Earlier this week, my phone decided to take its own little vacation and disrespect me, by not turning on. Actually, my phone was severely cracked, and it was raining earlier in the week, and obviously, iPhones and water don’t mix. So, I basically spent most of my college week without a cellphone, and there were some things that I learned about how much I depend on my phone.
1. I literally had no idea what time it was. Ever.
I knew my phone wasn’t working, proceeding to take it out periodically to check the time, and was disappointed every. Single. Time. As someone who is super time conscious, and hates being late for anything, not knowing the time was a huge stressor. If I left for class at 12:40, and it starts at 1, what time is it when I actually walk in the room? Is it 12:50? 12:55? 12:57? Am I too early or late? I. Need. Answers.
2. I never wanted to leave my room.
Going on my computer in my room, and listening to music, and communicating with people, other than the people who go to Stony Brook University, was the only thing I looked forward to. Keep in mind, I couldn’t text anyone outside my room and I couldn’t listen to music on my way to classes. And for some people, that’s truly no big deal. But my music is the soundtrack of my life and it has to follow me everywhere I go. Without music, I truly felt empty and lifeless, especially walking from place to place.
3. I actually gained more patience with things.
Being from NYC, and living in such a fast pace of life, I almost never slow down. I walk fast, I talk fast, and I’m generally more anxious when things take a long time. But since I almost never knew the time, I really had to slow down and evaluate a lot of things. Waiting in line for something didn’t seem so strenuous, and neither did waiting for class to end. It seemed like time slowed down and I was able to enjoy certain moments more.
4. I was almost always irritated.
For reasons explained earlier in the article, it was super easy to become irritated at things. Why does the dining hall not have clocks? How long was I sitting here? Why do I have class? I want to go back to my room.
5. I was less distracted.
Now that my phone was absent, it was a lot more work to go on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, so I didn’t really bother looking up the desktop sites. I actually got more work done in less time, so I was actually a lot more productive this week.
But at the end of the day, I now have a new phone, so all this progress doesn’t really matter, and I will go back to spending all my time on Twitter. I’m just happy I’ll finally know what time it is.
Gifs courtesy of Giphy