One night, I lost my phone for about 30 minutes and my entire life flashed before my eyes. My heart rate went up and I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. My entire life was on that phone. All of those photos that I had yet to sync to my computer from this weekend were on there. The reminders that kept my life from falling apart were on there. All of the apps that were essential parts of my daily life were on there. Not to mention that my mcard, roomkey, and ID were attached to the back of my phone. During these 30 minutes, I had what you could call an anxiety attack. My body was definitely showing physical signs of panic and my mind was so focused on finding my phone that I couldn't even bother thinking of anything else. It's not like I had a calculus exam the next morning or anything.

After I finally found my phone (I am eternally grateful for the app "Find My iPhone."), I had to calm myself down and not do anything for a good 20 minutes. Why had I panicked to the degree and length of time that I had? After all, it is just a phone. I hated how much control a single device had over my body and my emotions. The panic and anxiety that I felt were real. So, I decided to try and go without my phone for a whole entire day. That's right, I went without my phone for a full 24 hours. I did use my computer because I had school, but I went a whole day with no Snapchats, no Instagram, no texts, no calls, and, worst of all, no Spotify.

To tell you the truth, it was a very rough 24 hours. Each day at college is something of a climb, but this was like trying to run through quicksand with ankle-weights. Maybe I should have tried going for 12 hours at a time.

Morning

I woke up via digital watch alarm clock, which was surprisingly a lot more effective than the alarm on my phone because of the snooze option. I couldn't use my phone for the weather, so I had to waste time in the morning by turning on my computer and searching in order to dress appropriately. The walk to my first class was exceptionally boring because I couldn't listen to my favorite songs or audiobooks (I highly recommend Audible, by the way).

Lunch

It was super hard coordinating lunch plans with my friends because I had to actually see them in order to coordinate a time and place. My mom got mad at me because I didn't text her back. I went to a class that got cancelled an hour beforehand because I didn't have time to open my computer and check my email between classes. I checked my email for the first time after lunch that day and I had an overflowing inbox with a total of 56 emails, 12 of which were class-related. If I had had my phone, I would have been able to respond to them as soon as I got them and I would have also been more aware of a class that got cancelled. How perfect was it that the one day that I decided to ditch my phone, a class got cancelled?

Dinner

I made sure to make dinner plans with friends during lunch so I avoided that obstacle. I got a ton of emails that I should have responded to much earlier, but couldn't because of my lack of mobile device. When I went to Starbucks to study, I had to pay with cash because I couldn't pay with my phone and I missed out on an opportunity to earn points. I saw a really cute, obese squirrel and couldn't put it on my Snap story. When I finally met up with my friends for dinner, some of them thought that I was mad at them or that I had died. I also lost at least seven different Snapchat streaks.

However

Some good things did come out of the experiment. I noticed that, since I didn't have my phone to distract me and I had to actually look where I was going when I was walking in between classes, I saw a lot of beautiful things that I had never noticed before. I appreciated how nice the weather was. I didn't run into anyone because I was too engrossed in what was on my screen. I actually got to places in less time because I wasn't distracted by the latest posts on Instagram. I was able to think about what I wanted to write about for my English essays because I wasn't constantly occupying myself with new Buzzfeed articles. My mind was free to wander and it felt new and exciting. I became more appreciative of everything that I saw for the first time since I got my first phone in the 4th grade.

My phone is important, but it was more important to me to prove to myself that I could go a full day without it.