If you can finish this sentence, you're either a big Joni Mitchell fan or know lots of random sayings your grandparents told you. Or both.
Anyway, after a thrilling, action-packed visit to NIU this weekend with a couple of friends, I returned home minus one very important friend -
My phone.
As the train pulled out of the Elburn Metra station, I reached for my phone to check the time, like I do even when I know what it is. When my fingers grazed an empty pocket, my brain pushed the panic button. I frantically searched all of the other pockets on my coat twice and thrice times over before realizing it simply wasn't there. My friend called the friend we stayed with and sure enough, the backseat of his car was my phone's new home.
It's being overnighted as we type/read, but the whole incident really makes me realize how me, and millions of others I'm sure, are dependent on cell phones. I've made a list of phone calls I need to make as soon as I get it back tomorrow. It's simply a crucial element of communication that the modern world would not be the same without.
As I read Jane Eyre for my English class, I'm amazed by a time in which cell phones, iPods, and all of those other flashy gadgets were nonexistent. Imagine Jane calling the newspaper for a governess job as opposed to mailing letters. Worse yet, take a moment my fellow generation members and imagine if you couldn't text someone? Those little things you remember, those one liners -all done by the good ol' pony express.
This post isn't to praise the introduction of cell phones - it's just to recognize the dependency. To be quite honest, I've enjoyed this day with no phone. While somewhat frustrating at moments, it's been nice to have one less technological distraction. I didn't text a single person on the L today and instead enjoyed the mellow, fog covered city and its many sights. Sometimes it's good to look up from the screen - make that your tip o' the day.
It's so weird that I'm reading this now, considering I lost my phone this weekend, too. I felt the same way at first; I thought it was pretty cool to be "unreachable." But as the weekend wore on, the lack of communication and texting withdrawal kicked in :(
Posted by: Sana | February 11, 2008 at 01:44 PM
Oh my gosh I totally know you how you must have felt. I left my phone at home Sunday night. As I approached I-88 I realized that I had forgotten my phone at home in a different purse. I couldn't turn around though or else I would have been late for a meeting back at school. I didn't have my cell phone and I realized how dependent I am on it-especially when I need to check the time. I used a pay phone for the first time in 6 years yesterday and it just felt so weird. It was hard not having my phone but it also removed one element of stress in my life. Sometimes it's just nice to be unreachable. It was peaceful, relaxing and it was one less thing to worry about.
Posted by: Waileen | February 14, 2008 at 01:38 PM