Lately, cell phones have become a necessity in our society. In America, almost everyone has a phone or portable device that they use at least once every day. Out of these people, many of them have become addicted to their phones, spending hours upon hours on them on social media. Personally, I have found that as my social media presence increases, the time I spend on my phone increases. Before I had Instagram and Snapchat I didn’t spend much time on my phone but now hours pass of me doing nothing but mindlessly scrolling. To try and combat my iPhone addiction in the making I decided to give my phone up for three days to find out how I can survive without it.
On the first day that I went without my phone, there were many times that I found myself missing my phone and instinctively reaching towards my pocket for it. I realized that anytime there was an awkward silence or extra time at the end of a class, instead of talking or working I would get on my phone and do absolutely nothing. At first, I felt out of the loop not being able to check social media and see what everyone was up to but also, in a way, it was freeing to not have to worry about anyone else’s life but my own.
By the second day more problems became apparent. In the morning, I relied on one digital alarm clock to wake me up as opposed to a hundred alarms on my phone. With one ‘snooze’ in the morning my whole day was rushed. When I did homework in the evening I needed a calculator, dictionary, and Spanish to English dictionary on top of each class’ textbook. Though this did make completing homework take longer, without the distraction of a cell phone I got done at the same time, if not earlier. I even ended up getting more sleep than usual because, when I was tossing and turning at night, I couldn’t stair at my phone for hours to distract myself.
On the morning of the third day I woke up well-rested and as on time as ever. At this point I had mostly gotten used to not having my phone and I wasn’t missing it. In the halls I talked to people I previously would have missed, at lunch we played cards, and during excess time in classes I got homework done. It seemed that after three days without my phone I had completely adapted to life without it and didn’t need it. That is until the cross-country meet I was supposed to run in that day was cancelled and I didn’t know until an hour before because I didn’t have my phone. Aside from that incident, the rest of the day went smoothly and I felt happy to put distance between me and my phone.
Above all, this experience showed me that I am unnecessarily dependent on my phone. There were many times in these three days that I would have a simple question and, instead of thinking about it, I would immediately want to Google it. Not being able to do that allowed me to be more independent. Though at first we it was difficult, I was happy to be unaware of everyone else’s personal lives and to not have to worry about what others were doing. Without a phone to use as a crutch when I was uncomfortable I was forced to do things out of my comfort zone, in a good way. After this experience I went think I will still continue to use my phone daily, or at least keep it with me, just because it’s good to be up to date though I do plan on using it less. And, if I do get back to overusing my phone, I know that I can always go on a three day iPhone cleanse.