**Disclaimer** I want to start out this article by saying that going without a phone, was not a personal choice. I'm sure most of you know how freeing and fun weekends can be, especially when you just need a break, and they're even more enticing when you want to stop thinking about past exams or upcoming papers. My phone just so happened to be the the negative repercussion from having "too much fun".
After discovering that my phone was no longer coming back to life, I found a way to get a hold of my mom who then shared the news that I wouldn't be able to get a phone until a week later. After realizing that I couldn't easily tweet about my dire situation, I decided to come to terms with my new predicament.
Now, I'm not as addicted to my phone as you may think. I'm just a full time student that's two hours away from home and it's basically my only steady form of communication. And what else am I supposed to use to take and send pictures of cute dogs on campus to my boyfriend???
As you can probably imagine, communication was the hardest task to accomplish out of them all. I had to carry around my laptop everywhere (I don't have a lightweight Mac) in order to talk to my friends, professors, and family. Since my laptop uses Windows, I could only communicate via Google Hangouts or Facebook Messenger, and that came with its own set of problems. Some messages wouldn't send, or I would forget about future plans and no one could effectively get a hold of me unless my heavy laptop was propped open being refreshed every few minutes. By the end of the 2nd night, I had downloaded every single social media app on my boyfriends phone and spent an hour trying to catch up on what I had I genuinely thought I "missed out" on. I ended up deleting the apps off his phone on the same night once I felt satisfied that I had caught back up with everyone.
I also noticed how everyone else was seemingly part of a world that I was no longer a part of, and there were little things that quickly reminded me of this. My roommates and friends would constantly ask me "Have you seen _____'s Snapchat story?!" or "Go look at that picture I posted of us on Instagram!" and even though the comments were small, it still made me feel like I was left out of a joke that everyone else was in on. Whenever I rode the bus to my apartment from campus, I had nothing better to do but look at the people that surrounded me, and I noticed something quite ironic. Millennials will always argue that they aren't engrossed in their phones, but what I was seeing on the bus completely contradicted that argument. Every person was either texting or talking on the phone and I did not see/hear any verbal conversation besides the lovely "Have a great day!" from the bus driver. I know the group of people on the bus doesn't represent the entire Y generation, but it does make you think a little.
I also noticed that my attitude changed gradually over the week. At the beginning, I felt anxious and jittery; almost like I should be checking something. I apparently had what is called "Phantom Vibration Syndrome", which basically means I could feel my nonexistent phone vibrating in my pocket. But, towards the middle and end of the week, I felt more relaxed and overall less bothered. I could only talk or respond to someone when I was able to and ultimately when I wanted to, and that made me feel calm and at ease.
I don't want to convince you that I had an epiphany and I will now live in eternal bliss without my phone, because that is not what happened. This just made me realize how dependent I actually am on my phone and how technology is advancing because we, as a society, are advancing as well.
So, take all the pictures you can and upload as many selfies as you want, but if your phone dies or you possibly break it over the weekend, don't worry about it too much and simply just enjoy the moment that you're in.