I awoke to the sound of my alarm clock and rolled out of bed to get ready for work. I went to check my phone only to find it dead, as I had forgotten to plug it in the night before. “Not a problem” I thought as I plugged it in and went about my morning routine. Unfortunately, when it came time to leave, I scrapped off my car windows and was running late. I grabbed my backpack and jacket thinking my phone was in it. It wasn’t until I got to work that I realized my tragic mistake. So here is my experience of what a day without my phone felt like.

Constantly checking nothing

I can’t tell you how many times I reached into an empty pocket or checked my desk for the shiny gold device that held the power to link me to the outside world of entertainment. Sure I was at work, but who can resist checking Twitter at least once during the day.

Wondering who was texting me

I couldn’t help but think about the people who would contact me that day. Did my mom need me to pick something up before I got home? Were my Snapchat streaks running out of time? Was I missing out on a good discussion in any of my group chats? Did any of my friends want to meet up with me at school? These were just a few of the questions that ran through my head that day.

What music would I listen to?

The radio reception in my car is anything but usable and without Spotify I was wondering what I would listen to. Would I be stuck there in silence, left to the sound of my tires on the road and the thoughts in my head?

Did I have any events I needed to attend?

I rely on my phone for a majority of the events I schedule throughout the day. Whether it is a haircut, meeting at school, or a reminder to finish an assignment, I count on my phone for giving me a notification.

I discovered how much free time I had

Without any distractions or temptations to check my phone, I found that I could get a lot accomplished without it. I got an impressive amount of homework finished and felt like I retained the information better without the possibility of me losing my concentration.

I talked to people

Sitting in the lounge at Delta waiting for my class to begin, I typically would be scrolling through Facebook. Without my phone, I almost felt out of place as I looked at the groups of other students sitting physically together but mentally elsewhere. I decided I would just strike up a conversation with the person next to me. I’m sure it caught them off guard at first but we ended up having a really good conversation. It made me stop and wonder how many other people I could get to know or learn a little bit about if I just lived in the moment, not on the web.

I paid more attention to the world around me

You really don’t realize how much you miss when you walk around with your head constantly buried in your phone. Without it, I paid more attention to everything, from the people around me to the birds singing in the trees as I walked to class. It was surprising how much more I could recall about my day and the details of it when I was without distraction.

So what did I learn from all this? I learned that I have a serious addiction to my phone. Almost so much that it’s downright pitiful. I hope to try and limit how much I use my phone in the coming weeks and see how it affects my life. After all, I need to rediscover how to appreciate what is going on in the world around me.