Let me just preface with the fact that this was not a planned detox. While it’s great and honorable to take a break from social media and from smartphones in general, my spring break was not the ideal time to be without a phone in the slightest. Everyone remembers how the northeast got hit with that huge snowstorm a few weeks ago, right? Well, a day or two before the historic snowfall would begin, my phone rather unceremoniously powered off at 72% and refused to revive itself after being plugged in. Essentially, I had a brick for a phone. What followed next was the not too far removed from the five stages of grief.
Panic
There are only so many desktop versions of your go-to apps, like Facebook, Instagram and your email. How are your friends going to know that you’re alive and well? WHAT ABOUT THE SNAPSTREAKS??
Withdrawals
You slowly forget how to engage in a world without something to scroll on. Now I wouldn’t say I was the kind of person who couldn’t spend a few hours without her phone– I could– but the reality was more like strictly an hour.
Desperation
I would beg my mom for 15 minutes of Snapchat and I usually got it in exchange for shoveling the unreal amount of snow we got. When I got back to campus and I still didn’t have smartphone access, I would beg my friends for just a few seconds so I could preserve the integrity of our Snapstreaks. But of course, this only lasted for a few days before I finally caved in defeat.
Denial
I somehow managed to convince myself that I had no real need for technology and that this “detox” was fine. You do end up adjusting to a new normal, but it’s brief. This stage in the process lasted probably 30 seconds.
Resolution
The only way to truly accept the situation, is when you get your new phone. The elation is real, but you’re definitely not the same person you were before the disaster struck. My media presence fell during this period, and my audience has yet to see it recover to pre-accident times.
Will I make a full recovery? Only time will tell.