History

I received my first cellphone in 5th grade. It was a white Cingular flip phone with red hearts and glitter on it. I couldn’t use it for much because I was only allotted 50 ingoing and outgoing text messages (total) and the internet didn’t work. During the first few months, I ran up the bill to $300 because I went over my text message limit. The phone company took the charge off, but I knew it would happen again. Several cellphones later, I eventually had a phone with internet on it. It was a gold Razr phone. I left it in my school skirt and it got washed in the washing machine. Needless to say, my parents weren’t too pleased. Luckily, I was able to have my sister’s old flip phone and charged up the internet bill to $1,000. Again, the cellphone company took it off, but they forced me to enroll in my first data plan.

My First Smart Phone

I received Chester the iPhone (don’t judge me, yes I named it) Christmas of my first year of college. We went everywhere together. I used it as an alarm clock, camera, a source of entertainment when I was bored, and thing to look at when I got into awkward situations or when I wasn’t comfortable looking at another person when I walked passed them (you do it too). It was in my hands at all times.

The Day Chester Gave Up

On February 16, 2017 at approximately 11:30am, my phone dropped at the Jo Young Switzer Center for the last time. I was talking with Berta (who works at the register) and it just fell. The screen split from the phone and it was unfixable. At that point, I was fine because I went to my classes and my professors have policies against them. When I got back, I immediately called my Mom and Dad and they let me know that I would be without a phone until Monday (cue dramatic music).

Friday

The day started off pretty well. Again my classes have policies about cell phones and it didn’t bother me …that much. However, I notice something strange was happening. I felt unplugged and disconnected from the world. When classes would end, I’d often see my peers immediately bring out their cellphones and look. For once, I was forced to face my boring surroundings. As the day progressed, I started to get antsy. We went Walmart and everyone was looking at their cellphones to and from there. I was forced to make conversation, but no one was biting.

Saturday

I used my laptop to go on Facebook. Facebook messenger is super impersonal and none of my friends liked communicating with me. I also look at SnapChat daily and it gives me updates on the people around me. I panicked and found an emulator that would allow me to use it on my laptop. I could see messages, but it wouldn’t let me send or look at Snapchat stories.

Sunday

This was probably the worst day ever. My parents called and alerted me that the next day was President’s Day and I’d probably get my phone Tuesday. I relied on Facebook to tell me what was going on in the world. (Side note: the layout on Facebook is so much better on mobile.)

Monday

I went to class in the morning with no sense of time because I use my phone as a clock. I went to lunch and went back to dorm. I saw the email from the campus bookstore and ran the fastest I could. My heart was beating rapidly and it was first time I was happy that it was not a care package, but my brand new cellphone. I immediately turned it on and started downloading all of my apps back.

Lesson Learned

I’ve learned that my cellphone has many uses and it may not be good to rely on it for so many things. Therefore, I plan to buy an actual watch to track time and maybe cutback on how long I use my cellphone. Human contact is the best contact.