TECH - DETOX
It happened quite by accident actually. About a year ago. I woke up one morning to find my phone had crashed totally. Internally of course. Kaput. Blank. Over and out.
Of course my world darkened and crashed all around me. It was horrifying. I was bereaved. Utterly gutted. What was going to happen? How would I survive? Especially when I took the phone to the shop and was told by the chap that it would take two, may be three, or maybe even four days to repair. It was the ultimate horror. An absolute nightmare. How could it have happened? To me? Whatever was I going to do? Four days? Was he serious? My heart fell a further couple of degrees.
I got home and put my SIM card into another of those phones you have lying around the house. You know. Those old, prehistoric types? I’m not sure if it was even 1G, forget 3G. But like I reckoned, it was a phone and it was in excellent working condition. (These types always are.)
And that’s when the change began to seep in. Quietly, stealthily, but surely. By the end of the first day of using it, my life style had begun to change. What’s more, to my pleasant surprise, it felt like a much, much better change. Life had actually slowed down. After the first few hours I was no longer reaching compulsively for my phone and glancing at the screen for new messages and alerts that had otherwise kept streaming in my smart phone, courtesy the various social media apps in it. By the second day I realized I felt so much more relaxed. More at peace. Life was once again laid back and unhurried. I had so much more time for other things. Real conversations and real life. Existing in the now and doing things, experiencing them instead of virtually doing them.
And I can promise you It was a truly liberating and believe it or not, an empowering experience. It gave me the feeling that I was master of my time instead of the phone I had unconsciously become addicted to. Even more wonderful was the realization that it was okay not to know everything. It was okay not to know who is going where, wearing what, meeting whom, saying what etc. it was cathartic,
Those four days slipped away and became six. That’s when the phone guy actually called me to tell me my phone was ready. And believe me when I tell you, I took my time in going to collect it.
