I went out for a little Girls Night dinner last night with two awesome women I met at my very first job out of college. Which means we’ve been friends for (gulp) 17 years. So, now, these two ladies and I meet every three months or so at a fancy restaurant that none of us would likely go to on our own. One of us is a bit of a foodie — single, hip, with a job that has her traveling frequently and an address within the city limits. She’s still cool. Another of us lives very close to the city, works for a university and has a husband who’s involved in city politics. She has two kids the same ages as mine but the girl gets around (no, not like that). She just does stuff. She’s someone I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to just see on tv when I’m watching some local event. And then there’s me. Total suburbanite. I rarely leave the four square miles of my town and if I do it’s probably because there’s no gas station in town and I’m finally approaching empty.
Anyway. We arrive at last nights restaurant of choice. We realize we didn’t have each other’s cell numbers so we all (dorks) pull out our smart phones to exchange information. I notice something on each of their phones.
Unread email.
In one case, 17 unread emails.
I swear, she may as well have been from another planet.
I never have unread email. Really. Almost never.
I mean, maybe if I leave my phone in the car while I pick up the kids I might come back and it looks like this.
(I have a case of the shakes just seeing it like that.)
But it’s not like that for long.
Because I’m an iPhone addict.
If I hear that sucker chirp, I look. I am to that little red circle with a number in it what Pavlov’s dogs were to the smell of fresh meat.
Must. Read. Message. Now.
So, I was thinking that it’s a shame I don’t treat the rest of my life that way. That something that requires my attention at home doesn’t get nearly the high priority given to that stupid chirping iPhone and its little red circles.
I think it might work for me.
For example:
And, then I’d go to the dry cleaner stat.
_____
_____
Dishes clean and put away. Check.
_____
Little Brother’s laundry? Roger that.
_____
_____
_____
Oh, yeah. Easter. Lots to do on that one. Big job.
But…
Must. Clear. Red. Numbers.
Ok. Done.
See?
It could totally work. With little red circles with numbers on all my daily “to do” items there is no doubt in my mind that in no time flat I would be the most accomplished stay-at-home Mom ever.
My laundry would be done, my garden weeded and my a** half its original size.
My dry cleaning would be picked up, my dishes put away and my boys’ bathroom would be…..
Nah.
Never mind.
HAHAHAHA!!!!
You are in my brain. For reals. I saw a picture of someone’s phone this morning and it had all those numbers and it freaked me out. And I started drafting a blog post in my head. And now I’m here and you’ve already done that for me.
{Insert Twilight Zone music here.}
WEIRD!!!!!!!
Oh my god I loved this post. Its so true. It likely won’t surprise you that those little red buttons drive me insane too. I think we should start a support group for people like us!
My Love would see this and yell at me, “Hey — take care of those spots, would ya?”
Very funny post … and I don’t even own a smart phone.
I love the back story. It made the post so fun…I pictured each of you at that table and thought of friends I know that meet that description.
Great post. It made me laugh. I loved it!
Too funny!
hmmm…I have a Droid but I don’t think it displays with those red buttons like that. I do have icons at the top that tell me if I have emails, missed calls/texts, etc. I hate that bar up there. I get a million emails a day (only 1 or 2 that are worth anything) so I rarely check my email with my phone. I can’t stand to respond w/the touch screen so I wait to check email on the computer. I would drive you CRAZY, for sure. 😉
Another winning post. Sue was right–You are funny. I’m linking this one up next Saturday 🙂
Thank you! Really appreciate the link up.
Too funny, I’ve had these same thoughts a lot lately! Stop in & read Ying and Yang of Feelings
Love that idea! So funny. I’m pretty sure that I’d just do the tasks without thinking about it…well…because my phone said it needed attention. How sad is that?
That is too funny and a great comparison! Love this!
Too funny! Congrats on making FP! 😀
Thanks! But, what’s FP? Suddenly got a flurry of attention.
FP= featured posts. Your post is on the wordpress.com homepage!
This is great, I feel the same way clearing hte notifications on my phone can’t wait, not because anyone has anything important to say to me, but just because its addicting. To bad nothing more important is half as exciting!
I love the pictures!
this is hilarious. i don’t have an iPhone but i am the same way with messages. if i see that little yellow envelope or the little blue man for a voicemail, i MUST get rid of it. as well as bold emails… must. read. now. if only we felt that way about house cleaning! great post. 🙂
ooooh, a little blue man tells you that you have voicemails? well, sh*t that would get MY attention TOO!
I currently have 145 unread emails 14 unread texts, 13 updates (down from 60) and a 57 hovering over some folder I probably haven’t opened in months.
i would check them but the numbers scare me!
oh my goodness, i get hives just thinking about that. good lord.
Must. Clear. Red. Numbers.
Awesome! The little bubbles on my phone make me crazy. I have to deal with them immediately. I too wish they were all over my house! Congrats on FP:)
Haha, very funny!
I love it! Though I admit that I have about 35 unread emails at the moment, drawing from 3 separate email accounts I maintain, not to mention the various notifications from Scrabble, Southwest’s ‘ding’, and my App updates. I am TERRIBLE about clearing email. I wish I were a bit more like Pavlov’s dog. I’d get way more done!
Congrats on being Freshly Pressed too!
LOL! I fell your iPhone obsession. I was just blogging how I can use a bathroom app so that I don’t have to move my lazy bum. Checking my emails is the worst obsession possible and my inbox would never be 17 messages unless I get a butt-load of spam when I go to pick up the kids from school and get too busy. So funny and well written. Congrats on FP!
I love it, too. But I am willing to bet I still would not get the stuff done that I need to do.
LOL that was really funny!
I would love those RED DOTS in my daily live too.
and yeah I can’t live without clearing those dots.
Good to know I’m not the only one! I swear I can’t leave ANY unanswered emails on my iPhone it drives me insane!
I think I totally need the red dots in my life 😛
Love this. I’m the same – must read everything as soon as I get it – and believe me, it’s never that important. Could you come to my house and put little numbers on everything so I can use your method??
This would totally work for me! It’s not the doing laundry that’s a problem for me, but the putting it away. I always forget to put my shoes back in the closet as well.
I lol’d. Great post. Want more!
HAHAHA, oh gosh, this entry is HILARIOUS! I’m an iPhone addict and all those little red numbered circle bugs the heck out me.. must. clear. red. circles too!
Awesome. I linked this post to my wife. Not only does she have an iPhone addiction — to which, like all addicts, will not admit, she also needs little red dots for household chores!
And honey, if you followed my like and read down the comments to this point, I love you!
HA! Thanks for the comment, Paul. Laughed out loud. Will check out your blog today!
WOW! What a great blog post! I’m very impressed! 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
I know what you mean. I’m always thinking if I don’t check it right away I will miss something important that requires my immediate attention. However, this is rarely true. You would think I would have learned that by now.
Wow, another addict, but hey, what’s that, you admit it, that’s great!
Loved your post!
love it…hilarious! lol congrats on fp’ed
For real! LOL.
Very funny Story but you shocked with 17 unread emails. bathroom
hahaha
i love it.
Hahah! This is so true!
Even if I know the mail is junk mail…I still have to check it or it will drive me nuts!
[…] post about my iPhone addiction (click here for the link) was featured on WordPress’ cover page and the hits went off the charts. My blog […]
my phone prevents me from doing laundry…i play words with friends instead.
Haha! If you figure out how to get those red numbers to pop up around the house, please let me know. I’ll be the first to order them!
Ah, your post is great! I just got a new iPhone for Mother’s Day (some women get flowers, some get data plans…) and my poor children are hungry, dirty and ignored because I’m constantly checking the thing. Because we *need* to know whenever Gap emails us a new coupon code, right? Hee.
You’re not giving me much hope that it gets better, by the way!
Keep up the good writing!
Lmao!!! so clever! Love your blog!
HAHA! I’m the opposite. right now i have 15 app store notifications. 43 emails, 2 calls, and 4 scrabbles! Now that I’m conscious of it I have to get on it! Thanks for the entertaining read.
This post caught my eye because the tendency is strikingly familiar!!! I can’t stand the red dot with number on my phone so I do what it takes to clear it…yet I can leave laundry piled up for weeks and end up tackling 10 loads at a time!
add me in words with friends my name is cesar72 im good at that game im going to own you
Ha Ha! I’m like you! Think maybe we ought to set up our calendars to beep at us every 3 minutes with a new “to do” task?! Love the post!
I have been avoiding getting an Android phone for this exact reason. I’m plenty addicted to my computer…if I had a phone with all those features, nothing would get done! Congrats on FP.
OMG! I LOVE this post! You’re so right! When you see that little red dot, it must be attended to, IMMEDIATELY! The problem w/ iPhones is that it’s catering to our ‘right now’ instincts, and it’s not helping our patience at all. Life doesn’t always have a red dot to tell us to do something now.
Love it!! 🙂
Another iphone addict! Loved your post!
Can’t say I feel the same way; I currently have 11 unread emails on my iPhone and can’t be bothered to open them. But I’m nowhere near as bad as my parents. . . their inbox currently has 15, 169 unread emails. . . if that were me I’d be in tears trying to click on them all and get that number down!
Great post!
Could you gather up some of that and blow toward South Carolina, please? I need some so so so so bad!
Lol. Great images! I’m the same exact way, but if my life had all those little red dots I would just learn to ignore them like I do my own messes!
Addiction, just like misery, loves company. I’ve been able to avoid kicking myself for disgustingly prompt attention to the little red circles because of ONE thing only: Apps. The little red circle on the APP icon is so annoying! I love/hate the ones on email because it signals semi-human contact, but the one telling me about updates is just one more unwashed dish, one more load of laundry. Maintenance. Yuck. But because it’s there, I have to take care of it.
Glad to know that so many as as pathetically obsessed as I am.
Great post, by the way.
Brilliant.
I can’t ever leave the house if there’s so much as a single dirty dish in the sink, because I have this bizarre fear that if something happens to me and I wind up dead, whoever enters my home after my passing will see a mess in the sink and think, “What a slob.”
You and I are sort of kindred spirits in that regard.
I feel you!
I thought i was the only one feeling this way
Cool! I have actually weaned myself off the email by resorting to manual push settings. Not easy, but I did it finally a year ago I guess. But I agree, there’s nothing that galvanizes me into action as seeing that little circle with a number in it! Congrats on being freshly pressed
This is such a spectacular idea. Then, for people like me who can’t remember what I’ve done and what I haven’t, I could just check back and if the little red circles had disappeared, I’d know I’m golden. What a relief that would be.
This is fantastic! I just got my first iPhone (after having the iPod Touch) and I haven’t even installed my email yet – but I’m very used to having a full red dot!
haha this is great :’)!
I am not an iPhone user (sorry love my droid) but oh i laughed and laughed when i read this!
i am so bad i randomly check my phone every 30 min or so just in case i didnt hear the little beep… i feel weird if my phone has not gone off all day!
Same here! I have never denied a single notification in the entirety of my life. Be if Facebook, GMail, Youtube, etc. I can’t stand those notifications that get unread. If I don’t like reading them, I mark them as read. Whatever makes it go away 😉
I want a phone that will do all that stuff for me. Just saying.
Believe me, my mom’s just the opposite. She rarely checks her mails but completes all the household and office works on time. I think she has got an internet sickness!
Nice. 🙂
Thank God some people are beginning to get it..
We are becoming slaves and robots to our technologies. It is supposed to be the other way around.
If we are not emailing or answering emails, all their jokes and anecdotes included, or being stormed answering skypes, or getting sucked in to buy new more up to date technologies gripping our attention through browsing, or trying to find out why all this new junk is not working, or spending hours attempting to learn new programs,…. it is all a very long arduous list of mainly wasted time, long measures of time that pass in almost instant flashes like the strike of a hamadryed (king cobra ).
And we wonder, by late evening, why we don’t get anything else done, not even a good walk or swim, or use of our keep fit machine, or carrots planted, roses trimmed and cut back, storm shutters re-painted, dog and cat fed and often ourselves too.
We are becoming the robots to our technological age, and we don’t get it, do we ????
really funny entry here, but i do feel you on this one. there’s this itch on my fingers whenever i see that red circle.
keep it up, the funny and good blog entries that is. 🙂
What an idea…………..too good!!!
Lol! I can’t stand having unread messages, missed calls, answerphones or any other alerts on my phone. I even check it as soon as I wake up…I know bad huh? And I think the same, all household stuff should have a little beep and an alert then everything would be done on time and nothing forgotten!
That’s Great! i love iphone 🙂
Brilliant 😀
Haha *SO* funny! Think this may be one of my favourite blog posts ever!
Wow, Moose. HIGH praise! Thank you!
This is hilarious! LOVE your post! If you’ve got some sort of magical vision, I’m sure you can “vision” a red circle here and there with numbers on it………….and get the job done! 😀
Thanks for sharing your insights! 🙂
i ❤ your post
[…] I went out for a little Girls Night dinner last night with two awesome women I met at my very first job out of college. Which means we've been friends for (gulp) 17 years. So, now, these two ladies and I meet every three months or so at a fancy restaurant that none of us would likely go to on our own. One of us is a bit of a foodie — single, hip, with a job that has her traveling frequently and an address within the city limits. She's still … Read More […]
WOW!!! that is amazing!!!!
I so share your point of view!! I really wish i too had the red circles on my gym and my messy room!!!(i think i will have more notifications there than facebook! 😀 )
hahahhahahahahah like you said that will definitely get me going!!!! 🙂 🙂
Excellent post. I really enjoyed the creativity. ^.^ Congrats on being freshly pressed.
Ha! Great post! I’m another one of those ‘must. answer. immediately.’ kind of people. My best friend – who is not – tells me I’m “too available”. Pshaw! I turn my nose up as I check my red circles. Obviously I’m just cooler.
I think you need a new best friend. You know…one that you can go to dinner with where the two of you can sit at a table and mutually ignore each other while you play with your phones. 🙂 Besides, you NEVER KNOW what important stuff might be coming your way! Must. check.
Seriously, though, I may need an intervention.
That’s so funny! And so indicative of the smartphone culture. Maybe if everything also had an added ping to it, I would get more done!
This is one of the most creative and innovative blog entries I have ever read! I do think that those little red circles would make a big difference – it’s so satisfying to see them go away and know exactly what we have just accomplished. 🙂
Thank you, Lindsay! Hope you’ll keep reading.
hahahah this is so a funny post!! Nice one….I’m also a smarthome addicted!!!
Haha, great post. I totally agree, if I had red dots to clear I would do more housework too.
[…] I went out for a little Girls Night dinner last night with two awesome women I met at my very first job out of college. Which means we've been friends for (gulp) 17 years. So, now, these two ladies and I meet every three months or so at a fancy restaurant that none of us would likely go to on our own. One of us is a bit of a foodie — single, hip, with a job that has her traveling frequently and an address within the city limits. She's still … Read More […]
Hahaha, this is such a great post! And it seems i’m not the only one who thinks so. In this day and age, you’re right, if our daily to do jobs had little red notifications on them, we’d be on top of everything all of the time! Great post to read, well done! And well done on being Freshly Pressed! Rebecca x
Brilliant! Absolutely true too. I’m just the same. If I leave it laying without being in my pocket or hand for more than an hour, I have withdrawal symptoms!
If these red circled numbers ever get real, it will make me more than anxious to get my work done. But you know,by time I’ll get used to it and they wont intrigue me anymore! But hey,Nice post!
Well, I haven’t an iPhone or even a cellphone, but this post was hilarious. Congrats on Freshly Pressed.
….this was so funny!
What a great post. That is exactly what I do when it comes to my iPhone. I hate seeing those little red circles. And if you ask my wife, I believe she will concur that i don’t give priority to anything in our house either. Thanks for the post! And congrats of FP!
[…] I went out for a little Girls Night dinner last night with two awesome women I met at my very first job out of college. Which means we've been friends for (gulp) 17 years. So, now, these two ladies and I meet every three months or so at a fancy restaurant that none of us would likely go to on our own. One of us is a bit of a foodie — single, hip, with a job that has her traveling frequently and an address within the city limits. She's still … Read More […]
I have a rule about phones. I get cheap ones because I always end up throwing them. But this seems like something good!
Gosh, I was rolling on the floor while reading your post. I think the neighbors were ready to call the psychiatric hospital, certain I had finally lost my marbles (They have an on-going bet on when that will happen). Good work! I just started a blog that contains work I published while working as a newspaper editor. dustedbritches.wordpress.com
It’s not as nice as your blog, but I’ve been too busy courting my new phone, trying to get it to do all the things the commercials said it will do.
I wish you continued success.
hahahaha this was very good. It actually made sense until the last picture where I burst out laughing
You know you have it bad when other people’s phones chirp and you go digging for yours… sometimes it is nice to have given it up.
haha, if only
haha. I like the last pic the best. I could use those little red numbers around the house. But what I really hate is when I check my facebook and I can’t get rid of all those numbers. You gotta check everything to get rid of them.
Love this post. It started making me think about when my girlfriend and I first got our iPhones. Before, we would sit at a restaurant watching other couples who weren’t really talking to each other but instead were texting, checking status updates,etc. We would say “We’re never going to be like them.” Now here we are a few months later doing exactly what we said we wouldn’t do. Curse you, Apple, for making us ignore what we should be doing!
Great post! I confess I do often have unread emails myself, ‘cuz I subscribe to a lot of email lists related to copywriting and marketing info, and it’s a lot to keep up with!
Congrats on being Freshly Pressed!
This is hilarious! I love how you write this.
I just recently got a blackberry and I can’t keep my hands off it. One time while driving I found myself holding my phone and having no idea how it got there!
If everything had a notification, I’d go haywire, I think.
Congrats on your FP!
You should jailbreak your iPhone 🙂
It gives you great addons and such. Hmm, might write a jailbreak blog post ^^
Funny. Yes we all have our priorities now don’t we. My son, college graduate 5 days ago, his priorities are sleeping, watching ESPN Sports news, sleeping, video games, eating, sleeping. His job starts in 10 days. I’m wondering when when the red numbers will hit in his head for prioritizing. You know, like writing the thank you notes, doing his laundry, walking the dog, making a list of things to do before leaving town.
Hahaha it’s so funny!
Lol, hilarious post. I must admit, I have a similar craving when it comes to unread mails.
This is great! I’m not the procrastinator when it comes to school work, emails or texts, but when it comes to doing this without an pressing deadline…oye.
Love, a Blackberry addict.
It almost provokes a sense of OCD, but it’s hilarious nonetheless. I love your ingenuity, and kind of hope someone is working on an some red bubble invention of the kind now!
Oh yeah, congrats on FP!
🙂
Very interesting!!! hahah!
We arrive at last nights restaurant of choice. We realize we didn’t have each other’s cell numbers so we all (dorks) pull out our smart phones to exchange information.
If this were an IMDB discussion board, I would probably say… “How can you not have each other’s cell phone numbers?”
It’s entirely possible, of course, especially if … email and FB is the go-to medium for communication. Nonetheless…
no doubt Lot of efforts are made in writing this type of nice post .
Nice work 🙂
HAHA, I am exactly the same way! I see people’s gmail inbox over their shoulder and it bugs me soo much when I see “163 Unread Messages.” Maybe I’m just OCD, but I have to click on a message to mark it as read even if I don’t actually read it! Great, awesome post. 🙂
(I’m posting a link on facebook.)
Maybe I’m just OCD, but I have to click on a message to mark it as read even if I don’t actually read it!
I can relate. I only leave a message unread if I’m unable to devote more attention to its contents until later in the day…then I’ll mark it as “unread” after I’ve glanced at it.
HAHAHA OMGGGG!!! I totally get you! That’s my phone too, icons all arranged, absolutely nothing left unanswered uh and categorized,filed. I once [almost] had a meltdown when my Gmail inbox had over 10, 000 unread emails, glad the iphone came around! Would love the red tags on my chores may make me wanna get rid of them! Loved the post. Great share!
Love this post! So true!
Glad I stumbled across this – relevant and so close to the front of my mind it just needed something like this to remind me I was doing it!
Thanks,
Jon
Interesting blog. emails tend to pile don’t they. I’ll add your link at http://thor27.wordpress.com Later !
I need those red dots at work and on my homework and my home and probably my car too otherwise I ignore little things like oil changes! Oh man…if only
I use a task manager called OmniFocus. It has iphone/ipad versions although I just use the desktop version. It gives you little badges like that when things are coming up or overdue.
HAHAHAHAHAHA Sooo trueee. I’m also an iPhone addict. Can’t help myself for looking at it every 5 minutes… Red dots are the trigger of doing stuffs indeed. Love your post 😀
Love your writing style! It made me laugh quite a few times. I am also a smart phone addict and every single email I receive is checked within minutes. Yes, it’s pathetic, but true.
I’m so with you on this, I have this problem with my iPod touch and Blackberry (they both have those red circles when there’s something waiting for you). I absolutely need to open it, I couldn’t possibly just leave it like that? We’re all smartphone addicts.
If only everyday chores could relate to technology.
I bet it will soon 🙂
That’s one cool post. 🙂
[…] iPhone, Android, Whatever…but, can it make me do the laundry? […]
Bet you like the new iOS 5 notification center?