Lanyards and Mobile Phones

I'm fortunate to have enough dexterity to seldom need assistance using my mobile phone. As mentioned before, I have chosen cases that have features giving me a greater ability to securely hold the device. A phone from October of 2004, that I still have and is sitting right next to me on the desk as I write this, was one of the earlier phones with a built-in modem, very minimal Internet access and texting capabilities. I had it set up on a free phone plan provided by SaskTel to any member of the Canadian Paraplegic Association. I had to purchase the phone out right, which certainly brings to light how expensive cell phones are when you don't get them at a discount rate because of a contract. Since it has served me 11 years I think I got my money's worth.

That said, this was a flip phone before any type of Internet connectivity or advanced communication was available in a mobile device for your average consumer. It is a really nice compact, streamlined unit that fits in just about any pocket. Unfortunately, because of the smooth, round lines and perfectly fitting halves, it was pretty difficult for me to reliably hold on to or flip open when receiving a call. Unless I had somewhat long fingernails I had a difficult time prying open the phone to use it. At the time of its primary use, it was simply for emergency purposes so I seldom needed to get at it in a hurry.

Adding a lanyard to the built in bar, as seen in the photo below, made it easier to keep it nearby for immediate access, as well as one additional place to hold on to the phone while prying it open for use. For my purposes I found the lanyard to remove the streamlined nature of the phone and make it more difficult to put in or remove from a pocket when it was not around my neck. Because of this the lanyard did not stay attached to the quick connector for very long. It was nice to be able to leave a quick connector attached for the times I did want the lanyard on it.

Not everyone has the benefit of the dexterity that I enjoy while others have more dexterity. New phones tend not to have a place intended for a lanyard as the flip phone pictured above does. Not so long ago I saw a brilliant improvisation on Brenda's phone (she happens to work at the CPA) and on Delynne's phone (who also works at the CPA and brought the idea for last week's post regarding the adapted makeup brush). Their adaptation was simply to feed the lanyard around their case, looped from the headphone opening to the camera's opening. Ingenious and universal for just about any smart phone out there.

If you choose the right lanyard, with a very tough but thin cord as the one used on both of these phones (it's the same lanyard, switched from one phone to the next for demonstration purposes), it won't affect the fit of the phone in the case. One of the two that I saw even fit well with the legendary Otterbox case for an iPhone. By legendary I mean that they fit incredibly precisely, better than some of the knockoff cases I have seen and used.

I love simple, inexpensive solutions to make it easier to enjoy technology everyone else is enjoying, without a complicated custom-made adaptation. This lanyard came with a terrible a.m. radio in the shape of a Saskatchewan Roughriders helmet, attached as a prize to a bottle of Wiser's Deluxe. Wouldn't want to lose my radio while listening to a Rider game and drinking my whiskey.

Source: Discount stores and eBay are the best places to find a lanyard that best meets your needs.

Zip Ties, Split Rings, and Paracord

When it comes to dexterity few things are as challenging as zippers. Tiny little tabs designed to be pulled with a pinch between the index finger and thumb. Not quadriplegic friendly.

My simple solution for a lot of years was split rings. I think every keychain in my parents' home was scavenged for this purpose. The fact that my dad had a small collection of keychains help my inventory of split rings to grow quickly. It's remarkable how many zippers there are to benefit from a permanent ring on them. Zippers are everywhere.

The one place that I most wanted my adaptation to be less visible was on the fly of my pants. For that location I chose to use a small black zip tie, as barely visible on the pair of jeans in the photo above. Zip ties like that do wear out in time and a few did break on me, leaving me with a bit of a struggle to do up my pants until it could be replaced with a new zip tie. Thankfully that zipper does not need to be started like on a full-length jacket zipper. I have no secret method to assist in starting a zipper on a jacket. That is simply a matter of trial, error and patience.

Though I still use split rings for a lot of purposes, I have transitioned to using paracord for most of my zipper pulls. There are a myriad of colours to choose from and their flexibility can provide minor advantages over split rings in certain circumstances. I have even begun transitioning away from bungee cord and toward paracord for my pant hooks. The snaps that connect two ends of paracord together to make a pullable tab and loop, like those attached to the yellow and black paracord in the photo above, are cheap and abundant on places like eBay. However, I found the ones I chose to not hold nearly as well as they should. I made certain to make my selection based on the size of paracord I was using, prepare the ends by cutting and melting them and made certain the snap was applied properly, but often it would let go at inopportune times.

The alternative is to simply thread your length of paracord through the zipper eyelet then tie the two lengths in a half hitch, as I have done for the zipper laying immediately to the left of the pouch, the second one to the right of the pink lanyard. A more interesting alternative is to tie an interesting knot in the end and use it as a lanyard, essentially a simplified version of the lanyard I tied to be my keychain. As frequently as we are forced to compromise form for the purposes of function, this is one of those simple places that I appreciate the more decorative look of a diamond knot lanyard over a simple half hitch. I decided to get extra fancy and do a double diamond knot for the longer zipper pull on my camera bag.

Hit me in the comments with your zipper adaptations, if you have any unique methods.

Source: paracord and snaps – eBay. Split rings – dollar store or craft supply store.