In today’s technology-dependent world, we are all guilty of being too attached to our smartphones. Whether it be an iPhone, Android, or other phone eligible to text, use social media, and so on, it’s tough to say we have a problem when it comes to this habit.
Of course, no one will actually admit to being “addicted” to their smartphones, nor will they say they “need” it. I didn’t realize how much I was dependent on my phone until my phone magically stopped charging out of no where. Once my phone died, I pretty much signed myself up to a phoneless 5-day adventure, which may not be as bad as it seems. I will now take you on my journey of being “disconnected” from the world, via technology.
DAY 1: The Realization My Phone Was Gone For Good
My iPhone 6 was a bit spazzy for a few months, most likely because I pulled a Monday, and spilled coffee on it towards the home button. I never thought it would affect my charging port, especially since it charged fine and only had a minor headphone jack problem for a few hours. I would normally have to place my phone on a flat surface, and then plug in my phone gently in order to charge. If I just plugged it in and threw it on my bed, it would physically stop charging. It’s happened multiple times where I’ve done this, pretty much exhausted, whether it be from a night out, leg day, or like the hell us Merchants call “Market Week”, where my phone wouldn’t charge because I didn’t gently insert my charger into my phone, like some softcore late-night Cinemax film.
So that’s when I woke up to see my phone screen completely black. It was dead, but I didn’t think it was dead for good. Before I hopped in the shower to get ready for work, I plugged the demised phone in my charger, hoping to get to at least 15% so I can listen to some Destiny’s Child on the bus into the city. I take long showers, which is odd for a balding individual, but I was excited to get my day going and finish charging my diePhone6 at work. BUT, of course, phone was still black. I was confused and disappointed. What was I going to do the entire bus ride into work? Fourty-five minutes without music on an express bus from Staten Island into Manhattan certainly is what I believe hell is going to be like. But, I survived.
Angered, I started doing everything but physically throw the phone across the bus, to make my phone turn on. Hard resets, soft resets, blowing into the charging port like it was a Nintendo 64 game; nope, nothing worked. But a little bit of life came to light when the “red battery” screen appeared. That gave me some hope to charge my phone at work, so I could be ready to go for my gym session later. That of course was the friend-zone equivalent of being turned down by your crush after she gave you all the attention in the world. WHAT A TEASE. That’s when I realized, okay, I’m phoneless.
Thankfully, I was in and out of meeting all day, and pretty much had no time to even check my phone for more than a minute. I just had to mentally prepare myself to be music-less on my commute home, as well as my workout. Surprisingly, I fell asleep the whole bus ride home, even while sitting next to a middle-aged woman, bitch and complain to her friend how disrespectful her husband is. It was like music to my ears, but I was definitely glad to get the hell out of there.
The problem was, no music in a packed gym. How was going to survive a full beat down of my pectorals without my normal “Heavy-GYM” Spotify playlist? No A Day To Remember during a chest workout was certainly a day to forget (Ziiiing). But again, I survived, and somewhat got a better pump listening to Lorde playing in the background of the gym.
When I got home, I hopped on some PlayStation, which was another task I seemed to find myself attached to my phone. How you ask? Well, if I died, or searching for a match, I’d Google some Wikipedia articles about like John Stamos or something, or even Instagram creep my crush. Instead, I found myself staring at a “You Died” screen, listening to my sister fight with my mom over how bad her day went at work. Always a pleasure. This is when I called it quits and decided to recharge myself. I had plans to hit up the Apple Store on my lunch break, to put an end of this hell I found myself in, and fix my God forsaken phone.
DAY 2: The Realization of How Dependent My Job Was on Phone Usage
It’s hard to imagine that you would actually need your phone at work right? I mean, working for a multi-billion dollar company, you have a computer with the latest Microsoft Office 2007 on it, so you can email who you need to talk to right? No. My phone was much needed this day, and I never realized it until then.
We were in Pre-Market, setting up Pre-Fall product in the showroom. Pictures needed to be taken, and we all know that the iPhone crushed the notion of digital cameras being used. This made me realized I did in fact use my phone for something work related. Of course, more phone-related problems started to surface throughout the day. My boss heavily relied on texting us, opposed to emailing us, since we would answer faster via SMS. Now, what does that say about our generation? Of course, unable to respond, I had to wall back and forth between buildings to ensure both our showrooms were finalized. Obviously, something like a cell phone would’ve negated that, but whatever, that was just an excuse to skip cardio in the gym that night.
But, carrying a broken phone was indeed a tease. I’m not quite sure why I kept bringing it into work, when I physically can’t do anything about it, but there was just something about having the feeling of the phone in my pocket that made me much more comfortable. Reasoning of course, I am guilty, not just once, but multiple times, of losing my phone. So yeah, just knowing the phone was there made me feel a lot better.
The day went on and I got through another workday phoneless. Of course, the bus ride was miserable, but it allowed me to catch up on some reading (yes, people actually read still!), which was quite the pleasure. Thankfully, it was Friday, so I had the time during the weekend to swindle myself into getting a phone for free.
DAY 3: Apple Pleads the Fifth
A company like Apple certainly tends to get on people’s nerves. Why? Because no matter what you do to your phone, the Geniuses at the self-titled “bar” in the back of every Apple Store, always call “water damage”. I mean, it’s like that crazy ex who always screamed “rape” in the movies just to get attention. Okay, maybe not, but it’s still quite annoying.
Knowing the knowledge of going to the Apple Store, and only beating them once to get a new phone (where I actually did indeed damage my phone via water, well... beer), I decided to still go there and get a replacement phone. I brought my father, Big G 69, with me. He has a tendency to manipulate people’s minds into getting free or discounted stuff. I thought it would work, but it didn’t. The little Asian Genius Bar representative said my phone shorted out via water damage. Knew it.
Now, here is where fingers point to me. Knowing I’ve broke or lost my phone is every possible way, there is a high chance I probably broke my phone by dropping it in some sort of liquid. Which yes, as said before, I did. I spilled coffee on it, but it had no affects until months later. The “Genius” explained that he ran some “tests” on my charging port. A normal iPhone is supposed to have something like “400 volts” that connect into 7863478 other things in the phone that trigger the phone to charge. Mine had .006. Only time that number sounds good is when you get pulled over for a sobriety test. Knowing I was defeated and to wanting to pay the $300 +tax offer for a new refurbished phone through Apple, me and Big G decided to tackle the good ol’ AT&T store.
Having dealt with AT&T before for broken screens and lost phones via drunken escapades, I knew I was going to have to pay my insurance deductible for a new phone ($100). But something told me I can get a phone right now, opposed waiting 1-2 business days via snail mail. The salesman at the provider handed me the link to the insurance claim, which was a picture taken of the link on another printout. Of course, you would think, “Hey, okay, I’m out of here, I’m gonna be phoneless 2 more days, let me leave”, the salesman traps Big G into hearing about AT&T’s DirecTV package. Big G yes’d him to death and hit him with the “I’ll read it over and call you back line”. The kid could talk, but no one beats the big guy into buying a retarded package that had things he wouldn’t even need. But, if he were better at math, maybe Big G would’ve considered it. The kid couldn’t add 150 and 150 without writing it out and carrying the 1 over. Pathetic, but oh well.
Having come lunchtime, me and the pops hit up our local coffee shop for some eggs and bacon. Normally, during our day/nights out to eat, I’d find myself indulged in my phone, pretty much showing my dad all the pictures of handbags I have to deal with at work, or videos of people farting. Instead, being phoneless allowed me to actually sit and talk with my father about life. I wasn’t distracted by texts by people asking me what bar are we going to, or having to deal Snapchats of my cousin on the toilet bowl. It was something I thought about once we got back home. How much do our phones distract us from spending time with our loved ones? I literally sat there and realized, whether it be my parents, sister, friends, or even on a date, I was ALWAYS on my phone. Realizing this made me sad and it was time to change that, even when my phone came back in the mail.
DAY 4: Night Out With Friends Finally Felt Like A Night Out With Friends
Waking up on the weekend without a phone was certainly an adventure on the horizon. I felt disconnected a bit, despite the new feelings I had on excessive phone use. That’s when I decided to turn on my iPad, after realizing that on WiFi, I could message people who had iPhones, and reach out to my Droid friends via social media.
Upon turning on my iPad, my notifications begin to go off like I have 8 million followers on Instagram. My Snapchat and Facebook were among the apps that were heavily unanswered. Normally, I wouldn’t see more than at least a “3″ on any of my apps because that’s how frequently I check my phone for texts and social media notifications. Another sad realization that I was way too into using this piece of electronic to go on with my life. Three and a half days in felt so good not having to check these stupid apps, but of course this opened up the door to having to interact with people trying to reach me.
My Facebook messages blew up, and then eventually my iMessage. It appeared I had planned to go out that night, which were set in stone last week while away upstate. At this point, I really don’t feel like going out. I was cozy on my couch and my whole “healthy” mindset really agreed on the thought of NOT drinking tonight. Of course, after the 5th message asking if plans were still on, I couldn’t turn down a night with this group of people. Of course, I couldn’t bring my iPad on my daily errands, so I couldn’t answer consistently. I brought it back to the AIM days and pretty much had to say “brb” if I were to leave the house. People thought I was stuck in the stone age, but I had to explain to them, after they thought I was kidnapped for the past 3 days, that my phone was broken, and they would have to keep in touch with someone else to ensure these plans still go through.
For some odd reason, I found myself in the role as the “planner” in my group of friends. Automatically, if one would want to go out for a birthday, something to celebrate, or just to go out for a hell of it, my phone was the one to blow up.
Yeah, that’s my phone on the weekends. I placed my good friend Big Rob on the job of keeping in touch with the crew until we got to the place. For once, it felt great not to be constantly asked “What ferry we catching?”, “What time you getting to the bar?”, or even “Who’s going? Is what’s his name coming? I miss him”. Rob now knew what I had to deal with, an onslaught of the same question from 5 different people, sometimes even more than once. The phoneless wonder now had to pull off another “TBT” moment from the 90s.
“Since you can’t text me and won’t have your Facebook Messenger on your phone, I’ll leave the back door open. Just come through, I’ll be playing Call of Duty there”.
Well, it was either that or have them call my house phone, but I don’t even know if that is even still connected. Regardless, everything worked out, and everyone met up at the place. Now I get to experience being out in a nightlife environment, without a phone. All those “Man, I really wish this random guy wasn’t yapping my ear off” moments couldn’t be easily ignored by a phone “magically” going off to escape. However, I was prepared.
What may seem like a nightmare, having a phone while out drinking, wasn’t half as bad. Yeah, you can’t post a “group” selfie on the ‘gram without posting #latergram when you actually get a new phone, but you can FINALLY socialize with people. Usually the center of attention (I crave attention and talk WAY too much), I found myself hopping from person to person, catching up with them, and generally having a great time. I not once went in my pocket thinking I had a phone to go on and it was pleasant. Of course, it sucked because I couldn’t call an Uber, so pretty much drove to the ferry, sacrificing a drunken adventure, to ensure I didn’t get arrested or crash my car getting home.
But, when you look at it, what did I really sacrifice? I didn’t take a (heavier) toll on my body via alcohol and crappy drunk munchies, and I got to actually socialize with my friends. Oh, and the best part about all of this? No drunk texting your ex!!! That’s a win-win-win in my book people. Only thing that sucked, was the morning after group chat, making fun of each other for the stupid mistakes made before, during, or after the bar.
DAY 5: Finale - My New Phone Arrives
Another work day without my phone? Damn, that means no commute music! Well, not so fast. I had Spotify Premium, which I never really took full advantage of it’s offline mode. All I pretty such subscribed to it for was unlimited “skips”. But anyway, the iPad came in handy. I’ve started to become accustomed to living without a smartphone, realizing all I really needed was music and the occasional ring to a friend to hang out.
Work flew because I wasn’t constantly on it, seeing the time slowly go by. By time I got home, I was just excited to go to the gym and totally forgot my phone will be on my front stoop when I arrived. Unlike many, I bypassed the iPhone box, not really wanting to activate it. It was like a gift to be without a phone for a couple of days. Peaceful actually. I open the phone and just download Spotfiy so I can workout to music at the gym. I was in no rush to load contacts or download any sort of social media app until the next morning.
The constant Facebook notifications for Candy Crush were gone. Constantly refreshing my Twitter feed became non-existent. Yeah, maybe I couldn’t Instagram my healthy lunch for a week, but I’d trade in 20-something likes for a life any day of the week. Although, as soon as I activated my phone, about 20 Snapchats, 65 text messages, and a handful of tweets came through to my phone. It was like I had a 5-minute leg vibrator courtesy of Apple.
But, what I’m trying to say here is, we live in a world that has been taken over by technology. Social media became the only way to socialize. We care more about people liking our selfies than the actual people liking that picture. It’s become a thirst we all need to take a break from. I challenge anyone to turn their phones off for the entire day. If you survive, try it for 3 days. You’ll see a drastic change in how you operate and go on with your everyday activities. I’m not saying I’ll ever use my phone again, but this little accidental-experiment has definitely limited my usage since getting a new phone. And hey, if you’re still thirsty for likes after turning your phone off, maybe you can write a Tumblr post about it for a couple of reblogs...
