Five days without a cell phone. Free of addiction.

by easyreader1970 3 Replies latest jw friends

  • easyreader1970
    easyreader1970

    I am not what you would call a heavy cell phone user. I probably use it once per day to check in with the wife about something and maybe call someone to make or break and appointment. I use less than 100 minutes per month, usually. But I do use it for other things, like keeping contact information, keeping time, and for "emergency purposes".

    The first day and a half I felt naked and exposed. What if someone is trying to call me? What if I need to contact someone? Keep in mind that I have a land line in my home and a phone on my desk at work. These devices have existed for decades upon decades and subconsciously I forgot about them.

    By the end of the second day, I was less anxious. I couldn't immediately contact my kids but they are in a school (that has phones!) so if there was an emergency, there is only one place they could be.

    I use my cell phone also to store phone numbers and as my wake-up alarm. By the third day, I realized that I probably didn't need 80% of the numbers I had there and the few that I did I could probably memorize (use my brain? what?). I pulled an old, dusty digital alarm clock out of the closet and used it for the first time in five years. I also use my cell phone because I don't wear a watch. My wrists are small and I always break the bands because I pull them too tight. After a while I realized that except for getting up in the morning, the time doesn't really matter much.

    On the fourth day, I stopped thinking about it completely. I didn't inadvertently reach for it as I had done for the first two or three days. I had to arrange things in advance in the morning since I could not text people on the fly. I told people when and where I would be and at what times. Any time that was outside of that range, I would be unreachable. Period.

    I found my phone this morning. The battery is dead. I will not be able to charge it until tonight. I don't care what voice mail messages were left for me. I have no urgent need to text message anyone.

  • LouBelle
    LouBelle

    I use my mobile but am not attached to it at all. There are many times I don't use it, when I go away it's usually in the country and am unreachable. It's so wonderful sometimes not to be reached.

  • TheSilence
    TheSilence

    I fought against getting a cell phone for a long time because, dammit, I just don't want to be quite that accessible.

    However, I'm a single girl working crazy hours at a casino and often driving home at all hours of the night. One night I was driving home during an ice storm at 3 in the morning. I started to slide and almost went off the highway. There was no one anywhere on the highway or anywhere near that would have seen me slide off... and once I slid off I don't think I'd have been visible. And walking alone, through an ice storm, in the middle of the night, a single girl, along the highway with no protection seemed, I don't know, unsafe. The next day I went out and got a cell phone.

    Now I will go days without it ringing or without me calling anyone... I've never been much of a phone person. And I think I've sent a total of 2 text messages in my life. So I do appreciate your breaking of addiction to your cell phone and would say in most cases people would be better off to break theirs as well... but they do have some value in certain situations. Sometimes we just tend to go overboard on our toys.

    Congratulations on your newfound freedom ;)

    Jackie

  • no more kool aid
    no more kool aid

    I love the alarm, I love the camera, can't stop texting, and only have friends that are Verizon to Verizon. I'll never be free.

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