Today was an interesting day. For the first time in, well, ever, I didn’t use my smartphone for the entire day. No phone calls or text messages (although these were allowed in the brief), no email, no checking my Facebook and Twitter through Tweetdeck, no web browsing to look up random things, no access to Evernote to write down notes and look up existing notes – I couldn’t even check the time.
Well, that was the idea. I ended up having to use my smartphone twice for work purposes: once to write a tutorial for APC magazine on using Tasker on Android (awesome app, by the way!) and the second time to finalise a feature I was writing for PC & Tech Authority on mobile apps. But that was it! The rest of the time I was cold turkey. The surprising thing was that I didn’t miss my smartphone as much as I thought I would!
No, this isn’t going to be one of those posts where I talk about how I felt like I was missing a limb for the entire day, but towards the end of the experience I felt empowered and enlightened and realised that I spent way too much time losing myself in my smartphone when I really should be interacting more with the people and things around me. Hell no. I mainly just felt irritated that I couldn’t use my smartphone, although the fact that I couldn’t check my email also had me feeling anxious for most of the day. Who was emailing me? Was it for anything important? Not being able to check my email at will made me feel powerless.
But not being able to use my smartphone for other things was just annoying. Part of this may have had to do with the fact that I hadn’t left my smartphone at home – it was with me, in my bag, and I couldn’t use it. I may have felt differently if it was a normal situation where I had accidentally left my phone at home (and for the record, I would most probably have gone home to get it rather than have to spend an entire day without it!). I didn’t mind not using it while I was at home, as I had my desktop computer and tablet that I could use, but as soon as I left the house for a spot of shopping, it was Irritation 101. I hated having to continually ask my partner for the time, I hated having to use a notepad to write notes instead of entering them into my smartphone with Evernote, as I had to keep stopping and finding a flat surface to write in the notepad (one-handed note-taking on a smartphone FTW!). And I hated not knowing if I had any new email or whether I had any new updates in Facebook or Twitter.
The fact that I was on a shopping frenzy meant that I didn’t miss my smartphone as much as I would have if I had had a lot of idle time. Not being able to use Tweetdeck during lunchtime was annoying, as this is what I usually do when I’m eating. I actually had to talk to my partner during lunch! hehe LIkewise, I grabbed a coffee on the way home, and I would’ve normally had it at the cafe, but seeing as how I couldn’t use my smartphone to read stuff while I was drinking it, I opted for a takeaway coffee instead. I found I couldn’t wait to get back home to check my email and social feeds! I also found myself writing on my hand a lot for things I had to do and ideas I had for stories.
I actually ended up missing out on a job because I didn’t have access to my email during the day – one of my editors had emailed me asking if I was available to write a last-minute story. Since I was out shopping, I didn’t get it, but if I had been able to check my smartphone, I would definitely have come home earlier so I could write the story in time.
In the end, I was very relieved when the day was over. I’ve just gotten so used to having access to all of my email, social media, online notes and the Internet at large all the time that being deprived of it all just flat out sucks! Sure, I could function without having it, but my day was just not the same, and I actually ended up poorer for the experience!
