My Iphone troubles began on Wednesday, my power cord would not plug into the phone, I could not charge it, strange messages and images and warnings began appearing. I reset it, turned it on and off, did all of the things the recording at Apple advised me to do in recordings and online.

The battery was running down and could not be recharged. The phone kept telling me the cords were not the right ones, I kept arguing with it.

I have an Iphone 6 plus, and I have come to use it and depend on it to a surprising degree, we think we control technology, but we are all learning it is more apt to control us. I have my music there, many of the books I am reading, my financial data, my e-mail and messages and social media platforms. I read magazines there, check the news from time to time, increasingly follow the astounding political news there, and of course, take calls on it from friends and family.

Just try setting up an online repair appointment, it is a morass.

It is just astounding how many things I use that phone for, how often I turn to it, it is my timepiece, my alarm, my note and idea repository, the source of my research online, I use it to search movie times and order tickets, search for restaurants and dictionaries, make travel plans, get directions,  take and store photos and videos. The phone is always with me.

It is a powerful creative and organizing tool for me.

I read recently that the average Iphone user checks the phone at least 100 times a day without realizing it, and is almost fully addicted in every sense of the term. I was stunned to read that, and thought “this can’t be me,” yet I think I depend on the phone so much. I don’t see myself as an addict, but I do see myself as dependent.

This is a real issue for humanity, we need to think about it.

To lose this phone for a week, ship it to Apple for hundreds of dollars in repairs was daunting to me, but also fascinating. I planned to do a daily journal of my life without the Iphone 6.

I spent hours trying to contact an Apple store, trying to figure out how to ship the phone to California, how to get a UPS store way out in the country, trying to navigate the sleek but spectacularly unworkable instructions Apple offers as a means of steering people away from humans.They have this very cool program: when you check into an Apple store for help, they e-mail you a diagnostic app that will run through your device and diagnose it. You have to spend an hour or so turning various things on and off for it to work, and then when it does work, it locks or freezes and won’t tell you what it found.

Not once in five tries. I was going mad Thursday, this is not my idea of creative or productive work. And I was getting very frustrated. I had that feeling of wanting to shout at somebody, which is  when I stop and remember to be human, be patient.

Anyone reading this is familiar with this kind of electronic trauma, it occurs regularly, provokes anxiety and confusion, disrupts routine and work. It always takes hours to resolve, and even on my beloved Apple devices, it is taking longer to find and reach help.

I am a life-long Apple user, I was surprised and disappointed by how difficult it was to navigate these new paths and get help. If you want to manage somebody’s life you ought to be available to them when they need you. And I will never abandon them. It’s like family, you just have to learn to live with it sometimes.

I see  Apple is so big and selling so many things it must be difficult to manage all of the issues involving music, watches, computers, phones, tablets, earphones. I finally reached a human who said the phone needed to be shipped for repairs. It sounded like a broken dock connector. They could send me a special box, or I could box it up and send proof of ownership, or I could try and do this online, which simply did not work.

I ended up having to call Apple three times, I got through each time after substantial waits and some loud music in my ear and learned nothing that was useful. Everyone was politely  baffled and had no real advice to give me.

If I am not good at technical solutions, I am savvy about alternative solutions.

I remembered Brown’s Computer Solutions in Bennington (and Brattleboro) where I had the Iphone fixed the last time there was trouble (it was recalled for camera problems), they were nice and smart and inexpensive there. They were also a licensed Apple repair place.

It’s a funky place in an old house, not at all hi-tech. The very opposite of an Apple Store. It is usually, quiet, the staff is friendly and helpful. I called Christy this morning, she said to bring it in. She warned me there were limits on what they could repair if the phone was damaged.  “If we have to ship it to Apple, it will get pricey,” she warned. The warranty had experienced.

I winced, had to spent hundreds of dollars on medications this week (hole in the donut) and on repairs to the barn and house. I didn’t want to spend hundreds more.

I got to Brown’s around 10 a.m. and Christy looked at the phone.  She smiled.

“Hmmm,” she said, “I bet you don’t have to spend any money at all.” She pulled out her own Iphone, shined the flashlight function into the bottom of my phone, went to the desk and got a needle, put it in carefully and pulled out a wad of lint or tissue paper. I picked it up. Why, I thought, did I not think of this? I always feel stupid in these places, but now, I was embarrassed.

“Pocket lint,” she said, “I see it pretty often.” She plugged in her power cord and it began to charge.  She looked at me sympathetically, a look I often see from Maria when I come whining with something that is broken or missing: I am sorry for  you, you are too dumb and helpless sometimes to live alone in the world.

Wow, I said, that was amazing. “What can I pay you?”

Nothing, she said.

So co-dependence is not just a problem involving human beings, it can affect our relationship with devices as well. This weekend, I am going to count just how many times I am reaching for my Iphone, I always though this is more of a problem for men than women, but my female friends tell me they use it for everything and have it with them all the time.. Maria rarely picks up her Iphone and is not dependent on it much at all.

Awareness is key.I remember when we used to cluck at kids about this, but what do they see from us?

Can we rise to the challenge of managing our own personal technology?

Steve Jobs was even smarter than I thought he was, and I am even more gullible and oblivious.