THE WHAT GOES UP, COMES DOWN EXPERIMENT

By Greg Evans

I woke up as usual early before the sun rose and slid out of bed and headed over to my phone to check the time. I had the phone attached to the charger and when I picked up the phone the cord plugged into the wall tensed and as I pulled the phone toward me the cord pulled the phone free from my hand and fell only about three or four feet to a wooden floor, face down. When I picked up the phone I realized that the face had shattered like a car windshield after taking the brunt forced of someone's head. I couldn't believe my eyes. I took the phone into the bathroom and turned on the light to make sure I wasn't sleep walking but sure enough the damn thing broke. The face of the phone was made of glass! I had always figured that it was made of plastic because who doesn't drop their phone? What kind of company would make a cellular phone out of glass!?! I actually had at one time a cover for the phone but I had dropped the phone protected by the cover into a simmering pot of spaghetti sauce and the cover had saved the phone but now I don't have a cover on it and it's broken and I have to spend money to have it fixed.

I want to throw a question out there. Am I going overboard when I say that it is obnoxious for a phone company make the face of the phone out of glass knowing full and well that glass often breaks if dropped and people drop phones regularly? Question number 2, did the companies do this on purpose because it would then force the public back to the phone stores to purchase another phone and they would then probably update the phone and the company would make more money? Of course that was the reason. Some smart guy probably working as a low level marketing or accounting associate had the great idea and brought it to his manager who passed it on up the chain of command. If the phone is made of glass and falls and shatters people will just accept it because that it is the newest and best cellular phone. But they will go to the phone store and purchase an upgrade. The problem with this concept is that it goes above and beyond the realm of tolerance. In a world where photographs are taken of earth 900 million miles away and sent to the computer of a scientist, can't they come out with something any more efficient than glass phones. It isn't even logical. As much as I like my phone for it's uses, I am simply dumbfounded and tired of the products being put out that are so prone to having to be repaired. Buy a car these days and it spends half it's life in the shop. Buy a toaster and it only lasts a couple of years. Products used to be made to withstand time and they were solid and worked and many from our grandparents young adult time still work today. Such industry won't be the case when our grand children and great-grand children are our age and you can bet glass phones won't survive 100 years unblemished if not completely shattered to pieces unless you live your life in a bubble.