NOTE: This answer is coming from someone from a highly technological culture.
I considered at first answering this question metaphorically, with something like “your attitude”, but dismissed that as coy. I decided I would answer this prosaically, with the one item I never leave the house without — my smartphone.
Smartphones have become so ubiquitous that grammar guides have shortened the name to just “phones” as if landline phones no longer exist. As a typical member of Generation Jones, I was a relative latecomer to the cutting the cord and ditching the landline. Today, one’s smartphone is just “the phone”.
A smartphone is necessary for quick action during emergencies, and a way to share last words in a shooter situation. It serves as a resource during travel, to find food and lodging in the middle of a road trip. I was in a van for a long ride home this week when our engine had trouble. We located a town with a repair service near us in minutes and a hotel down the road that night when our plans changed. What a change from drifting through towns looking for service.
A smartphone also answers questions with a rapidity not seen in the reference library days. There is still a purpose to reference libraries, who filter out questionable sources (scams, lies, slanted coverage) as a matter of course. But to someone trained to judge information, the Internet is a speedy source of information to answer questions like “What bird did I just see?” or “Who won the World Series in 2016?” (for the latter, it was the Chicago Cubs.) The smartphone is a tiny but mighty Internet portal.
I haven’t addressed the use of a smartphone to access music or books. With a subscription, one has access to whole eras of music. Whether a private library on Kindle or a public one on Libby, one has access to an entire library. That alone may be enough for me to keep my phone handy.
If I left my keys at home, I wouldn’t be able to drive. If I left my smartphone at home, I would be stranded in an info stream without a boat.
Words Like Me 