My Life Without A Smartphone

My Life Without A Smartphone

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Recently, while I was using my smartphone to surf the net, which I was in the habit of doing an exorbitant number of times throughout my day, my Samsung s6 got so hot that it burned my fingers. It was like the devil himself had been reincarnated as my device to send me a sign. I dropped the phone, thinking it was about to combust. After that, I still hadn’t learned my lesson. After a brief stint in the fridge, in an effort to cool the phone down, I used it again. Only to experience the same fiery touch before it finally died and has not powered up since.

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My first inclination was to replace the device as soon as possible but after a full day without it. I noticed a figurative weight had been lifted, I felt easy and nonchalant, without trying. After letting go of the horror of all the useless text messages I might be missing or the little red notification alerts from either Facebook, Words with Friends or Linkedin; I felt good. I thought, “maybe the world doesn’t need access to me 24/7”, after all, I am an “old” millennial who knows perfectly well a life where smartphones didn’t crowd every aspect of my day, a world where school friends, religious friends and family were separate, and for good reason too. And where people you used to know were out of contact because or organic life circumstances, which was perfectly fine.

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So, I decided not to replace the phone. I instead went with a flip phone, yes you heard me right, a flip phone that came out just this year. Yes, they still make new ones. I always loved how flips felt, opening and closing them, how the receiver actually met your mouth and that the screen was covered when not in use (no butt dialing). Its thin and sleek, really modern and pretty, plays my audio books and has a browser so clunky that surfing the web is reserved for when I’m actually on my computer. The phone itself is unsuspectingly highly advanced. But what it doesn’t do is run apps; no Facebook, no Instagram, no Linkedin, or Words with Friends. These are all of my classic time wasters.

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There are six notable changes that I’ve experienced over the past two weeks without a smartphone.

1. I am absolutely more productive. I am working on school work and my next book every single day. Its like I’ve cleared space off my mental desktop and its now filled with tasks that are important to me.

2. I am getting a lot more sleep. In my smartphone days (just two weeks ago), I would end my night with checking every online account I have, just because. This would last sometimes two hours. And once the brain gets going on those devices, it has a hard time winding down for sleep. I’ve actually been going to sleep when I get in bed, go figure.

3. I am definitely more present during my daily activities. I don’t have a smartphone to use as a distraction when I’m waiting places. I realized don’t need to fill every moment with an activity outside of what is happening right in front of me. If I’m waiting in a long line, I’m just waiting in a long line.

4. I notice my daughters are more engaged in non-electronic activities. Children mirror their caregivers’ behavior so much. When I’m not checking a device all day, they start doing crafts and stop asking me to watch Youtube videos. Last night, without prompting, they drew pictures of me, colored them and handmade envelopes to put them in. Children are great at reading the room and going with the flow.

5. I realized I wasn’t really missing anything. People that know me have my email address and all the messages I get from social media sites are just fine being answered when I get to it, and not any sooner. The world is just doing what it does, and I don’t have to watch it all day in the process.

6. I am markedly more calm, peaceful and relaxed. I’m not marching around trying to get to the next task, a habit I have developed with being accessible to everyone, all day every day. I don’t feel pushed or pulled in any direction since I’m not online reading things that affect my mood each moment of the day.

I’m not here to say that everyone should go without smartphones, but I am here just to share my personal experience without the device in hopes that you read and enjoy what I have to offer.

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With Much Love,

Jameelah

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www.JameelahRaoof.com

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