I would like to say that I am someone who can live without their cellphone. I would really like to say that. Unfortunately, after a 24-hour period with no technological contact to the outside world, including my laptop and all forms of social media, I have come to realize that this is not the case. Call me addicted, call me obsessed, I don’t care. It just feels right to have my phone back in my hand, and here is why.
My day began at around 10:30 a.m.. Normally, my siren of an alarm would start blaring at around 7:30 a.m., but of course, without a phone this did not happen. I must admit that it was very refreshing to wake up naturally, and luckily there was nowhere I had to be at any specific time, so overall the day started well. For about an hour. You see, I usually start my morning by checking in with everything on my phone. I’ll answer any texts, look at my friends’ snapchat stories, check Facebook, scroll through Twitter and Instagram, and update myself on what’s going on in the massive Groupme that I am a part of. Not being able to do that made me feel like I was slightly missing out on something, but it was a bit of a relief to not have to care about any drama going on.
The rest of my morning continued as usual; I made myself breakfast, my siblings and parents woke up and joined me, and we had a great morning just sitting and talking. Then I figured I would see which of my friends were around so we could get together. Oh, wait, I couldn’t text them, so that wasn’t happening. I thought then that I would go to the gym to pass some time, but wait, I couldn’t use my phone for music. So that was out. Maybe I would just lay in bed and watch some Netflix. OH WAIT. No laptop, so that wasn’t happening either. My day was turning from relaxation to boredom very quickly, and it got worse.
I needed a way to distract myself, which could normally be very easy with the use of social media and my computer, but alas, I was forced to figure out something else. I decided to go grocery shopping with my mom. This is something I generally enjoy doing anyway, so I figured, “why not.” Before I knew it we were separated; she was off getting things for the bathroom while I, of course, was looking at breakfast cereal. Mind you, we were in BJ’s, an enormous store meant for buying in bulk. I figured it was about time that I tried to find her, so I reached in my back pocket for my phone. Obviously, it was not there. Crap. I then had to roam the isles like a lost child; probably just missing my mother as I turned each corner. I finally resulted to standing at the massive entrance to the checkout lines, which were wrapping around corners. Eventually I saw her and we were reunited, but it was clearly much more of a hassle than it would have been if I could have simply texted her for her location.
By the time we were home and the groceries had been unloaded, the day was more than half way through and I was getting used to the idea of not having a phone. I cleaned my room, unfortunately to the music on the radio since I could not use my laptop either, and my mom was overjoyed. I read some magazines, straightened the rest of the house, and began to help prepare dinner. At this point, everyone was coming home; my brother was back from his girlfriend’s, and both my dad and sister were getting home from work. This made it easier to forget about technology because I had all of them to tell me about their days. Now, this isn’t something out of the ordinary. My family is very close and we would do this no matter what. However, I normally would listen to their stories while scrolling through Instagram or checking my Facebook notifications. This isn’t because I don’t care about what they have to say, but merely out of habit. It was nice to be rid of the distractions and to be able to focus completely on helping out in the kitchen and talking to my family.
Even at dinner, as I watched my sister reach into her pocket to check her phone, followed by my mom yelling at her, I felt relieved that I could just focus on dinner and not have any texts or notifications lingering in the back of my mind. It was a weight off of my shoulders. After the whole day, I can honestly say that it was very refreshing to take a break from technology.
The next day, when my phone was back on, I only faced minor repercussions. A few of my friends were asking if I had fallen off the face of the Earth, and my emails were a little more backed up than usual. After catching up on those and my other social media apps, all was well in the world and I was back on my devices.
It would be nice to have the weightless feeling of not having a cell phone all the time, but I just don’t ever see it being realistic. In order to keep up with school, jobs, friends, and family, I need my phone and laptop. I definitely think that I should cut back on the amount of time I spend staring at the screens, but when it comes down to it, I simply couldn’t live in today’s age without technology.
