I haven’t had a phone for three weeks, and I have no desire to get one.
Sure, they’re convenient. It’s nice to be able to talk to your grandma, nurture virtual cats, and poke your high school friend all at the same time on the same device, and then put that device in your pocket. The problem is that not enough people leave their phones in their pockets, instead using them in lieu of genuine human communication. I won't exclude myself from this. I'd play on my phone instead of talking to people or doing my homework all the time. That's why it's awesome that my phone broke three weeks ago.
I don’t want to turn this into a cliché anti-phone piece, because I know that no one will listen to that. Nor am I under the impression that this enjoyment of not having a phone is original, I’m well aware that I’m not the first person who has enjoyed not having a phone.
The main idea that I would like to draw attention to is simple. Since I’m unable to scroll Instagram or play a game on my phone, I waste far less time. I’ve finished two books for fun in the past two weeks, and I finished a huge research paper a week before it was due. I’m pretty ahead of all of my school work, actually. That's not to say that I don’t waste time anymore, but I certainly waste far less time and it has been wonderful. I’m astounded that it took me this long to realize that I love reading so much more than I love Instagram.
“SOPHIE. HOW ON EARTH WILL WE GET IN CONTACT WITH YOU WITHOUT A PHONE,” my parents cried as I indignantly told them that I was in no rush to get a phone. My answer, was again, very simple. You can use Facebook or email me. I check both outlets a few times a day, when I feel like getting on my computer. I guarantee that I will see whatever you are trying to tell me within a few hours. If you have some more time, write me a letter. Nothing would make me happier than getting some handwritten mail from some old friends or family members I haven’t talked to in a while.
Now, what if there's an emergency? That’s valid, but I think that we are far too dependent on cell phones. If I get attacked, odds are a phone won’t do very much for me. Is my attacker going to give me a 30 second grace period to make a phone call of my choice so that I can get rescued? Or if I’m on my own and get injured to the point of needing care immediately, am I going to be capable of dialing a phone? I guess it’s possible, but it’s not as if I live in the wilderness far away from civilization. If the guy who inspired the movie 127 Hours can survive without a cell phone, then I can too. Maybe not the best example, seeing as he had to amputate his own arm, but hey, he didn’t die. I live in a dorm. I am constantly somewhere populated. There are phones everywhere: cell phones, office phones, business phones, you name it, and it probably has a phone. Also, cell phones break, die, and don’t get service on every centimeter of the world. I would be in just as much trouble in any of those situations with a broken or dead phone than as not having one.
Really, minor conveniences are all that I miss about my phone. It would be nice to be able to just text somebody when I think about it, but I don’t need to. All I have to do is wait until I can get onto Facebook and message them. It would be really nice to have a camera on me at all times, but I can easily buy a camera to use that doesn’t constantly distract me from the present.
Not having a phone has just made my life considerably simpler. I don’t feel like I have 400,000 different things to do at one time, but rather I feel as if I can focus on what’s important for me right now, which is reading, writing, and talking to the people that I care about.
