Yes, it’s true. I, an 18-year-old college student, managed to survive for a month and a half without my cell phone. No, my world did not come crashing down. In hindsight, I am truly glad that at the beginning of this semester my phone decided to literally split in half after a seemingly innocuous three-foot drop.
At the time, my reaction upon realizing the magnitude of the event that just occurred was to literally drop to the floor in shock, then nervous laughter. However, due to my lack of an available upgrade, busy schedule and distance from an Apple store, I decided to weather the storm that is living the phone-free life.
I soon discovered that even without my cell phone, I could do more than just get by. Living my everyday life disconnected from technology allowed me to be more productive, enhance my relationships with others and focus on maximizing my potential in many areas of life. Most importantly, it opened my eyes to a new way of learning about the world that simply can’t be achieved through a screen.
Of course, there are the obvious benefits to living without cell phones that are mentioned time and time again. Without my phone to look at intermittently throughout the day, I was more cognizant of my surroundings and more engaged in conversations with friends and strangers alike. However, prolonging my disconnection from this technology shifted my mindset in a way that allowed me to learn more about the world than I ever thought possible and still influences me, even with my phone in hand.
One of the first things I discovered was that the chores and everyday tasks we think of as boring or tedious are really not so dull after all. In the past, long car rides, walks to class and downtime in my dorm were usually spent on my phone to pass the time. After a couple instances spent alone in my dorm twiddling my thumbs, I decided to venture over to the lounge to study or just wander the halls and see who I would run into. Long car and bus rides prompted me to actively think about the places around me, from the open fields of rural Maryland to the big screens of Times Square in New York City. I found myself walking to and from class with other students whom I wouldn’t otherwise have taken the time to talk to. And in each case, I learned something new. Instead of using my phone to discover information about the places, people and ideas around me, I had no choice but to interact with others, explore my surroundings and contemplate ideas and reach conclusions on my own.
The big takeaway is this: Life without a cell phone shifted the ways in which I explore the world. While my desire to learn is as strong as ever, the ways in which I take in information have changed drastically.
Like most college students, I am a naturally curious individual and frequently use my cell phone as a research tool. In fact, what many adults may perceive as students sitting around and wasting away on their phones is in many cases another kind of learning process taking place. One student may be perfecting a research proposal, another may be discovering a new recipe to cook for friends and yet another could be finding more information on gravitational waves after listening to an exciting physics lecture.
In short, the notion that cell phones destroy our will to explore the world around us is bogus. Instead, they streamline our methods of acquiring information, but in the process tend to suppress the many facets of the outside world that simply can’t be understood through a screen. By being more engaged in the happenings of everyday life and interacting with peers, I was able to gain a better perspective on things from the latest basketball game to differential equations to social media trends than I would have by using my phone.
So, how can all of us reap the benefits of the phone-free life without enduring a month and a half of being disconnected? Determine a period of time during which to go phone-free, and stick to it by really involving yourself in the discussions and events around you. Whether it is for an hour, a day, a week, or longer, I can guarantee that you will come away from the experience having learned something new or more exciting than you would have with your face buried in a screen.
