Tech Phobia: When Smart Phones Become Creepy

photo courtesy of techhive

I remember getting an iPhone and the person I was with at the time kept asking me to see it. "Let me just see it!" He would say as he tossed his unworthy droid to the wayside in hopes of navigation my superior device. I was feeling pretty snazzy until a new iPhone came out. Then my version was a worthless has been and the race to keep up with the Jetson's   Jones's began. Realizing that my pocket couldn't take the beating Apple was serving up, I resigned myself to Andriod life and I've not been back to Apple land since. At this point there really isn't a preference. The older I get, the more I just need a phone that rings and texts.
I had a T Mobile MyTouch that I spent about two years paying for and it died 4 months after the conclusion of the second year. Completely angered by this, I decided I was going to get a "cheap" phone. That meant one step away from Zack Morris a la Saved By The Bell. So I went to Walmart, a chain notorious for unsavory patrons and all things inexpensive. I got a BLU (an acronym for Bold Like Us) mobile phone for $99. In a world where you pay about $40 per month for 24 months for a phone, this was a great deal. The tech gods were shining their cell towers all up on me! Wheeeeee! I'm a unicorn! Okay, I digress. So I got the phone, popped in my SIM card and resumed life as usual. I noticed that the pictures were as grainy as corn meal porridge but I didn't care. I noticed that I had never heard of the BLU brand. I didn't care. I'm thinking for $99 all this phone will do is ring.
I was wrong.
Twas a dark and stormy night... okay it was more like 6:30pm and I was getting ready to leave my weekend job when I looked at my phone and it told me exactly where I'd parked earlier.
Wait, what?
Then a notification that I was 15 minutes for home.
I didn't tell that phone where I lived.
Suddenly I felt uncomfortable, like there was far too much information being exchanged between google, social media, and this $99 overachieving smart phone. I felt like the camera was recording me when I didn't know ( I flip it over and place it under my pillow before bed).
I know I seem paranoid, but coming from an era of beepers (what up Motorola?!!!) I feel that the progression of technology has come a bit further than I'm comfortable with at times. It's nice to know how far I am from work and home, but there is an undeniable sense of uneasiness when I know I never said where work actually was!
I often wonder what other "cool new capabilities" smart phones are going to have within the next five years. Smart phone nanny cams? Smart phone vibrators? Smart phone lie detectors?
Who am I kidding? It's probably already been done.