I’m all for a tech detox. I advocate for them and even read Damon Zahariades’s book Digital Detox to help me. I understand the importance of putting tech down and getting your face out of your phone.
Except a major FUBAR moment with my brand new cell phone and my local Apple Genius Bar has put me on an iPhone detox that I hadn’t scheduled or thought I needed.
Only three days into this “my phone isn’t working” disaster, I realized I rely too much on my phone—far more than I thought and far more than I want to.
When I went to bed last night, I picked up the fiction book that had been on my nightstand since our vacation in Mexico more than six weeks ago. I needed help remembering what the story was about, so I had to flip through the part of the book I had already read. When I put it down to sleep last night, I realized it made me happier than my normal phone games routine.
All weekend, I’ve been in denial and grieving the loss of a lot of photo/game/habit memories and the convenience of my phone. When we went out to visit family and friends, I brought the phone for emergencies, but otherwise, it stayed in my purse. Not that I would typically have it on the table (I wouldn’t) or use it while with friends and family, but at one point, someone asked about my newest granddaughter, and this proud Nana wanted to show a photo, and I couldn’t. My sister-in-law had a couple of questions for me, and I wanted to look something up on the internet to show her, but I couldn’t. Little things like checking the weather for tomorrow or seeing what was on my schedule had me stopping in my tracks.
I realized that while I don’t feel I am addicted to my phone, I am certainly reliant on it. I have had no problem not having my email available, even though Monday was a workday for most of my clients but a holiday in Canada. I didn’t need my email during the workday while I wasn’t in the office. I will need it when I travel for work, but I’ve gotten into the habit of checking it, even when I do not intend to respond. I asked myself why I needed to check it so often.
So, last night, when we were reviewing the status of this messed-up situation, I announced that when the phone gets replaced, and I set it up to be a functional piece of office equipment, many of the things that I had on the phone will not be returning.
I don’t think I’m putting social media on my phone. I can look at it deliberately on my laptop if I need it. I’ve been playing some games for more than ten years and have lost access to them. I played them because I enjoyed them, but I also panicked when I realized that I let my team down or the people I was playing with would think I’d abandoned them. I cannot get history back to these games, so I’m not going to start all over. I can have a game or two for relaxation, but I won’t play with others expecting me to play my turn regularly. I want to learn to play a proper game (decided on Majong) rather than crushing candies and matching dumb images.
When I set up my phone again, I will deliberate about what I need and why I need it.
And I think I’m okay with it. My tech detox was not voluntary. I didn’t even think it was necessary. But, it has shown me how dependent I am on something unnecessary.
Let me challenge you to remove your email for a week. Ask yourself if you truly need your work email on your personal phone or your personal email on your work phone. Remove social media from your phone, remove those apps you say you don’t rely on, and get rid of the games that are habits that turn into time wasters.
Force yourself to leave your phone in the car when you go out with friends. Leave it in the kitchen instead of the bedroom overnight, or turn it on Do Not Disturb, except for phone calls from family and loved ones.
I’m still in a state of sadness and shock over all that I’ve lost. I don’t know how much work will be in my future when my phone gets fixed or replaced, but I do know that my new phone will have a new purpose in my life.
I would love to tell you this is a fiction piece created by artificial intelligence, but it is my experience and I wrote the article.
