24 hours without a mobile phone

A little while ago my phone decided to finally give up the ghost and died late on a Saturday night (I know devastating). This caused me immense panic, it was midway through a contract and I didn’t want to pay O2 the insurance of £150 because I didn’t want to spend that much for a second hand/older type of phone. So the brave soldier that I am, I decided to buy a new phone on Monday, which meant one thing… Could I live without my phone for over 24 hours and if I could, how would my mind and body be after this traumatic experience?

Here is what happened in those 24 hours…  (queue 24 music and clip)

First thoughts

Bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger. A whole day!? Well better just stay in bed and forget today is even happening right? What’s the point of going out without a phone? What if someone needs me!? What if I need to contact someone?! Are there still phone boxes?! Do they even work? Do I even have coins to put in for a telephone box? Do I remember other phone numbers? What if something happens in the news and I don’t know about it? What if I have an acca on? What if I want to listen to music or watch a video when on a train or bus or walking or running. What if I have some cool thoughts (not likely) and want to jot it down super quick?!?!?! Bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger.

 

Photo credit Victoria… Obviously

 

Alternatives

So with the mild panic still wild in my brain, how was exactly was I going to do? Well with luck I had a full day planned with the lovely Victoria to head to Carrickfergus for a little train journey and a dander. So instead of being locked up in my house o my only other alternative (my laptop), I made sure that we would be out and about having a nice time and a day of it. This would distract me from everything that involved my phone right? Being around those who I care for is all I need right? But what about all the little things I want to do on my phone.

I had a few minor issues that are standard. I had forgotten my watch, so I didn’t know the time and I was heavily relying on Victoria. If Victoria wasn’t there I would have been late for everything in having to prepare everything and find everything that I needed to function.

Another little issue was when Victoria and I were having a discussion and came to a point where more information and research is required. I would have to rely on Victoria to search for it and that was unfair as I shouldn’t have to do that! Like I said little issues. But I did find one or two that did get to me a little.

 

Photo credit Victoria… Obviously

 

Main issues

The main difficulty that I had was how in the good God was I going to document/record my steps. Not too many worries about communicating on social media as I sometimes go on mini blackouts and not post for a few days. No, my difficulty was coping with not knowing how many steps I was doing and I was subconsciously living off my girlfriend’s steps that she was recording on her Fitbit. I would work out the gait difference and by the end of the day, I was pretty sure I had walked a lot! This wasn’t helped by the fact as mentioned Victoria and I were off on a journey/pre-race walk to check out the course for a 10km race.

The only other issues that I had were again not truly phone related in the essence that I was uncontactable. It was that it was a nice day and I didn’t have my phone with me to take pictures of everything. I love a good photo of a landscape and being by the lough always means I will get the chance to take some nice pictures. I have a decent digital camera, but at the time I couldn’t find my charger, thus I had a dead battery which was… Frustrating to say the least. So no step counter and no camera, not too bad a thing to worry about really… Right?

 

Photo credit Victoria… Obviously

 

Final thoughts

Bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger… Well if this ever happens again, I know I have Victoria around to be my phone user by proxy (joking… Totally joking…) No. I would just have a nice notepad and camera with my iPod ready and my day will be sorted really. Notepad for writing down ideas or drawings, my camera to capture things I notice and then my iPod for the music as I just love listening to music and not to the nonsense that strangers utter.

I could go on for 2000 more words about the benefits of not having your phone on you at all times, but that is never going to happen. Have your phone on you, but treat it as you would when at the cinema. On in case of emergency. Immerse yourself in your surroundings and with those that matter. I truly enjoyed my day without my phone, but I did worry a little about being needed for an emergency, which makes you think about how we coped without them beforehand… Should we go back to that way? Nope, we are lucky to be living in this environment we are currently in, but let’s chill on the technology lads!

Let me know if you enjoyed this post! If you want to chat more about any of my posts, please follow me on Twitter, Instagram and also to receive updates, Until next time, thanks for reading and I hope to see you again soon!