I know what you might be expecting; a nice, neat hour-by-hour run-down of the 24 hours I spent without my phone. If I’m totally honest, that’s what I was expecting from this article as well… until I sat down and actually tried to do it.
Two days ago I was prepping to begin my 24-hour technology free period and all I could think about was how I was going to do everything I needed to do. I had never realized how much I rely on my phone until that moment. As I went through my daily schedule in my head, I thought about how every task was somehow connected to my iPhone. Going to work… checking the T schedule. Making dinner plans… texting my friends. Doing my homework… using Google. The list was endless.
The idea of doing my daily tasks without the help of electronics was daunting. It seemed as if every activity was going to take twice as long because I needed to account for the lack of technology. Everything needed to be planned in advance. EVERYTHING. And after much deliberation I realized, I couldn’t do it.
But, it got me thinking…
It isn’t easy to live without your phone, even for a short period. Our lives have adapted to the presence of these electronic devices and we have incorporated them into our daily functions. Individuals from other generations don’t quite understand why we can’t seem to live without our phones and it’s mainly because they knew the “before” era. What I mean is, they lived the majority of their life without this level of technology and were adapted to that lifestyle.
It’s about evolution. Asking a millennial to live without their phone is like asking a Neanderthal to forget about the existence of fire. Okay, okay… that’s an exaggeration, but you get the point.
I can’t exactly say whether the evolution of technology and our generation has been the most positive; while it may have made daily tasks easier, it has made other aspects of life more difficult. I really do think that taking breaks from toxic social media is a good idea once in a while, but don’t be ashamed if you ever feel lost without your phone; you’re not alone.
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