Mayim: iPhone versus Android

At the time I was cast on The Big Bang Theory, I was happily homeschooling a toddler. I also spent my days tutoring Hebrew, neuroscience, chemistry and piano, and hoping to go on auditions. I also had an exclusively breastfeeding baby. My manager finally got annoyed that I had no cell phone, so I could not check messages from the park while nursing a baby and pushing a toddler on a swing.

So I got an Android and I loved it. Now, my days involved juggling a toddler, a baby, a phone, auditions and teaching. The Smartphone made everything possible in the best and worst ways. It consumed me and it freed me.

When I started working regularly on The Big Bang Theory the following year, my phone became my everything. I stuck with an Android because I liked it very much and saw no reason to have the phone “everyone” had–I was unique and special, after all, right? My phone should reflect that I’m the type of person who doesn’t go with trends–in case my Converse with every outfit and lack of shaved legs didn’t already communicate that. The Android brought me joy with all of the personalization options; my kids and I would change the themes and marvel at all of the choices I had. I really felt I could be me with my Android.

I would be lying if I said I didn’t love telling people I used an Android. It’s kind of like being vegan: we like to tell people! Same with having an Android. “I use an Android,” I would say, with a slightly affected tone as if I was Holly Golightly standing outside of Tiffany’s with a croissant. People would ask, “Don’t you hate…” and then they would list things I didn’t hate: that I can’t sync everything on “the cloud,” that so few people had Androids, that I couldn’t link my pictures to my laptop (I use a Mac), and on and on.

I would be lying if I said I didn’t love telling people I used an Android. It’s kind of like being vegan: we like to tell people!

And then something happened. Imu, my everything human/best friend/business partner, switched to an iPhone. And then Manfriend switched. I was the last holdout. Then my mom was finally ready for a Smartphone. And I got her an Android, too, so I wasn’t alone.

But then something else happened. Android started forcing updates on me and my sweet phone. They got all up in my grill. And long story short: every app the phone came with stopped working. Phone, address book, texting, voice dictation – they all started to not work. I was short on patience and short on time. I was flying to New York in November 2017 when the last update took my last nerve and stood right on it. I got on the plane, flew to everything human/best friend/business partner’s side, and he took me to the Apple store.

I have had an iPhone since. I am not going to tell you it’s all perfect, but here are my top 3 things I love about this iPhone and the top 3 things I miss about my Android. You be the judge.

Things I Love About This iPhone

1. One love. Indeed, it helps to have everything connect. It just does. I used to have to jump through hoops and sweat and download and waste data to get photos from my phone to my laptop. No more. Everything is connected and easily connects. That saves me so much stressing out, freaking out, and having to call every millennial I know to help me. I feel more independent.
2. Work love. Because most everyone has an iPhone, sending information for my work life has a lot less steps. Making videos for charity is something I love to do, but it used to involve figuring out how to transfer files and compress things and it was a super duper drag. Having more of a common language among the people in my world makes business easier.
3. Body love–especially the ears. I have odd ears. I never thought I did until I stopped using old school headphones and started using ear buds. Earbuds won’t stay in my ears. If you have odd ears like me, you know exactly what I mean. And people like to be all, “You need to try the ones I use – they will work!” and then you buy half a dozen ear buds to see if they will work and they never do. Imu insisted I get the Apple earbuds and I literally have seen them change my life. I’m being totally serious. My hand used to cramp frequently from holding my phone during calls. That problem is gone. I used to get a kink in my neck from phone calls. No more. Once voice dictation stopped working reliably on my Android, I had to type twice as much to fix errors and my vocal cords could not take the strain of recording and re-recording all of the time. With the ear buds, it’s all easier on my body. Plus, they have increased my efficiency because I can cook and fold laundry and paint my toenails while on calls. I’m serious; this stuff matters. It’s not that the ear buds have made me a crazy multi-tasker who can’t sit still, because I already am a crazy multi-tasker who can’t sit still. They have made me able to get more done so that I can spend time doing the things I want to do. I feel so much more free.

Things I Miss About My Android

1. Feeling special. I don’t feel special with an iPhone and I did with an Android. My therapist says feeling special is very important for me and it drives a lot of my identity–always has. I miss that in my minute-by-minute life. I liked being different in this way. I felt like a rebel. Against the grain. Fiery. Special. Different.
2. Customizing. I’m a kind of grown-up-kid type of person. I still like Hello Kitty and kitty cats. I like stickers and Japanese stores with so many cute things to buy and hold and love. Customizing my phone with free themes was so much fun for me and my boys. There was one of Korean boy bands we had never heard of. We loved that one. There were anime-inspired themes. There were LEGO themes. I changed my theme every few weeks, and it was really fun. I miss that fun.
3. Memories. I’m sentimental. And my Android once performed a great mitzvah (good deed). Because I had an Android, I was able to lend an elderly man in a wheelchair my charger so we could charge his phone, get his son’s phone number, and call his son to pick him up at the Atlanta airport. I miss the way things used to be. I just do.

Ultimately, I am committed to an i-Universe. And they’re not paying me to say that. (Although they are welcome to reach out; I’m sure we could work something out!) I regret that I resisted for so long. Because physically, my body was not happy with my phone. And it was time for a change.

Change can be good. Even if it’s not perfect and sometimes you have to lose parts of yourself in the process, there are new things to be revealed all of the time when we allow ourselves to be open to change.

[interaction id=”5ae096aaf31bbf5bc406490b”]