When I was first told that I would be doing a digital detox for an assignment, my initial thought was one of horror and disgust. I thought that my life would crumble the minute I turned my phone off. I was experiencing what Bratskier in “Unplug From Technology” calls “nomophobia,” or the fear of being phoneless.

Much to my delight, my life stayed in tact for those 24 hours.

I did my detox on October 29, the day before I would fly to San Diego for the weekend, which probably was not the best day to do it, considering my best friend, whom I was going to visit, couldn’t get ahold of me to find out when I would land and what the plan was. Not one of my smartest ideas. Although, I am glad I did the detox on this day since I was pretty busy.

I found that while I didn’t have my phone on me, I was a lot more alert and conscious of my surroundings. I was noticing a lot more of what was going on in the world around me, like the crazy amount of people that walk into a Starbucks within a 2 hour time span, or how many people are on their phones on the bus, or how incredibly annoying the construction sounds being made next to my building are.

During my time without technology, I had a lot more in-depth conversations with my friends. I learned more about their lives simply because I didn’t have a phone to distract me. I was able to fully focus on the conversation without constantly hovering over my phone, waiting for the next text or snapchat. I also got a lot of homework done that I would have never gotten done had it been for the lack of technology.

One of the major downsides of this experience was going without music. I always am constantly listening to music so not being able to even be around it was frustrating to say the least. I felt very lonely without having any background music, since it has become somewhat of a crutch in my life.

I am always taking photos to put on my snapchat story or to keep in my phone to look back on when I’m feeling down. My phone is mostly what I use to take photos. There were multiple times throughout this day when I wanted to take photos, but couldn’t since I didn’t have my phone. I guess I could have used a camera, but I don’t have one since I’ve become so reliant on my phone to have everything I would possibly need on it.

Another thing that was almost scary, was never knowing what time it was or where I was going. It’s a good thing that I somewhat know how to tell the time by the position of the sun in the sky or I would have been screwed. I’m also usually the navigator of my friend group. I’m the one that looks up where we’re going and how to get there since I’m the best with directions. But since I didn’t have a phone that day we had to rely on one of my friends to get us to our destination, which is terrifying since she is horrible with directions.

As soon as the 24 hours where up, I called my best friend and my mom, the 2 people I talk to everyday without fail. They both said it was weird not being able to text me and see how or what I was doing and telling me about their day. This was one of the things that I found the most interesting about this project- technology gives the illusion of the presence of people in your life and not being connected to technology not only affected my day, but affected those who are closest to me as well.

I think the most beneficial thing about this detox was being able to fully immerse myself in what I was doing and give those around me my full attention. I liked the spontaneity of this day and never really having a plan like I usually would.

Now the question of would I ever do it again? No, I’m too dedicated to my snap streaks.

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