There are no friends smarter than the one that hangs out with me. I rely on my friend for so many things every day. And, no, it’s not Gerry. He’s with me every day, but my friend is smarter than he is. My smart friend is my cellphone.

I call it my smart friend because it knows more than any person could ever know, and how so much information can get into that little gadget is beyond my wildest imagination. It can answer all my questions in a flash, doesn’t even have to stop and think for a moment.

It tells me how to get to any place I want to go, and it asks if I want to go on a turnpike or take the scenic route or walk. It will tell me also how long it will take to get there. And, it never gets upset if I miss my turn, it simply tells me in a kind voice how to get back on the right route. No more do we have to carefully study maps to find our way, or stop at gas stations to get street directions that are not on the map.

My friend has a camera so I can take pictures of our everyday happenings. I can check the picture right away and if it’s good, I keep it, and if it’s unsatisfactory, I can take another and even forward it to someone. And, my friend can take a video as well as a still picture. Amazing.

In the old days, we had to send the film in for developing and when we got the pictures back, we often felt disappointed that someone’s eyes were closed or the light wasn’t right. My friend makes it possible for all photos to be just right, and can take both still and video pictures. If we wanted to make a video years ago, it required a special camera. Each camera used to have only one function.

I have to remind myself that the gadget I’m using is a phone. In the old days, a telephone had one function — communicating with someone using your voice. Today, talking with your voice seems to be the function the telephone uses less than talking by texting, secret talking. People around you don’t know what you’re saying. When my grandchildren tell me they “talked” to someone, it usually was by texting but they call it “talking.”

It’s interesting how word meanings can change. Actually, I like texting, it’s a quick way to leave a message, but I don’t say I talked to someone when I communicated that way, I say I texted.

My friend provides me with books to read, games to play, being able to find information on Google (no need for encyclopedias anymore), a dictionary, a flashlight, the time, a calendar, a compass, music to listen to, and movies to watch. We get appointment reminders, watch the news, can view pictures, can check in at the airport, check in at the doctor’s office, order meals from a restaurant, order goods, identify plants and birds, get the weather forecast and weather alerts.

Apps are applications we can put on our phones to perform the many functions they can do, and there are nearly 2 million apps available in the Apple store. Pretty overwhelming.

Gerry and I attend Bible study and lectures from the Antiquarian Society on the Zoom app. One museum we visited sent an app to our phone and the narration came from it as we moved from exhibit to exhibit at our own pace.

Our friend Mike’s phone did detective work on the day his daughter Julia went to a festival. She put her purse with the phone down on the ground so she could participate in an activity, and afterward when she went to pick it up, the purse was gone. Her friend phoned Mike at work and he was able to locate it with his Find My app. That app shows the location of the phones registered under his account, and a map showed the street and place where the stolen purse was located. Mike’s directions led Julia and her friend to a woman pushing a baby carriage. The woman denied the charge when they confronted her, but when they said that maybe the police needed to be called, the woman removed the purse from her backpack. Felony solved by the cellphone!

My friend Mary is the nurse at a school that has some Brazilian students who have limited English, and she uses the Google function Translate Text when they come to her office. They can speak their native Portuguese into the phone and Mary can read the English translation on the screen. So incredible, and so helpful.

My smart friend has changed the way we live. One little gadget does it a — well, almost all. It can remind me to clean the house, but it won’t do it.

P.S. My granddaughter Phoebe told me that her friend with an exercise studio has a robotic vacuum cleaner called Roomba, and when she closes up her business at the end of the day, she pushes “iRobot” on her cellphone and Roomba cleans the studio, and after it’s finished, it returns to the charging station to be ready to work the next day.

Wonders will never cease in this electronic age!

Carole Gariepy lives in Phillipston.