This past weekend, the unthinkable happened to me. I, a fellow college student, member of Generation Z, and social media addict, could not find my phone for a full 37 hours. While this sounds dramatic, and it certainly is, I was seriously a lost-puppy for that entire day and a half. How was I supposed to stay in contact with my friends? How could I navigate my way without google maps? How could I even function without having my own personal extension at my fingertips?
In all honesty, this was no easy feat. To my dismay, Find My iPhone was unable to locate my device, and after hours of searching on foot, I finally accepted the fact that my precious phone was missing somewhere in the abyss. Luckily, my story had a happy ending, and a friend of mine was able to discover my lonely, battery-drained phone. (It was under a microwave, but that’s another story). Here is what life was like without my iPhone:
1. Absolute panic
While there once was a time that people made their way through life just fine without a cell-phone, I was in complete distress when I realized I potentially could be phoneless. Cell phones are totally something we take for granted, and experiencing life without mine made me realize this.
2. Feeling of Emptiness
I never thought about how many times a day I would reach for my phone in my pocket—that is, until it was missing. It genuinely felt like a part of me was gone when I didn’t have my phone in my hand.
3. Realizing how much time I waste
Without my phone in hand, I was able to recognize how much free time I waste mindlessly checking through apps. Without access to Snapchat or Instagram, I filled my phoneless time occupying myself in other ways, like doing work, and hanging with friends. But in all honesty, I spent a huuuuge chunk of that time worrying about my lost phone.
4. Back to panicking again
As much as I want this article to have a good lesson attached to it, I really can’t say that I learned anything too valuable without having my phone. Besides realizing the amount of time I waste on apps and how much I took my phone for granted, I didn’t have any major revelations. I didn’t become someone who felt “cleansed” without their phone, as many people claim they feel. In reality, I was a nervous wreck not knowing where my phone was. Perhaps there is a greater lesson in this—college students like myself are fully dependent on our devices, and we can’t function without them. To those students who actually can live without their phones, pats on the back to you! Now that I have my phone back, I’m going to go catch up on all the Group-Me messages I’ve missed.