What life would be like today without your smartphone

Sometimes when your phone dies, it can feel like part of you dies with it. Text, e- mail, twitter, Instagram, Facebook, who are we really without that little red notification dot of someone asking us to pay attention to them? Our phones get us everywhere; literally, think about how lost you’d be without Google Maps or Wayes, or how lonely you’d feel without instant access to your music and podcasts, not to mention the calm feeling of scrolling through Instagram to appease your FOMO fears.

Do you remember life without a cellphones or the Internet? I do. I remember sending letters, writing school assignments on my dad’s electronic typewriter (I’m not that old, my parents have always been untrusting of new technology). I remember spending hours at the library to write a paper or just to research simple facts that today I could Google. I also remember the disposable camera, that winding and clicking noise of taking a new photo and then getting those photos developed only to realize your eyes are closed in almost all of them.

Which makes me wonder, what would happen if you lived without your phone today? So let’s imagine for some reason you don’t have a phone, but everyone else around you does, since it’s 2015. This is how I imagine one would survive today without their pocket computer.

Sending a Selfie

“Send me a pic,” your long distance crush asked you on your last phone date. “Okay,” you blush. Then you panic. How the—

So you pull out your disposable camera, snap a few photos. Maybe you ask your roommate to take a few, just to ensure that you’re in frame. Then you have to find a local hour photo place to get those shots developed. You look through the 36 pictures to find the best one. You put the picture inside the envelope – crap what’s his address? You call him using a payphone by the store. But he doesn’t pick up, because on his cellphone your payphone number comes up as “unknown” and that’s creepy. And let’s not even get into finding a stamp.

Going to a party

One of your friends told you in person, that they’re having a party this Saturday night. You can’t see the Facebook event, so you either ask people in person, or via landline, if they’re going. Saturday night rolls around, you can’t call an Uber because again, smart phone. So you look up a cab company in a phonebook, call the cab. Twenty minutes and twenty dollars later, you’re at this party. Turns out your friend meant NEXT Saturday. Now to find a payphone to call another cab…

Falling in Lust

You meet someone at a party and you really hit it off. They ask for your number. You say you don’t have a phone. Facebook? Yes, you’re on there, but not on a lot because, again, no phone. They add you on Facebook and falls in love with you because unlike most people, you don’t document every breath of your life. Success!

Trying to Prove a Friend Wrong in an Argument

You don’t believe that Brad Pitt is 51. There’s no way. He’s 45 max. Your friend says you’re wrong. Three hours later, when you’re finally by a computer. You look up Brad Pitt’s age and … really?!

I could go on and on. Life today would be difficult without your smartphone, to say the least. But at the same time, unplugging on occasion isn’t the worst thing in the world (see imaginary crush scenario above). When was the last time you saw a sunset and didn’t Instagram it? Or told a joke and didn’t find the need to tweet it? In the words of Ferris Bueller and probably your yearbook quote, “life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it.”

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