day twenty two: going AWOL for the day- 24 hours sans cell phone
The single most suggested scare was this: 24 hours with the iPhone powered down.
So, today, I embarked on the challenge. I shut down my phone at midnight last night, laying it to hibernate for a day.
The outcome may surprise you.
Whenever I've traveled out of the country, my phone has remained off for the majority of the time. It has been refreshing, albeit moderately frightening, to rely on maps, animal instincts and other humans to get me from A to B. Without a yelp app, I would read actual menus and order take out by going to a restaurant and waiting. Without instagram, I would take the time to take real photos, quality photos with my camera that I would later print and get blown up without the pixels blurring together. And, most importantly without a device connecting to my network of friends, I would partake in conversations with those around me, or, better yet, read a book on the bus rather than catching up on my feeds.
This is what I expected from a day with out my phone- a blissful break from modern technology to clear my head and get refocused.
"It'll be liberating, you'll see," my coworker suggested.
"Generation Y is addicted to their cell phones," every newspaper ever dictated.
"What if something happens to you?' my mom asked with concern.
Although parts of all of those are true, the most biggest truth from this experience is this: by turning off your phone you turn off your connection to some of the better parts of yourself.
I have been lucky enough to have lived in multiple places around the world, and therefore I have clusters of friends in many locations. From Santa Monica to New York, across the pond to Florence and back to Fort Lauderdale, my friends are as scattered as skittles after a rainbow. I have a long list of places to visit and a longer list of people I need to skype.
Texting my my best friend in Pennslyvania for boy advice, snap chatting my almost little sister who just broke her arm and dialing in on long distance calls to California with the girl who will be standing by my side at my wedding; this is how I fill those pockets of lonliness that sneak in now and again.
A group of punk rockers in a catchy one-hit-wonder told me that "all you really need are a few good friends". I tend to disagree. Each of my friends brings something different to the table, and a part of me grows, changes and prospers through every one of them. Each interaction with these people, whether it be a heart-to-heart conversation with my recently dumped guy friend after a few too many beers or an inside joke that is still funny despite our forgetting what it actually means with a sorority sister, are what allow me to be my best self. So, by taking away my communication with all these wonderful people, you are cutting off my energy supply.
As the majority of my friends know, I have become one of those people who are "terrible with their phones". No one is terrible with their phones, 5-month ago me thought. This is that person just being lazy, not wanting to respond to my text. That school of thought bit me in the ass as soon as my daily routine changed from attending one class, watching Friends and eating frozen yogurt to work, exercise, sushi, repeat.
However, messages in the morning from my friends from afar are literally what get me out of bed in the morning. Like being plugged in and charged, the kind words and updates from the people I love most are my batteries.
The day I turned off my phone, I didn't feel lonely per say, but I did feel as though I was doing myself an extreme disservice. Not only did I shut off my connection with those outside of Vancouver, but I also lost touch with those within the Vancity vicinity. My new friends here, the friends whom have already become my support system, are the ones who suffered from this challenge more than I. Their texts went unanswered and their calls ignored as they recieved radio silence from my end for 24 hours. My friend Caroline had to literally intercept me when I was going to pick up my sushi, waiting outside the restaurant until I arrived, in order to get ahold of me.
And, of course, there was that climatic moment in which I had to break my challenge. Wine night at a friend's, 8PM. Arrive to this. What are you going to do?
There is a reason technology exists. Don't get me wrong, I am all for cleansing from the phone for a while, but the more important thing is being cognoscente of the phone. This does means being aware of basic social cues like texting with complete words (nothing kills a convo like "u"), turning off the "read" function on your iphone if you aren't immediately going to respond, and avoiding any winky faces if you're of the male gender. However, more importantly, it means being aware that there is a time and place for the phone to take a nap.
So, after having 24 hours to reflect on my phetiquette, I am committing to the following:
If I am at dinner and/or drinks with someone, my phone must remain in my purse for the extent of the interaction unless to a. take a photo or b. answer a text of someone that is meeting us
Responding to texts within two hours. This would be much more obtainable if Apple would finally get around to adding a "mark as unread" or flagging function to text messages like emails. C'mon guys.
Not texting/writing emails/checking feeds on the commute to work. See: eye contact challenge.
