While enjoying a Saturday family outing (which will be posted soon), I put my wallet (which holds my phone) inside a plastic bag with my water bottle (I am not a purse person and tend to just carry my wallet around in my hand). The bottle has a rubber cork to hold in the water, but it leaked out without me noticing. I decided to grab my phone to take a couple of pictures but my wallet was soaked. I immediately pulled out my phone which was hot and wet. It definitely soaked in water too long and wouldn’t turn on (when it had been on originally). I tried to save it in rice for a few days, but it was already too late. It died. Thankfully I was overdue for a new phone anyway so I got it replaced a whole week later. I wasn’t in a rush, as you can see.
Here’s a list of seven pros and seven cons I personally endured during my week without a phone.
Cons:
1. Justice Network had an event on Monday night. I was getting a ride from a woman I had never met who runs Jars of Hope (I’m an extrovert and she is too, so it wasn’t awkward). She lives only a few roads away and I have a hard time driving at night due to my weird vision, especially in a place unfamiliar, so she offered to drive me. We used emails to connect instead of texts, so I stood outside of my house waiting for ten minutes before her car slowed down in front of me (I described my appearance to her). I couldn’t text others from our organization who were going to be there to let them know where to meet, I just had to hope I’d find them okay (which I did). A woman from Justice Network tried to text me, but I had already emailed her to let her know my phone was busted. She had forgotten and was wondering why I hadn’t read or responded to her message until it dawned on her later on. A woman from Love True had sent me an Instagram message to ask if I’d be at the event and was glad to see that I was there, but I felt really badly that I couldn’t respond saying, “Yeah! I’ll see you there!” I explained the situation to her and apologized. My phone is used a lot for Justice Network things, so this was bad for me since I also had a meeting with the two co-founders and went without knowing if one cancelled, so I hoped I wasn’t just wasting my gas.
2. I didn’t realize how much I depend on my phone for pictures, even though I still bring the Pentax camera with me too. I have been doing a daily pic posting on my Instagram this year and had only missed three days of posts. Now I have missed too many. I feel bummed out in continuing my posts and honestly am giving up since my phone ruined my flow. There were so many pictures I never put onto my computer from my phone and my icloud had been full. It hadn’t backed them up on icloud since March. I lost cute shots like the process of these rubbery dinosaurs hatching from little eggs in water that their great-grandmother sent them (I had wanted to get them developed to send to her too). I can see some of the images in my head that are forever lost.
3. I use my phone for coupon codes in stores a lot. For instance, I get 50% off items plus 20% off my total purchase at JoAnn fabric, which I go to a few times a month. I had no reason to go this week, but for my food shopping with Ibotta coupons and such, that does stink a bit.
4. I play video games through Steam. I have an app on my phone which has an authenticator code that pops up when I sign into my Steam account on my computer. This is for security purposes. Since my phone was dead, I couldn’t sign into steam. It took 5 days of back and forth emails with Steam to prove I am me before they removed my authentication process so I can just simply log in.
5. My husband calls me when he gets out of work and sometimes we’ll talk for his whole 45 minute drive as I am cooking or doing dishes. It was hard not hearing his voice while doing those things. I do use Telegram with him which I keep open on my computer throughout the day as well as my phone, so at least I could still contact him throughout my day.
6. I had to get word-of-mouth directions instead of mapquest to get somewhere this week! I am really bad with directions, so it is a good thing I got there okay.
7. I listen to Audible books and podcasts while I quilt so I can get two things done at the same time. I actually took a few days off of quilting because of it!
Pros:
1. I got to teach my sons how to throw a ball and catch better. When we are outside, I usually am on my phone looking at instagram or checking snapchat as they play. I was interacting a lot more with them and getting sweaty, and this makes everyone happy. I am the more sportsy one between Rob and I, so really, although he could show them how to throw a ball, I know more of the dynamics involved and am better suited for it (and we totally accept this about each other). I have been lazy in that way and finally got to step up my sportsy Mama game. Leto actually hugged me for a long time outside to thank me for helping teach him on how to improve. They did great!
2. I was still able to be in touch with friends throughout the week. I usually get texts from about 4 of them here and there, but it wasn’t as if I was disconnected from them. I knew how to reach them regardless. Even if I didn’t have my computer, I could write to people, as I am a big snail mail lady.
3. I didn’t have any emergencies. Though this might be considered a con in case I did have an emergency, I wasn’t really worried. I figured if something were to happen at home, my retired landlord downstairs would have allowed me to use his phone. If something happened while out, I am sure someone would have called about it. I do still have faith in people out there and a big trust in God to help me along the way even in hard times, so I wasn’t worried.
4. I have ADD. I constantly check my phone’s twitter feed, look the time or weather, check instagram, and things that really only take me about a half a minute to check while doing something else. I think NOT having a phone helped me focus a lot more on the tasks at hand. As an example, you may have seen that I use a crank washing machine at home to save money from going to the laundromat. The second spin takes 5 minutes in which I look at my phone while cranking away. This week I was okay and content singing or praying as I cranked.
5. Not playing video games was actually fun. I have been a gamer for a long time but I went 4.5 years without video games when I started having kids. I tend to play these days only at night or once in a while if they themselves are playing Minecraft or something. I was upset about the Steam situation, but it didn’t really bug me to not have to play a video game. I got to watch a few movies with my husband, caught up on my book reading, and just was able to talk more with my family in general instead of rushing the boys to bed fast so I could have my game time. We also went out of the house together two of the nights of the week which meant the boys went to bed later than normal.
6. My husband knows I have a hard time with my ADD sometimes even when he talks to me, where I will be doing something on my phone while he tells me things. It frustrates him often and he tells me to put it down. I also will clean while he follows me around to talk to me, but that doesn’t bother him compared to the phone thing – which causes me to zone out. I definitely think he liked that I had no phone to touch all week so I could focus more on just him. Now that I have a phone again, he already told me to put it down while he was talking to me >.< whoops.
7. I don’t really need a phone that badly, but it is a useful tool for me. I realized I am more of a phone person than I thought I was. I can see how in some ways it really helps to have one. I had a more restful week without it and liked not hearing it buzz or play my ring tones.
Well, here’s my new phone…..
