Wanderings – Change should not be this difficult

After years of resisting the herd mentality, stubbornly digging my heels in, and sticking with what I know, I made the switch. I am now an iPhone user.

The case for switching has made sense for years as I use Apple computers at home and at work. Until now, I have purposely made my life more difficult by not having all my technology items from the same brand. That was made clear when I finally switched.”

Sure, these companies tell you that it’s easy to switch from one brand to another – there’s an app for that. Install the new brand app on your old device, set up the new device, make the two talk to each other and presto! Your apps, photos, music, and other parts of your digital life will easily move from old to new. Cue the sad trombone music.

Despite the solid hardware quality of my new device, I spent over a week learning that everything is the opposite of my old device, and how to undo and redo everything. Over the years, online security has improved. Not only do you need a password to access accounts, you need a pin code, a six-digit code text-messaged to you, a fingerprint, and in some cases your firstborn. What happens when you use a password manager and some of the time-saving apps these companies encourage you to use? You get locked out of accounts, passwords are wrong, and a text message goes into outer space—never to be seen again.

My old phone was the latest in a long succession of Android phones from the same brand going back to when I ditched my Blackberry over a decade ago. Upgrading within the same brand silo was easy – surely this should be easy too (don’t call me Shirley.)

Nearly every password for every account, banking, social media, and email account had to be changed. My “biometrics” (thumbprint) had to be deregistered from the old phone because I was changing brands.

Moving photos from old to new phone wasn’t easy either. My phone contacts list was wiped out. Copies of text messaged long deleted reappeared – nothing nefarious, just a bunch of spam. I had an app that housed all my reward cards so I didn’t need to carry 200 cards in my wallet – gone. I guess I didn’t need those grocery points after all.

Years ago, I digitized my 500+ CD music collection. Thinking with the new phone I had more storage, I tried to copy over a couple more songs from my library. Instead, I began to copy the entire library, filling the phone and rendering it useless until I wiped it and tried again.

I did not expect the steep learning curve switching phones. While not a first adopter of tech, I know some tech and I am handy at fixing really obsolete gear. Even dismissing notifications required retraining my muscle memory to swipe in the opposite direction to what I had been using.

There are benefits to this switch. My old phone had a faulty power key, which broke two days out of warranty, cost more to repair than replacing the phone. I had not been able to turn off my screen for the last year – which led to more than the occasional pocket dial to people in that now lost contact list. I no longer marvel at co-workers who simply Airdrop files between phone and computer with ease, something not done on the Android. My apps are mostly working properly now, and I am protected by more secure passwords that even I cannot remember.

I’m not a believer in karma or superstition, but I could argue I was being punished for not switching sooner. The lesson here is that no matter how much companies say it’s easy to switch, it’s just marketing mumbo-jumbo. The good news is that over a week into the process, things have mostly returned to normal. The bad news? I’m still not sure where my grocery points went.