Bernie Goldbach in Cashel | Lumia with Moleskine.
I HAVE AN OLD Nokia Lumia running Windows Phone 7 and like my iPad, it won't update to a new operating system. I'm keeping both the original iPad and the original Lumia because they just work.
This is the first time in my life that I have stepped off the upgrade treadmill and have moved away from innovative technology. It's a decision driven by austerity mandated by the Irish government and manifested by a combination of savage pay cuts along with rising prices. Because I cannot eat my electronic gadgets, I'm diverting more of our household cash into shopping baskets, petrol, child care, and medicines. There's actually nothing left to buy shiny technology, something that has already impacted our five-year-old as she realises the DVD player does not work. We've put crayons in front of the DVD player to let her know there's an option in the sitting room beyond the TV screen.
In the meantime, I get polite nudges from O2 telling me I can have a Windows Phone 8 with the Blue update. It's nice knowing Microsoft's clear upgrade path will be out there waiting for me when I get my next pay rise in 2016. But for now, I'm stepping off the upgrade pathway in nearly everything--hardware, software, and web services. For someone involved in teaching emerging trends in technology, it's a significant downgrade in my professional life.
Bernie Goldbach teaches creative multimedia to Honours degree students in the Limerick Institute of Technology.
