My roommate happens to be one of my best friends, which, lucky for her, worked much to her advantage when she…wait for it…lost her phone. *cue the gasps*
Let me start off by saying this is not the norm for her. While she may misplace her keys or her wallet somewhere in our apartment (it happens to the best of us), she rarely actually loses anything. So, I definitely think her phone disappearance was a mental and physical shock for her. Here’s how it went down:
Last Thursday night, I stayed home to get some work done, watch “Project Runway” and get to bed at a somewhat-reasonable hour. My roommate, however, was going out, so after getting ready, she said goodbye as I made myself comfortable on our living room couch, and that was that.
Fast-forward to a little after 3 a.m., when I had been asleep in my bed (my roommate and I each have our own bedroom) for about two hours, and all of a sudden, my door creaked open and let in some hallway light that woke me up. I lethargically rolled over, and lo and behold, it was my poor roommate, standing there with the utmost frantic – and apologetic – look on her face. After an immediate “I’m so sorry,” she went into explaining herself. Long story short, she was at a club when she reached into her handbag and realized her phone was nowhere in sight. She searched everywhere to no avail, eventually retiring for the night with hopes that it would turn up in the morning.
My roommate said waking me was her LAST resort. In fact, she initially tried setting an alarm on her laptop, but once the screen went black, no sound would go off. Out of ideas, and knowing that we both had to be up at the same time (she had work, I had class), she asked if I could wake her up in the morning. I know she felt horrible for asking, but I honestly didn’t mind at all – I was happy to have her back. So, around 8:30 a.m., I woke her and we got ready for our days.
She left earlier than usual since she didn’t have a way of knowing the time (her watch’s battery has been dead for a little while now), but as it turned out, it made no difference because as I was walking on Comm. Ave. to class, I heard someone shout my name from across the street. I saw my roommate standing at the BU West T stop with a coffee in hand, looking like a deer in headlights. The T was being a no-show, and she didn’t have a phone to call an uber, so she was essentially stranded. Just as I was about to call an uber for her, the T magically arrived, so my roommate borrowed my phone to call work and let them know she’d be a little late.
Somehow, she managed to get to her office only five minutes late, and immediately after her work day ended, she ran out and bought a new phone – the club could not find her old one, and she didn’t have her “Find my iPhone” turned on.
So, my roommate survived her day sans iPhone, but it was an extremely stressful one, and really highlighted, to me, the amount that we as a society depend on our phones. The more I think about it, the more I realize I don’t know what I would do without my phone. I do wear a watch everyday, but when I’m just hanging out at home, my phone is my clock, and it is always my alarm clock. My phone is my GPS. My phone is my camera. My phone is my mini-notebook, my calculator and my means of communication with the world. Essentially, it is an extended limb of me, and I imagine most people of my generation feel the same. I’m not sure how healthy this need for a phone is, but I also don’t think it’s that bad, either. Yes, texting and image filters are often used in excess, but as a whole, I think it’s pretty convenient to have an all-in-one device, and I would not be happy if mine were to disappear.
