The other day, I was visiting my grandparents and decided I'd like to take a bath in their jacuzzi. I filled up the tub and settled down in the warm water. My phone was on the windowsill by the tub. I was worried that the windowsill might be wet, so I picked up my phone to see if it was wet. When I realized it wasn't, I went to put it back on the windowsill. In a flash, my phone slipped out of my hand and plopped down into the tub. I immediately snatched it up and shook it, gaping in horror. I quickly stepped out of the tub and dried my phone with my towel. Then I flung it around myself without bothering to dry my body. I frantically ran into the other room to get some help from my mom.
"Dropped...phone...in..water...need...rice...need...rice..."
I was incoherent. I basically tossed my phone at my mom and begged her to find some rice. I followed her into the kitchen, where she calmly explained the situation to my grandma, who found some rice in the freezer. My mom thawed it in the microwave, and I went back to my bath after being assured that my phone would be properly taken care of. I brought my iPad into the bathroom with me to listen to some tunes, but I made sure to keep it a safe distance from the water this time.
After my bath, I went online to make sure I handled my wet phone properly. I gathered that I was right to put it in rice, but I was supposed to turn it off and wrap it in a paper towel first. Thankfully, my mom had thought about the paper towel, so I just had to reach in and turn it off. After that, I began my day-long journey of being phoneless.
You've heard it said that you never know what you have until it's gone. That's what I realized about my phone. I never really knew how much I used it until I couldn't. Luckily, I still had my iPad and my laptop to keep me entertained. There were some things, however, that only my phone could do. Without it, I was SOL.
Later that day, we left the house to run some errands. I brought my iPad with me, but I couldn't do much without data. It wasn't long before I entertained myself the old-fashioned way: with pencil and paper. Not a notebook, though. A Sudoku book. It kept both my mind and my hands busy. For a while, I forgot about my phone. Then, when I got to a place where I had to leave my Sudoku in the car, I started to miss my phone again. I couldn't take pictures, browse social media, play Candy Crush...nothing.
Later that night, my mom and grandparents and I sat down to watch a movie. I thought I'd be fine without my phone. After all, why would I need it when I'm watching a movie? Surprisingly, it was during the movie that I felt its absence most. I kept wanting to Google things. It was a strange feeling to have my questions left unanswered until I could get my iPad. In the age of technology, I'm not used to delayed gratification. I'm used to having all the information in the world at my fingertips.
The next day, I pulled my phone out of the bag of rice and was thrilled to find that it was working fine. I'm happy to be reunited with my phone, but I learned a lot from living a day without it. I learned how much I rely on it, and exactly how much time I spend ignoring the rest of the world in favor of getting lost in the palm-sized device.
