Smartphones are quickly becoming tools of the trade that make some tasks a lot less stressful by having information needed at your fingertips. Most of us know this, but are we using our smartphones to their full potential?
I can remember 20 some odd years ago – pre-cell phone – making three consecutive trips to the local John Deere store for the same part, each time just to be told when I arrived back at the field, part in hand, that "that is not from the rear separator shaft left side divider that controls the right side adaptor to the center pivot" and sent back to the parts counter, wrong part in hand to attempt to explain something I in no way comprehended!
Fast forward a few years and the magic of cell phones helps those of us mechanically impaired make only one trip back every fourth breakdown to exchange a wrong part for the right one. Of course, most of those times I just handed my phone over to the parts guy so I didn't have to be the middle man trying to speak a language I had no grasp of.
But in comes the era of the smartphone to help me appear smart with its invaluable numerous uses. Thank you smart people of the world!
The most common feature used on my smartphone is the camera. I am a visual person so I have trained Chris, my husband, of its value and he has adapted well. All smartphones are equipped with them and are relatively easy to use. Take full advantage of this. I now have pictures of parts, livestock, equipment, tile holes that need repair, injuries for evaluation of medical help – the list goes on and on, and I even now get pictures of my kids driving big equipment by themselves from Chris when I can't be there for those magical firsts of a farm kid's life!