I walked from my car in the North Haven, Connecticut parking lot to the AT&T mobile store as if I were headed for the gallows. The time has come: I had to go from a dumb cell phone to the smart one. I even wondered if they would allow an aging Baby Boomer like myself into such an advanced wireless center.
Right from the get-go, the transition was lacking both in angst and melodrama. A Generation Y salesperson actually came to me once I was about 1.5 feet away from the door. His name was James Hales. For the next 34 minutes he would gently and patiently lead me through the steps of selecting a phone and the appropriate plan and getting down the fundamentals for use. We - Hales had that wonderful way of creating the feeling that the two of us were in this together - chose a Nokia. Then we determined the best plan would not include migrating my Internet service from the current AT&T DLS service to a hotspot through the smartphone.
That done, what could have been the end of the world didn't end the world. I asked Hale to set up my voice features, including making a message for when I was wasn't there. In addition, I pushed it and requested he do my email account too. That he did. It involved a call to AOL.
The one last piece was for me to learn the fundamentals. A born teacher, Hales walked me through the basic menu and the swipe-throughs. They included getting through to the apps, taking a photo, and making video. He even informed me the software I could download for free from Microsoft for transferring photos from the phone to the my laptop.
I left the store knowing that I had accomplished the most important rite of passage of my career. I had crossed over from dumb to smart. I also realized that age has nothing to do with anything. It's all about not fearing technology.
Every Baby Boomer in Connecticut who hasn't yet made this passage should journey to North Haven Shopping Center on Universal Drive and ask for James Hales. Tell 'em Jane sent you.