Two things happened to me recently that had never happened before. The first was that I almost missed a flight even though I was already inside the airport and past security (a long story for another day). The second: in my headlong dash in response to the final boarding call for “Passenger Freeman,” I left my phone behind.
Oddly, my husband knew I’d lost my phone before I did—a discovery he made when he tried to call me and a strange man answered (since that man identified himself as the security guard who had found my phone another marriage was saved).
I didn’t make the discovery until I looked for my phone after my flight touched down. To say I was troubled is putting it lightly. One might want to lose one’s phone during one’s honeymoon in paradise—not so much when one is in New York on a business trip.
My first thought when I realized I had left my phone at the airport back at Palm Beach International? “I’ll just text my husband to see if he can go pick it up for me so I won’t have to wander around PBI at 10:30 at night when I return tomorrow.” And then I ruefully laughed at myself.
Sitting in the cab during rush hour traffic, I came to discover just how much more productive such cab rides are when I have my phone. Instead, I can now tell you all about the Broadway musical production of The Lion King, the new Arro app for e-hailing Yellow Cabs, how some overachiever took a rock wall and turned it into a competitive game for other overachievers for whom simply scaling said rock wall simply isn’t enough, courtesy of the streaming video in the taxi.
I considered buying a burner phone for the 24-hour duration of my stay in New York, but decided to live life on the unconnected edge instead and this is what I learned:
- If you haven’t fully invested in mobile technology yet, you definitely should.
- If you went “all in” on mobile years ago and are feeling smug about it right now—it’s probably already time for you to go back and update and upgrade it.
- If you went “all in” on mobile years ago and are feeling smug about it right now—it’s probably also time for you to take a closer look at your regular website and online offerings, because when your members lose their phones in airports, they are using their laptops to access your products and services.
- Don’t leave your phone at the airport.
Editor in Chief Lisa Freeman can be reached at
