Last Wednesday night, the unthinkable happened: my cell phone died. I don’t mean died as in lost power (I charge that baby religiously). No, it just decided it was finished with me without even a warning. This was certainly not what I needed the day before I moved out of my dorm. I, always the optimist (and the smart-ass), decided to focus on what this horribly annoying experience taught me. Here are a few things that going without a phone might get you.

1. Isolation

Cell phones distract us from real life, disconnect us from people and ruin our social skills, right? That’s what I keep hearing from anyone beyond the millennial generation, and I’m sure we all know how annoying it can be. Have them go four days without their phone and see how connected they feel. I certainly did not feel that way; for me, it was more like becoming a temporary, involuntary hermit. Snapchat and text, my main forms of electronic communication, were completely out of my reach. And while the hip mom in me was able to effectively use everyone’s favorite, Facebook messenger, it simply wasn’t adequate or convenient to stay in the loop. While my friends continued our group texts, Groupme and Snapchat sharing, I was left behind to scroll through the shared posts of many a wonderful Facebook mom. I didn’t know who was trying to get a hold of me, who needed me or how anyone was doing. I couldn’t get pictures of my sweet pets while away from home. If this is what those people who tell us to “put down our phones and talk to each other” are telling us about, I don’t want any part of it. I seemed to do much less socializing when disconnected. In short, I was virtually alone.

2. Boredom

This is a pretty obvious one. Of course, my phone is my main center of entertainment. From the addicting cat videos to the endless games of Sudoku, I need my phone to keep my brain occupied. Without it, things turned grey. Slow days at work became a playground for the nervous side of my brain (usually dulled by the virtual cats of Neko Atsume or pictures of my real cats on Snapchat) to run rampant. Time that could’ve been spent on the Quizlet app preparing for my psychology exam turned into mindless hours of staring at the wall. It isn’t only boring to go without a phone, it’s inefficient! So much time was wasted when I didn’t have my main time waster.

3. Anxiety

I’ve written before about my social anxiety and the relief that having my cell phone can bring me, so the absence of that security blanket did nothing to calm my frazzled nerves. Walking to class seemed more like a minefield than a peaceful stroll. I didn’t know when I might encounter that casual acquaintance with whom I would have to share the uncomfortable “hello” or painfully awkward “I’ll pretend I didn’t see you.” Silly? Yes. Real? Unfortunately. It isn’t just an excuse not to talk to people; it’s sweet relief from the maddening thoughts that race through my brain in any social situation. That quiet was suddenly disturbed that Wednesday night when my phone abandoned me, and I could not be happier to have it back.

4. Gratitude

This isn’t something that I was taught by losing my phone but rather by getting it back. While I think technology is incredibly important and the criticisms surrounding it largely alarmist, I cannot deny that I often am guilty of the “taking it for granted” stereotype. These days, a phone is a must. The digital divide has never been bigger, and those without them certainly suffer much more than I did over the past few days. I am so grateful even to have the ability to communicate with my friends miles away for exchange cute animal pictures. Even the most basic abilities of phones are an enormous gift. So what did I learn from not having a phone for several days? I learned that I need one.