I am UIC: On not having a phone for 2 days

It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that after a good life of five years, my iPhone 5s died Friday evening.  The funeral was held on Saturday. Thank you to all who attended and shared you kind words, memories of my phone, and condolences for my loss.

Jokes aside, my phone did actually stop working.  I was expecting this to happen soon, considering I’ve had the phone for some time already and it was starting to get faulty. And so, on Friday it did not want to turn on anymore, even while being charged. After taking it to a phone repair shop, I learned that my phone’s motherboard broke and would need to buy a new one.

The whole process of realizing my phone broke, trying to fix it on my own and then at a repair shop, and getting a new phone took me two days.  That’s two days without a phone. Now, I am not going to exaggerate and say it was either the best experience ever or the worst. After all, I had the benefit of all of this happening during a weekend and I still had a working computer with Internet.  However, the time without my phone did lead me reflect on owning one.

While, as mentioned earlier, it was not some transcendent, therapeutic moment for me, I was surprised by how my daily life was affected by not having a phone. I had become use to checking my phone throughout the day, to the point where reaching for my phone was somewhat of a reflex. However, without a phone, my hands were more free and I was more focussed on the whatever I was doing at the moment without worrying if someone wrote to me or not. In addition, the social media detox that came with not having a phone allowed me to have more free time and be more present.

On the other hand, I realize that it would be difficult to live without a phone in this day and age. As a commuter, I use my phone to track the CTA and to communicate with my family members. While I would not go on with life without a phone, at least not now, I do not deny that a break from having one can be quite helpful.

Weronika Jozwiak is a sophomore majoring in English. She enjoys watching animated movies, puns and birdwatching. She is not quite sure what she wants do in the future, but she hope that she will be able to find fulfillment in the little things in life and will be able to drink tea to her heart’s content.