An Ode to the Rolodex

My phone broke about two months ago (through no fault of my own) and I lost all my contacts, information, and pictures from summer onward. It was a harrowing experience, and ever since that day, I have been thinking about my mom’s old rolodex.

It lived on a countertop that divided the living room from the kitchen. I remember spinning around the little cards to look up an address or phone number for my mom while she was on the phone or cooking dinner, or even out of boredom. It made a satisfying thud every time the cards on the top grew too stacked from the rotation and would fall to the bottom. In my head I romanticize the rolodex, my thoughts spinning around like all those little cards, flicking by one after another.

Our society has become a digital one. We mainly experience the benefits of this, especially in light of the pandemic. I too, always one for pen and paper, now have a computer, iphone, and iPad which I use every day for school, work, and leisure. But for all the benefits that have come with my adoption of technology, there have been some major downsides, like when I ran out of icloud storage and ended up losing all my class notes from the last two weeks. More than that, I am expected to be available 24/7. We always talk about tech as if it is freeing us from work, but in reality if someone calls or texts me now they expect my phone to be on me and for me to pick up sooner rather than later.

Some days, it is nice to feel the weight of a book in my hands, or get a note in the mail and recognize my friend’s unique handwriting. When I use my polaroid to capture memories, I take my time to get the right shot and actually look back on the pictures I collect. I know these are the kinds of things older generations say to be condescending, and we in turn make fun of them for not knowing what a VPN is or still leaving voicemails, but there is something to be said for having physical reminders of our lives and loved ones. I got caught up in the need to streamline everything. There is so much of a push to optimize, minimalize, and capitalize on as much as possible nowadays.

But when my phone broke and I lost my clock, alarm, camera, pictures, phone, contacts, bus schedule, maps, and notes all in one fell swoop, I realized how much I have come to rely on screens and chips to store very real and necessary things. It would have been nice to have a rolodex so I didn’t have to rely on my friends and acquaintances texting me first to get their numbers back. In all the time my mom had one, it never failed to provide her with what she was searching for. It needed no updates, never got a virus or bug, never broke. I could use some of that dependability in my life. And I know some of you may be thinking - why not talk about an address book, it’s the same thing. But it’s not. Address books don’t spin. Just because I crave dependability doesn’t mean I don’t like to have fun.