I Tried To Give Up My Smartphone For A Week. Here’s How That Went

“Young people these days never look up from their phones!”

Well, I’m old enough to remember a time when I didn’t have a mobile in my pocket and things were just fine… I think. It’s all a bit hazy. I’m usually on the fence with this topic – are phones just handy? Or would it really make a huge difference to our lives if we stopped using them? In a bid to find out, I accepted the challenge of seven days without my precious device, and the whole process surprised me a lot. Take a look at what I learned.

Sounds Of Silence

I head to the gym most mornings, headphones in, and alternate between a few dedicated playlists (usually cringe-worthy EDM juxtaposed with the Spice Girls). I didn’t realise how eerie a workout is without a soundtrack. And boring. I lost interest within five minutes. All I could hear was whirring of cardio machines, annoying ads blaring through the gym’s speakers, and the most awful grunting sounds. Oh god, those sounds are coming from me.

Where The Heck Am I?

Anyone who has been anywhere with me knows how terrible my sense of direction is: I get lost indoors, outdoors, driving, walking, sitting down. Without my phone’s GPS, I felt vulnerable and disoriented. Thank God I’m not an Uber driver as I suspect I’d have spent this whole week crying and screaming.

I had tickets to a gig at a venue I’d been to once before. “No problem!” I told myself. “It’s really central, you’ll recognise the street.” HOW FOOLISH THIS SELF-TALK TURNED OUT TO BE. I was so scared of missing my bus stop that I leapt out too early and paced around like a dizzy rat. It was also raining, did I mention that?

Dignity well and truly abandoned, I asked someone walking by if they knew directions to the venue. With a pitying smile, the helpful man pointed up the street. “Head north two blocks and turn right at the 7-Eleven.” NORTH? What am I, a Boy Scout in 1953?! I thanked him profusely, lurching in the direction of his finger. I arrived 20 minutes late.

FOMO

Without a mobile, I felt like a recluse any time I was out of the house. Going into this phone-free week, I knew this would be the most obvious absence, but didn’t realise how much it would affect me. A few months ago, I moved overseas and speak to my family online most days. Having to rush home to my laptop felt weird and lonely, especially given time differences. Not having access to my part-time job’s group chat meant I wasn’t up to date with the roster and other important info.

This part of the experiment was strangely stressful for me and it really brought home how useful having social media in your pocket is for quick communication. Was I missing out on work updates? If there was a family emergency, how would I know? And, crucially, how can I stay up to date with memes?!

Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems

 

Alright sure, that subheading doesn’t really apply to me because I’m hardly Richie Rich. But, as we live in an increasingly cashless society, having limited access to my banking information meant I struggled a lot. Even if I’d wanted to stroll into a bank with my cheque book and fountain pen, my bank is online-only, so there aren’t any physical branches.

I couldn’t check my balance on the go, or quickly transfer money to my household’s joint rent account when I needed to. When I wanted to see if I’d been paid, the two nearby ATMs were out of order and a third was glistening with some sort of fresh mystery liquid. I ended up having to pay a transaction fee inside a convenience store ATM and felt very grumpy.

The Little Things

Aside from the obvious communication challenges, the most convenient things I missed during this experiment were actually the smaller ones: I reverted to using a physical diary as normally my phone calendar would do the job. It was annoying not having access to an alarm clock, currency converter, and calculator all-in-one. And, significantly, whenever I spotted a cute dog, I was unable to take a photo to show my pals. Tragedy!

While it’s fair to say someone could live without a smartphone for a while, it would certainly make everything that little bit harder. I’m much more grateful for my smartphone and all the convenience it brings.

Now, if you’ll excuse me – I’m off to the gym to drown out my workout grunts.

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(Lead image: rawpixel.com via Pexels)