phone shuts off, the screen goes blank, and you end up spending the evening in Connecticut while your luggage flies to Atlanta?
No? That’s never happened to you? OK, it hasn’t happened to me either — yet. But it’s a scenario that keeps me awake at night. I’m convinced it’s just a matter of time before my phone dies at the worst possible moment and my boarding pass or my ticket to a sporting event just disappears into, um, wherever digital images go when your phone stops working. I suspect those digital images end up in a file cabinet on the 4th floor of a nondescript office building in Poughkeepsie. (Just kidding. I know digital images don’t go to Poughkeepsie. That would be too easy. I could just drive over there and retrieve them. Where those images really go is probably somewhere far beyond the planet Mars.)
No? That’s never happened to you? OK, it hasn’t happened to me either — yet. But it’s a scenario that keeps me awake at night. I’m convinced it’s just a matter of time before my phone dies at the worst possible moment and my boarding pass or my ticket to a sporting event just disappears into, um, wherever digital images go when your phone stops working. I suspect those digital images end up in a file cabinet on the 4th floor of a nondescript office building in Poughkeepsie. (Just kidding. I know digital images don’t go to Poughkeepsie. That would be too easy. I could just drive over there and retrieve them. Where those images really go is probably somewhere far beyond the planet Mars.)
I have used digital tickets on my phone many times during the past few years. And every single time things worked out fine. I got on the plane, or I got into the arena to watch the ballgame. But I would much rather go old school and use a paper boarding pass or ticket. When I have a paper ticket in my hand, I know it’s not going to go blank. I know it does not need a battery (that I haven’t recharged in a while) to operate properly. I know a paper ticket is not going to suddenly require me to enter my password again just as I reach the front of the line, which causes everyone directly behind me to groan when it becomes clear that the anxiety of the situation has caused my brain to go blank regarding the 6-digit password I usually type 20 times a day without a hitch.
I understand that it’s possible to lose a paper boarding pass or paper ticket. But it’s also possible to lose your smartphone. Which of those options is worse? Losing a paper boarding pass so you miss a flight? Or losing everything stored on your phone so you miss the rest of your life? Most people have the following items stored on their smartphones: emails, text messages, everybody’s contact info, appointment calendar, photographs, videos, credit card numbers, passwords, books, and movies. Oh, and boarding passes, too.
I understand that it’s possible to lose a paper boarding pass or paper ticket. But it’s also possible to lose your smartphone. Which of those options is worse? Losing a paper boarding pass so you miss a flight? Or losing everything stored on your phone so you miss the rest of your life? Most people have the following items stored on their smartphones: emails, text messages, everybody’s contact info, appointment calendar, photographs, videos, credit card numbers, passwords, books, and movies. Oh, and boarding passes, too.
Personally, I’d rather lose a paper boarding pass and ruin a trip, than lose my smartphone and ruin the next seven years of my life.
Even though I have never had a problem to date with a digital boarding pass or event ticket on my phone, I have experienced that horrifying moment when a smartphone just drops dead. One minute it was working fine, and the next minute it could do nothing. I’m not sure of the exact cause of death. I brought it to a phone repair shop and the young technician mumbled something about the battery or the software or the main processor chip. Or maybe he said it was termites. I really don’t know.
I had to get a new phone and everything stored on the old phone was lost forever. That traumatic experience prompted me to start paying a mere 3 bucks per month to have all the data on my phone backed up to Apple’s servers. The best money I’ve ever spent.
Even though I have never had a problem to date with a digital boarding pass or event ticket on my phone, I have experienced that horrifying moment when a smartphone just drops dead. One minute it was working fine, and the next minute it could do nothing. I’m not sure of the exact cause of death. I brought it to a phone repair shop and the young technician mumbled something about the battery or the software or the main processor chip. Or maybe he said it was termites. I really don’t know.
I had to get a new phone and everything stored on the old phone was lost forever. That traumatic experience prompted me to start paying a mere 3 bucks per month to have all the data on my phone backed up to Apple’s servers. The best money I’ve ever spent.
I know you can’t turn back the clock on progress. Smartphone boarding passes are here to stay. But sometimes the old ways are just more trustworthy. And by the way, what’s this I hear about airplanes not using propellers anymore?
No comments:
Post a Comment