Maybe this was a really stupid idea.
I’ve been a slave to technology ever since I got my first iPhone, and I am constantly pulling it out of my pocket to check some random website, e-mail or Facebook update. It’s become a cliché; whenever I hang out with some of my friends, I am invariably called out for “petting my iPhone” every five minutes.
This little box has become so essential to the way I live my life now that I literally cannot imagine life without it. So, I thought, it was time put myself to the test. I would lock my phone up for one week, and see if I could manage to survive.
I decided I would start on a Friday, because one of the worst phone habits I have is messing around on it while I’m at my job, and I worked Friday night. As I pulled into the parking lot of the entertainment superstore I work at, I sent one last mass text to all my friends, turned my phone off and put it in the glove box of my car.
Here goes nothing.
I noticed a few things that first night:
1) I cannot tell time without my phone. I haven’t worn a watch in years, and have used my phone as a clock ever since I got my first Nokia brick in high school. Since I was already going to be bored at work with no Internet, having no idea what time it was just made a long night longer.
2) Not having a phone in my pocket felt physically awkward. It’s similar to sitting in a chair without your wallet in your back pocket; it feels like something’s missing. I eventually decided I had to put something there. I couldn’t just get my phone; the temptation would be too great to turn it back on. Instead, I found a digital recorder I use for interviews. It’s roughly the same size and weight and worked perfectly as a dummy phone.
3) I didn’t realize how much Facebook status updates help me get through work. Without it, if I see something I think is funny, it’s gone seconds later. Not being able to tell all my friends via the Internet about a woman with breath that could bring down an oak tree was really upsetting.
All in all though, day one was a success, and I made it through relatively easily.
On Saturday, I started to realize all the little things I use my phone for may come back to bite me in the butt. For instance, I needed to ask for a weekend off at the end of the month for some family business, but I couldn’t find the dates because I use my phone as my calendar.
I also found out losing access to the Internet makes my job harder. For all the noise bosses make about never using cell phones while you’re on the clock, being able to use Google to help customers find a book when all they know is “It’s a book on basket-weaving, and the author’s first name is Steve” is extremely valuable and time-saving. So, on top of being bored, now I’m unhelpful.
By Sunday, I was already starting to crack. I hadn’t spoken to any of my friends in three days. I could still send messages via Facebook, but part of what makes Facebook so convenient is that you can check it via mobile phone. Once I was out of the house, I was on my own, and I wouldn’t know if anybody was alive or dead for hours.
What really made Sunday awful, however, was missing out on all the football. I’m used to working on Sundays, so I don’t get to watch the NFL all that often, but I can keep track of the scores through apps on my phone. Instead, I had to wait for depressed Cowboys fans to come rolling in about 7 p.m. to find out how the game went. Needless to say, it didn’t bolster my enthusiasm for stocking books.
So far, this experiment has not been fun. I feel disoriented, bored and, more than anything, lonely. Once you’ve had access to the world in your pocket, it’s really hard to unplug from it again.
I think it’s going to be a long week.