My Precious. OCD and my Tech Gadgets.

First, welcome to my first post on Medium. It’s been awhile since I’ve done my own blog, but I felt I was overdue and needed to start getting involved again. Go easy on me, I’ve got to dust off my writing skills as I’m sure they’ll be quite lacking for a few posts, or maybe all the time, will see. Let’s start this off with a personal BANG!

*Warning — Toss LOGIC Outside the Window for This Topic!*

Today, I wanted to share about a personal problem that I deal with on a daily basis. I have OCD. I’ve been diagnosed, I take medication, and I’ve been working on improving it for years. Luckily I’ve improved significantly to the point where I’m no longer what they call a “chronic checker” of things (door knobs, car doors, etc). Now, I’m down to simply being OCD about my personal gadgets, home office and some other small things that don’t get in the way of living a successful life.

My number one OCD? My iPhone. My precious. I yearn for that ability to toss my iPhone into my pocket and to just walk out the door. But alas, I simply cannot do that. My iPhone requires a case (I prefer slim, but fully covering, no open access to the bottom. I prefer the Magpul Field Case), a glass screen protector, and finally…something to put the iPhone into so I can successfully put it into my pocket without worrying about the amount of dust/particles will make its way under the case and around the the entire iPhone (Typing that gives me anxiety even). I usually go with one of two items depending on the situation. Either a sunglasses microfiber pouch, or a hip case that I picked up from Timbuk2. Both, protect my precious from the outside elements from getting inside my iPhone. One is designed for pocket and the other for my hip.

Upon arriving back home from an outing, I remove my iPhone from the said pouch and proceed to clean the screen followed by a quick blast of compressed air. Everyday, I do this. It hurts my brain, lacks logic (OCD 100% is not logical, thus my warning) and I absolutely hate doing it. This sort of thing can travel to other gadgets of mine but differs with the device. Ultimately however, each requires its own travel and cleaning ritual.

Then came the announcement of the Apple Watch. A formidable enemy to my OCD. I was and HAD to get one, and so I did, on day one. How am I holding up? It’s been incredibly tough to say the least, but I’m making progress, even if a little. I’ve tried and reviewed screen protectors and even some slim cases. Most will laugh, but alas, a small community exists on Macrumors.com for this very issue, protecting the precious Apple Watch. Regardless, I’ve ditched the slim fit case (for now) and am going just with the screen protector (For my defense, you can barely see it aside from the micro ripples under a direct LED light. Still feels nearly like glass and covers the entire black glass portion of the watch!)

Eventually, my goal is to rip it off as well. After all, I have AppleCare+ and shouldn’t need to worry anyway, right? It’s a watch and is meant to be worn on a daily basis. Wear and tear gives it character in fact! Ultimately, I’m doing better than I anticipated and am just trying my hardest to enjoy the tech and not worry so much about it. Though another topic in itself — The Apple Watch is absolutely amazing and has completely changed my communication habits. Such an amazing device.

And that leads my to the final thought sharing process of this blog post. Enjoying my technology. Having OCD makes it extremely difficult to enjoy the tech I have sometimes. Focusing on cleaning it and taking care of it to an OCD level wears out my love for simply using it. I find myself not getting out my laptop sometimes in annoyance that I KNOW I’ll have to go through a ritual afterwards to get it clean again and feeling “perfect” to my brains OCD satisfaction level. It’s tough people, very tough.

You all make it look so easy. I wish it was for me. Maybe one day.

Wil Parker | WilParker.com