“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge.” —Stephen Hawking
Text and Art By Ginny Neil
I live in one of the last places without cell phone access, so I didn’t buy my first one until last year. When I told clerks and receptionists that I couldn’t give them a cell number because I didn’t have one, they often reacted by saying, “Lucky you!” followed by a long discussion of how they wished they could give their phones up.
Although I still can’t figure out how to put my phone on speaker or make it vibrate instead of ring, I can now Venmo like a pro. I have also found it extremely entertaining to annoy the lady inside the phone who hates it when I make a right turn after she just told me repeatedly to turn left.
My favorite thing about my new phone, though, is how much smarter I am becoming about the natural world. Most of the apps work even if I don’t have cell service, so I have tried quite a few, and now I know it all.
For example, I can point out to my walking partner that we just heard the call of a wood thrush, or a pileated woodpecker, or a turtle dove. Oh, and that salamander we saw was really a newt, and that cute little flower is coltsfoot, and that ladybug is not native to Virginia. I am learning so much on our early morning walks, but perhaps the most important thing I’ve learned is that some people prefer to walk quietly.
My new cell phone is also great for taking pictures of things that I might want to look at later. I have 1,000 pictures of sunrises, and the inside of my pocket, and the palm of my hand, and even some fun camera angles looking up my nose. All stored in my online, cloud-based photo album in case I want to send them to someone while I wait for my dental appointment.
There are so many fun apps out there for gardeners and nature lovers. I can use an app to help me plan my garden, choose when to plant, and identify weeds. There are apps for identifying mushrooms, and bugs, and mosses, and tracks, and animal poop.
At first, each app that I added was super fun, but it wasn’t long before the preponderance of information at my fingertips got in the way of my peace of mind. It was like having a big box store in the palm of my hand. I was overwhelmed by the information and lost a lot of time wandering around in it.
Now, there are only two nature-based apps on my phone: Merlin Bird ID and iNaturalist. These are the apps that suit me. I have learned my way around both, and because there are only two to choose from, I am not compelled to find the answer to every nature question that comes to mind. It’s okay not to know.
So, next on my list is the great purge and print. I am printing some pictures and putting them in scrapbooks so my children can sort through them when I die. I am leaving 500 super-cute pictures of my grandkids on my phone in case I want to show them to strangers when I am standing in line at the grocery store.
Now, I really do know it all and it’s this: knowing it all isn’t nearly as important as knowing I don’t need to know it all. I’d rather be a good listener and friend and there’s no app for that.
But, before I delete it, would you like to see a cool picture of the inside of my nose? I know it’s here, somewhere.
The story above first appeared in our May/June 2026 issue.
