Out of Order

The screen of my cell phone broke while we were in Colorado. Mike took it to be repaired when we got home, but it was a difficult case so it took 2 days… to find out it couldn’t be repaired. Mike had an old one for me, but he was out of town on the 3rd day, and today, the 4th day, he got the new (old) phone activated and I had it back in my possession once I got home from work.

(Never mind the fact that it doesn’t have any of my contact info in it or email set up or any of the apps I use. Ugh.)

What I’ve realized in the four days I was phone-less is how incredibly dependent upon it I am. This morning I was meeting a friend for coffee and I was a total mess. I had to set the alarm on our alarm clock for the first time in years; I usually use the alarm on my phone. I walked out the door and had to come back to look up the address of the place and directions on how to get there. I got there half an hour early because I misremembered what time we were meeting– but I also thought at first I was late and felt terrible about not being able to call or text her that I was running late.

Reporters call and text me as part of my job. I wasn’t able to pick up any of their texts. We’ve had some network troubles at work lately, so colleagues texted me. Didn’t get those messages in a timely way. My Words with Friends games are languishing. My Fitbit hasn’t been synced in ages. I never know what time it is (because I don’t usually wear a watch; I check the time on my phone).

I usually check email compulsively. Can’t do that with no phone. I tweet from my phone a lot. Haven’t been able to do that. I was going to take a picture of something the other day, just to remember that I didn’t have a camera with me because I didn’t have a phone.

It’s kind of freaky how much a small piece of technology pays such a huge role in my life.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go set up my new (old) phone and pick out a new (new) one for moving forward.