Smartphone 101: The art of teaching today’s youth, my cell phone can teach me what?

Zach morris, zach morris phone, this that and the mba, thisthatandthemba

Sure I know what you are thinking, Christopher has gone off the deep end, but hear me out on this one.

Pocket dialing – we all have done this at one time or another, being on the other end of the pocket dial all you can hear is some chatter and noise but not really what is going on. Well, this is the same as in business you need to have clear defined goals.  There is a lot of “noise” that can knock you off course and derail your efforts.  Define your goals and go for it!

Apps – give us the flexibility to have access to games or websites at the press of a single button. Well we need to make certain the apps stay updated to ensure their optimal performance.  Business is the same way; we need to keep ourselves abreast of the latest trends in the industry. If our competitors are on social media, we better be in the process of starting our own social media campaign.

Minimize bandwidth – all the cell companies now are coming out with their own plan on how to throttle down the bandwidth for those customers that are data hungry and gobble up the gigs.  It minimizes bandwidth for the data hungry folks to ensure adequate space on bandwidths.  Throttling down is similar to the workplace of a boss and subordinate.

The subordinates cannot live in the boss’s office as they have their own tasks to complete.  So we need to minimize the questions to our boss and use our own learned strengths to complete the tasks we were hired to complete.  Sure the occasional question is fine, as is the occasional user of the smartphone who isn’t data hungry.

Power hogs – there are power hogs on your phone that just drain your battery.  I have the Droid Razr and it seems if I browse the internet for a few hours the battery is pretty much shot.  The same is true in business, you do not want to suck the power out of your colleagues or take the wind out of their sails.

When you are a manager you need to work on how you critique their work and make it encouraging focusing on the positives rather than the negatives.  Being an effective leader means you know how to rally your troops around a common mission.

Battery dead – well sometimes the battery dies and needs to be plugged in for a recharge.  It seems to always happen at the worst of times though.  Work you may not be able to complete a task in its entirety every day, but we do have to go home to recharge, eat and relax to maintain sanity.  Many companies promote their work life balance.

So out of all this did you learn anything?  I bet you look at your cell phone differently now!

I never had a Zach Morris phone, anyone out there has one of those big monsters?

PHOTO BY: Sung Sook

16 thoughts on “Smartphone 101: The art of teaching today’s youth, my cell phone can teach me what?

  1. I got my first cell phone in 1996. It wasn’t quite a Zach Morris phone (it was ONLY 2″ thick – the super skinny model) but it did have a giant antenna. No screen; it looked like a big cordless phone. My plan came with a whopping 60 (yes, sixty) minutes per month and free weekends – no free nights, no texting, not even Snake. That thing was SO awesome at the time, though!

    1. @ Curiosity Killed the Blog – I thought i was going to lose readers by making a mention to Zach Morris. Glad I atleast have one follower 🙂 It was a new sense of freedom having a cell phone. I don’t think I talk 60 minutes on my phone a month now, it is all texting and email. Remember beepers? lol all the cool kids had those. Incredible 2″ thick. You never had one of those phones that was in a lunch bag?

      1. OMG I wanted a beeper SO BAD. Actually (and this is embarrassing to admit) I had one that didn’t work. I got it at a yard sale and carried it around just so I could look awesome. 🙂

        I didn’t have a bag phone – my dad had one though. I think my grandfather did too. At the time, I was dreaming of the “super cool” phones on Clueless!

        1. @ Curiosity Killed the Blog – hahahahaha a non working one, I guess I am going to have to look at your blog in a new light now 🙂

  2. I so missed Saved by the Bell.

    I definitely didn’t have a Zach Morris phone, although I did have a pager. Ya, I know, I was pretty cool back then. lol

    In all seriousness those phones were awesome – awesomely ridiculous. I remember the big CAR phones that fit between the driver and passenger seats. Those things were huge too!

    1. @WorkSaveLive – I guess you were pretty cool, did you and your friends send the 07734 messages to one another. 🙂 It is so amazing where we are at with technology today. I have the Razr and they say its the thinnest smart phone. I have a 1 year old, I can only imagine the technology when they are older. It will be tough to get older in this more modern age too, I wonder if when I am 80 I will be able to use a touch phone.

  3. My sister and I would sit and watch Saved by the Bell every day! Our mom had one of those behemoth phones. Ah, those were the days. Great post!

    1. @ TB – thanks. Those days were great when life was so much less complicated. Nowadays everyone is in a rush for who knows what, get infront of me to get to the light quicker than me, beat me to the checkout at the store, get your sandwich made first at the deli. Rush Rush Rush till we cant take anymore put our head on the pillow and do it again the next day.

      1. Right on, man, that’s exactly what it’s like!

        1. @ TB – exactly we need to talk in the lingo of today’s youth. They will understand it and they will pay attention.
          PS I love your site, I used to work in blue collar before I received my graduate degree and I can definitely relate to your posts. Keep up the good work.

  4. I’ve never owned a Zach Morris phone nor a pager. But, I did watch Saved by the Bell quite a bit. It almost amazes me how far we’ve come in recent years with technology. My first cellphone, that I bought back in 1997, was a bulky black phone that would leave a big bulge in my pocket. Now, the phones are so small that you can carry them in your shirt pocket. Amazing!

    1. @ Anthony – it sure is amazing how far we have come and how fast too.

  5. I am looking forward to buy a smart phone so that I can surf internet while travelling. Thanks for sharing Chris

    1. @ Karunesh – If you are serious about it definitely look at the prices of having the internet because it can be quite steep. Mine is $30 a month extra but that is unlimited internet, they have since done away with the internet plans here.

  6. I really wanted a beeper (why I don’t know? Then you’d get a 911 message but have to travel to the nearest pay phone to call them back…remember pay phones?) I settled for the old old school nokia bar phone. No joke, that phone had the best service of any phone I’ve ever had (and I was living in rural Maine at the time!)

    1. @ Kari – Who doesn’t remember pay phones, it seems like they just disappeared over night. I had an old Nokia too that was the best phone ever. It has amazing reception and the battery lasted like a week. With heavy use now on my Razr I am lucky if I get half the day!

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