I am sorry, I don’t know how to turn it off

This morning on my Garuda Indonesia flight from Jakarta to Solo, I saw something very amusing.

At first, I was quite annoyed to see the lady sitting in front of me was still using her mobile phone to call while she was already on the plane. Then I heard the announcement to turn off any mobile phones and the stewardess started walking up and down to aisle to check. The stewardess finally came and asked the lady to stop calling and turn her mobile phone off.

Stewardess: “Please stop calling now and please turn off your mobile phone, madam.”

Lady: “I am sorry, I don’t know how to turn it off. I’ve never turned my mobile phone off since I bought it.”

Then she gave her Nokia 5310 to the stewardess and asked her to help turning the phone off. The stewardess was very patient, kind and understanding. She even taught her how to turn it on again after the plane landed.

When I heard that the lady could not turn her mobile phone off, I don’t whether to laugh or to pity her. Sometimes people just buy gadgets that’s way beyond their knowledge and skill to use.

These days many people buy gadgets because of trends and good looks instead of functions. It is simply a race to own the latest gadget to show off and get other people’s attention. In the past, I often made the same mistake of racing to own the latest, fastest, meanest gadget, but now I know better. I am still tempted to get the latest gizmos, but I’ve learned to control my urge and wait for a while. Fortunately I have some friends who remind me whenever my eyes turn green seeing the latest gadget hahaha.

Lesson: Learn to use your gadget more effectively. At least learn to turn it on and off :)

Learn and Grow