I did it. Me, an 18-year-old girl living in 2016 gave up my iPhone and social media for one whole day. Now let me tell you, these 24 hours were the calmest and most productive hours I have had so far at Fairfield. At 10:30 p.m. on February 15th, I said goodbye to my cell phone. I gave it to my friend Erin to have her hide it in her room so I wouldn’t be tempted to look at it. That night, I made plans with my friends in person. Yes that’s right girls…in person. We decided what time to get food throughout the day and where to meet so we would all be together. Along with making plans, that night, my roommate and I ripped our room apart trying to find an alarm clock that would wake me up in the morning due to the absence of my phone.
After we set up the alarm clock, being that it was across the room from my bed, I thought that if I had to get up to turn it off, I’d be up for the whole morning. On top of that, I thought to myself “hey maybe now I will be on time for breakfast.” Apparently I take the longest to get ready in the morning out of all my friends, so I figured this would be a nice change. To my surprise, the next morning, the alarm clock didn’t go off. My friend came into my room and physically woke me up saying that the alarm clock didn’t go off and that she had been waiting at Einstein’s for over 10 minutes for me to show up. I truly felt bad that I had made her wait and that I missed breakfast, so I got ready extra quick so we could finally eat. For the remainder of the morning my body was in a state of laziness.
Once I got dressed and ready for the day, we went to lunch. Not having my phone in Barone was one of the strangest things I experienced throughout this process. I sat there people watching like it was nobody’s business. I noticed things about Barone I hadn’t noticed before, such as the different colored walls. I realized that when groups of people go in to eat with each other no one is talking to one another. The amount of silent tables I saw was insane. Groups of five or six people weren’t engaging at all. They sat on their phones laughing at things they were sent and only communicated when commenting about someone’s Instagram post or a funny Snapchat they took. This was both funny and sad because it truly showed how little people actually socialize nowadays.
After lunch, I had to walk back to Jogues by myself as my friends headed off to class. Not being able to look at my phone or Snapchat the scary behavior of the turkeys made the walk back very strange. To my utmost surprise everyone was looking down at their phones, but this time they were walking and texting. What talent the Fairfield student body has! I actually had to dart out of the way of people b-lining to their destination with their heads down reading something on their phones. It is truly insane how much you notice when you pick up your head once in a while. People were dropping dollar bills and pages of notes without even realizing it because they were too caught up looking at their phones. A little advice from me to you, PICK UP YOUR HEADS YOU ARE MISSING OUT AND MIGHT CRASH INTO SOMEONE!
In the beginning when I originally decided to do this experiment, I didn’t know what to expect. My friends and I thought I’d be lost without my phone and crack within the first few hours. I thought I’d be locked in my room all day lonely, forget about all my classes, and miss out on conversations and events that were happening within everyone’s day. What I came to realize was that I really didn’t miss out on anything. The meaningful and important things that happened, my friends shared with me when we saw each other. I spoke to all my close friends throughout the day and I didn’t waste my time with things that didn’t matter because I didn’t know they were going on. I got all my work for the week done as well as my laundry plus I cleaned my entire room.
The truth is not having your phone for a day (coming from someone who is constantly on theirs) really isn’t that bad! You find a way to speak to and make plans with all your close friends and you become much more productive as well. Stories of events that occurred during the day are told to you in first person, so you don’t have to worry about autocorrect messing it up. Plus, you don’t waste your time on meaningless information and cat videos that distract you during the day.
After doing this experiment, I have decided that I will try and devote less time to my iPhone and more time to myself because there is more to life than texting and Snapchat. Lift up your head once in a while, you’d be surprised what you see.