Wednesday 17 August 2016

LIFESTYLE | 5 THINGS LOSING MY IPHONE TAUGHT ME




At the end of last month, whilst on a night out the most tragic thing happened - my iPhone 6 was stolen. It was especially unfortunate as, in my attempt at adulting, the phone contract (and the bill) was in my name; the phone was also uninsured. Oh did I mention the phone was less than a month old? Yeah it was pretty shit all round really. Of course, being a full time student, I don't have £600 lying around with which to replace my iPhone. 

Enter the Nokia 27-something - it's a brick with a non-qwerty keyboard and horrific polyphonic ringtones. Whilst not being able to use whatsapp or google maps is pretty traumatising, here are some things losing my iPhone has made me grateful for.

You can be fully present in the moment

Cliché I know, but it is true. I lost my phone just before I flew to Croatia for a week's holiday so I was plunged into a new environment in which to lose myself. Not being on my phone in the "down" moments whilst out and about meant that I could fully concentrate and take in my surroundings. From the trio of women strutting down the promenade in futuristic metallic leotards and stripper heels (yes you read that correctly); to the electric atmosphere at bar Luxor in the Peristyle square - I was able to see all of that and appreciate it in a way that I don't think I would have done if I were glued to my phone/trying to snapchat every minute. 

Conversations get better 

With no 4G enabled iPhone, snapchat or Twitter to act as a filler you're forced to actually converse with people.

You can talk to people on your own time 

When I had my iPhone, I often felt ruled by the notification centre. As soon as a message pinged up on my lock screen I felt impelled to respond regardless of what I was doing or where I was at the time. I'm not very good at the screening texts thing. Without my phone, I feel I have a bit more control over who and when I talk to people - plus typing on a non-qwerty keyboard is a pain in the ass. I also don't have whatsapp alerting people of when I was last seen; snapchat betraying my every move or iMessage read receipts selling me out. 

Fuckboys can't blow up your phone

Does everyone have this problem or do I just give my number too freely? With whatsapp, iMessage and snapchat no longer accessible to me I've basically entered a fuckboy free zone. This one is also linked to the reasons in number 3. 

Less distractions/procrastination 

I'm a chronic list maker - which is all well and good except when after each task I spend 30 minutes viewing snapchat stories then another 20 scrolling through Instagram. I mean I still have Instagram on my iPad but it really isn't the same. I've found that, whilst I'll use my iPad to upload to and browse insta, I don't spend as much time mindlessly scrolling to fill up time. 

A sense of peace 

I don't know about you but I get this phone anxiety where I have to constantly check my phone for fear that I'm missing some important message. Realistically, I rarely receive any really important messages on my phone - when I do I'm expecting them and when I'm not expecting them I rarely actually miss them completely. For some reason, however, I get this bubbling anxiety when I'm not with my phone - if I accidentally leave my phone at home, I must rush and check it as soon as I get in. Without my iPhone, I just don't feel that. I probably check my lovely brick Nokia once a day...



MARTHA XO

1 comment:

  1. I totally agree with you , I have had my phone stolen 3 times and they were super expensive phones, social media and blogging is my job so losing that was a huge irritation. But I also learnt the same things you did and right now my phone works but its not great, so im hardly on it cause the battery dies after an hour but now I am so used to being without a phone properly cause I am on my laptop 24/7 for work and insta, its just snapchat I struggle with but you learn to live without it and be in the now which is more important :) x

    www.fashionjazz.co.za

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