I’ll admit that from the moment I saw this assignment on the syllabus, I was dreading the day I would have to switch off my phone and survive in the world “unplugged” for a day. Of course, I still had my laptop, but I knew ahead of time that my phone really comprised the bulk of how I work, play, and communicate in a day. Going phoneless would mean a day without scrolling through Instagram, without Toon Blast (my guilty pleasure game for those awkward pockets of time before class or a meeting), without Snap stories or dumb Buzzfeed quizzes.
However, what really surprised me about this assignment is that those things weren’t really what I missed at all.
It all began when I woke up. Without an alarm, I (thankfully) woke up 30 minutes earlier than my typical wakeup time and decided not to push my luck by trying for those 30 extra minutes. I then prepared to head to my dorm’s gym, where I encountered my first real surprise of the day: I use my phone to listen to music while I exercise. Deciding I couldn’t endure 30 minutes of staring at the wall in silence, I grabbed a book and headed downstairs. Reading a physical copy of Game of Thrones while on the treadmill honestly felt like a bizarre experience, and I got at least a few odd glances while I worked out.
My next unpleasant encounter occurred as I bundled up to head to a lab meeting. My dorm is about a 20 minute walk from my lab, and I typically use that time to call one (or both) of my parents, who live in Kentucky and with whom I talk every day. Walking that 20 minutes in silence was somewhat boring, and talking on the phone was always a nice distraction from the construction and honking horns on Mass. Ave., but I found that more than anything I missed the ritual of chatting with them about my plans for the day or something funny that had occurred in class the day prior.
My frustrations continued throughout the day. Admittedly, I chose this particular day (a Tuesday) because it’s my busiest day of the week: I’m in a lab meeting from morning until the early afternoon, and then in back-to-back classes until 9 PM. I thought the amount of time in meetings and class would lessen the blow of not having my phone. But instead I found the opposite to be true: On such a busy day, my natural inclination was to reach for my phone to text a funny incident to my boyfriend or Snap a random thought to my friends. Digging out my laptop to text or use Facebook Messenger on my computer was a hassle when I was on the go.
After getting out of class that night, my final task of the day was to retrieve a plant from a friend’s house, as she had been taking care of it while I was gone for IAP. I walked with her to her apartment and then decided to take the T home. However, as a Cambridge newbie (I just moved here in August) I still get the train lines confused and usually Google directions to remember if I’m going inbound or outbound. Without my phone, I had to rely on my (notoriously poor) memory and just make a choice. Thankfully, I chose the correct train and made it home, though the trip felt strange without music in my headphones.
At the outset of this assignment I expected to miss things like social media and games – and to an extent, I did. But I discovered that the things I missed most were those that connected me to those I cared about, like phone calls and group chats; opportunities to listen to music (this activity helped me realize what an important role music plays in my daily life!); and more functional aspects of cell phones like alarms and GPS. I certainly use my phone a lot, and maybe I am addicted to it. But I feel like another definition might be more appropriate. In his book Understanding Media, Marshall McLuhan says that any medium is actually an extension of our senses and therefore our bodies. This definition feels more appropriate to me. Do I use my phone to look at memes and play games with cartoon animals? Certainly. But I also use it as an extension of myself – to add background music, and therefore mood, to my nightly walks to my dorm; to be present in the daily lives of my parents and my boyfriend, even when I can’t be there physically; to quickly search for a fact I couldn’t remember or the correct way to get home. My phone has become so embedded in my daily life that it truly feels like an extension of myself. Whether that’s a good or a bad thing has not yet been determined.