Due to a tragic series of events, I ran out of mobile data on my phone. I blame mostly those with whom I share my plan. Then, in an equally tragic bout of unluckiness, the Wi-Fi completely quit working on my phone. My phone was suddenly without Internet. This provided me with the unique opportunity to live without being connected to the global mainframe for a bit, though, and I have brought back some wisdom to civilization. Here are the five things I learned when I lost Internet on my phone:
Exciting things happen in real life.
Without internet, I had to find other ways to entertain myself. I started looking around me, talking to people, exploring my surroundings. I suddenly realized that there is so much going on in the world every second that is missed when my attention is glued to my phone. I watched a bee pollinate a flower. It was amazing. I would totally recommend walking through a grassy field to anyone. Beats staring at an LED panel by a long shot.
I arbitrarily check my phone. A lot.
I use it as a source of entertainment any time there is a lull in conversation, a boring moment in a movie, or when I realize I’ve gone more than five minutes without checking it. Sometimes I check it when I get done checking it, to make sure that Facebook hasn’t had anything fun happen on it in the time it took me to get caught up on Instagram.
You really don’t need to be “plugged in.”
In the entire time that I was without Internet, nobody noticed. There were no emergencies that I missed out on, no tragedies that required my input. I never really needed Siri to tell me how to do basic multiplication, never needed a map and was fine with listening to the radio instead of Pandora. Facebook didn’t go anywhere. When I logged back on, all my notifications were right where I left them. And, without having posted anything in a while, I didn’t even have many of those. I also spent 1000 percent less time on the toilet, as I didn’t have anything to do except my business.
Your battery life lasts way longer when you aren’t constantly on your phone.
Did you know that your battery can last you more than a day if it isn’t constantly using Data, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth? And, because you have nothing to constantly check, your screen (the biggest draw on your battery) is never on and your battery life lasts even longer! I made it nearly the entire time I was off the grid without a single charge.
Your computer is way better at surfing the web anyway.
There is this archaic piece of technology probably sitting somewhere in your room collecting dust as is charges. Your computer. Did you know that, with a screen 10x as large as that of your phone, it is actually way better at presenting photos, videos and just about everything else? And with it’s larger size, it has a way better Wi-Fi antenna and a larger battery, which means faster internet for longer amounts of time! I dusted off my Mac and got to surfing, and quickly realized that I had been missing out by limiting myself to a screen smaller than my palm.
