For many teens today, I decided to do the unthinkable. The waters that are dared to be touched by many. The open abyss of the unknown that I was about to encounter.
I decided to live a single day of my winter break with only 20 percent battery in my phone.
What?! You might be thinking. However, as I have learned about myself lately that I need to give more to myself. Be kinder to myself and I decided to test that theory by seeing how my day would go without charging my precious cargo.
The day started off fine, waking up promptly at 7:30 am and breezing through my social media sites. I deliberately checked Facebook, Instagram, and my e-mail for about 10 minutes and battery was still at 20 percent.
I had a nice relaxing breakfast in the kitchen without my phone. Instead, I picked up the most recent issue of People Magazine and began to peruse its content. I went back to my room, got dressed and ready for the day and did not check my phone in that time in order to save battery.
That particular day, I was spending time with my mom so I did not necessarily need my phone, however even though I left it at home, I still found myself needing it at random points throughout the day. While doing errands together she often asked me questions about a particular person or thing that I would need my phone to look up. Granted, due to the situation, I just said that I left it at home and proceeded to explain my experiment for the day.
Around dinner time, my family and I all went out to a local Italian restaurant. While we notoriously are not allowed to have our phones at the dinner table, I typically bring mine as a reminder of comfort. However, it felt peaceful to not be “bothered” by text messages and Facebook notifications all night. Even my FOMO was at bay knowing that I could catch up on the Snapchat from 10 minutes ago when I got home, and hopefully with battery to spare.
All in all, it truly was eye-opening. I got to actually spend quality time with my immediate family instead of all of my 857 Facebook friends. I got to enjoy my day the old-fashioned way and the way life was intended to be: peaceful.
