As I struggle with the impending loss of my cell phone, we are going through periods of alternating lucidity and coma-like unresponsiveness. Sometimes it is working fine, then it will not respond for hours at a time.
I say ‘we’ as if the phone was a person – is this odd, or does it secretly feel right? We do have relationships with our phones when they are so infused into our lives, with us most of the time.
I’m losing my dear friend Droid 4, who has been with me for over two years of slide-out full-keyboard bliss. This is my friend who wakes me up in the morning with a silly whistling tune that annoys my husband, This is my friend who makes sure I get to my meetings on time.
I’m declaring Cell Phone Awareness Day.
I’ve been noticing the ways I use my phone every day – because I find myself reaching for it or thinking of taking it out for some purpose, then realizing it isn’t there for me.
- There are no alarms. I have to remember to do things, wear my watch again, and use the clock-radio to wake up.
- I can’t play solitaire in bed to wind down before I go to sleep.
- I can’t send a text to my hubby at 3 a.m. when he is on night shift and I wake up and can’t get back to sleep.
- I’m suddenly very dependent on Facebook and e-mail to keep in touch with people. I realize I don’t have some phone numbers anywhere else.
- Those minutes I have while my bagel is toasting can’t be filled with a reddit fix.
- When I’m reading a book and run into an unfamiliar word, I can’t look it up instantly. I remain ignorant because I’m too lazy to find my long-neglected dictionary.
- Without the phone, I am forced to use a flashlight or turn on a light to make a quick note in my notebook at night.
- My husband can’t text me to let me know he is working late. I can’t text him to let him know I’m on the way home from a party.
- I can’t look up that web page I made the other day.
- I have to use paper and pen to make a list.
- I see something that would make a great picture, but I have to let it pass because I don’t have a camera handy.
In a couple of days, I will have a replacement phone. It just won’t be the same. I’ll have to get to know this new phone. I’ll have to download all the latest versions of the apps I’ve been using (the ones I didn’t update because they worked just fine). I’ll have to use the screen keyboard for everything.
I suppose one day it could feel like an old friend. Maybe. We’ll see.
Maybe.