A few weeks ago, I found myself frolicking around campus on game day without a care in the world. Surrounded by friends, beer, and immense amounts of hot dogs, I naturally wanted to capture the moment. However, there was one slight problem. When I went to grab my phone from my purse, it wasn’t there. Cue the panic.
Upon realizing I had lost my phone, my body experienced three different stages.
First stage.
Total freak out mode. I began panicking and accusing everyone around me of stealing it. Literally, people I’d never even met before had suddenly all become thieves in my eyes. Then I moved on to the second stage.
Second stage.
Calm down mode. I told myself that if I just traced back my steps I would find it, so that’s exactly what I did. Unfortunately, it ended in disappointment and my phone was not where I imagined it to be. This led me to enter the third and final stage.
Final stage.
Acceptance. I had to accept that my phone was gone and that, while I could keep mourning, eventually I had to move on.
About two days later, I received a Facebook message from someone saying that she actually found my phone in the grass and wanted to return it -- proof that there are, in fact, still some good people in this world. As excited as I was to get my phone back, I realized that even the short amount of time I had without it taught me many things about myself.
I learned that it’s important to find alternative ways to keep up with the world. I felt lost without following the “trending now” hashtags on Facebook and Twitter, but there are other ways to stay informed, like reading a newspaper or watching the news.
I learned that it’s important to actually enjoy moments rather than focusing on capturing them in a perfect photo. Take a second to sit back and absorb everything that is going on around you. Stop worrying about trying to make your life seem cool on Instagram, because it’s already cool without it.
I learned that it’s important to focus on your schoolwork without any distractions and to figure things out on your own. We’re all tempted to text our friends for answers when we’re struggling with an assignment. We’re also all tempted to procrastinate as long as possible and find countless ways to entertain ourselves on our phones instead of actually getting any work done. When you don’t have the distraction of your phone, work becomes much more efficient and less time consuming.
But most importantly, I learned that there is a world outside of technology, a world where communication doesn’t solely rely on texting, tweeting, or other forms of social media. This whole process proved to me that I was actually really dependent on my phone, and I realize now that I no longer want to be. I want to have real world connections and experiences without staring at a screen 90 percent of the day, as should everyone else.
