Just how protective of your gadgets are you?  Do you let strangers fondle your phone?  Do you let friends or family borrow your Mp3 player?  Or does your device of choice never leave your side for fear that whoever you lend it to won’t treat it with the same respect you do?

Have you even been in a situation where someone asked to see or use your most prized gadget and you had to stop and think for a moment as to whether you trusted the person enough to do so?

Before you read this entire story be sure to answer the above question.  Then read on for an even more challenging situation at the end.

I know I’m a little crazy.  Yes I want all my gadgets to look like they did when I first pulled them out of their packaging for as long as I own them.  Part of it is the fact that I just like the look of all things new.  Hey others do too.  Isn’t that why we have auto air fresheners in the scent of “new car smell?” But another part of this is for resale value.  I place many of my gadgets on Ebay and ones that are in mint condition simply fetch higher bids than ones that are not.

So I wrap my phone in a case and protect its screen with a screen protector.  When it comes to screen protectors I’m really crazy.  I’ve become quite skilled at putting them on but mostly due to the fact that I’ve had to install a ton of them.  I simply won’t rest until my screen protector is installed so perfectly that it’s almost impossible to detect.

This involves several tools, including compressed air to remove all the dust on my screen (dust leads to air bubbles) various credit cards to smooth out any bubbles,  screen cleaner, microfiber cleaning cloths and more.  When it comes time to install a new screen shield my desk looks more like a hospital’s operating room than a office.

This You Tube video by Quinn Nelson really helps with the process but I’ve still managed to blow through three or four screen protectors during one install because I couldn’t get one installed just right.

Cases are another issue.  I have tons.  But many of them cause screen shields to bubble.  Slider cases are especially problematic with this.  The sides of this style of case can press and lift up the sides of the screen shield which allows air to get underneath and result in the formation of bubbles.

So even though I own close to 10 or more slider style cases I often won’t use them.  Once I get a screen shield properly installed I next choose a case that doesn’t lift it up. I also carry my iPhone on my hip inside a nylon pouch.  Yes, I place my iPhone that’s in a case, in a case.  Again this is part rational part crazy.  Rationally this makes sense.  Putting an iPhone that’s in a case in one’s pocket doesn’t always work.  With jeans for example, that fit tightly, the case causes a pretty tight fit.  Irrationally  this way  protects the case itself from being damaged.

Here’s a totally hypothetical situation for you to ponder.

What would you do?

You’re a emergency services first responder and roll up firs to the scene of a single car accident.  It’s 4:30 in the morning on a weekend day and a car has struck the guardrail, crossed to the other side of the road, gone into the woods and struck a tree head on.

You are tasked with patient treatment and approach the vehicle to find the driver’s side door open and the drive sitting sideways with her legs outside the car.  She appears to be typing on a cell phone.

You ask her if she’s injured and her only response is “I’m trying to text my friend but my phone’s getting no service.”

You ask her to put down the phone so you can assess her but she refuses to do so until she contacts her friend.

She begins to get belligerent first at Verizon for their lack of service in the area where she crashed and then at you for your insistence on assessing her injuries.

Finally it happens.  She asks if you have a cell phone and if you do can she borrow it?

Now here it comes, what would you do?????????