Solo With No Mobile Phone

Remember back before the time of mobile phones? It's OK if you can't, or if it takes you awhile to pull it into your conscious mind.


It took me awhile too. But, the memories came to me as a series of tradeoffs, choices we had to make. Those choices stemmed from our priorities...and the term "multi-tasking" had a different edge.


For example, Dilemma #1: what used to happen if you were expecting a phone call but you had to go out and run a quick errand? There were only two places you could receive that call: at home or at work. However, if you didn't work, you only had one place....home.


What a quandary! Did you stay at home to risk accomplishing a very important errand or go out and run your errand but risk missing the phone call? For me, it used to come down to whose call I was expecting. I had young children back then. Obviously there was always the call from the school telling you your child was sick, or got in trouble in the class and was sitting in time out. Unplanned, but the expectation of these types of calls kept me close to home frequently, even though the school had a list of alternate contacts.


There was also Dilemma #2: talking on the phone with one person, say your mother (which is always a very long call), and someone else tries to call you. Back then, the unlucky, unplanned caller got an incessant busy signal. Or, if you wanted to pay the extra monthly fee for call-waiting, the caller's call would beep through so you could then make the decision to either put your current call on hold to answer the new call, or just let the new caller hang in the breeze. But, the advent of answering machines and services, and then caller ID changed all that.


How can we forget Dilemma #3: the infamous scheduled visit from a repair man. Waiting sometimes all day for him to show up at 5PM. With mobile phones and a responsible serviceman, that window is down to about two hours, and most times he calls from his truck to let you know when he will be late, giving you the time to slip out (with your mobile phone :)) to run a quick errand before he arrives.


I remember, regarding dilemma #1, rushing home to check the answering machine. I would do this before I even used the restroom or put my purse down. These types of things kept us at home, or at least close to home.


Moreover, we had the option to escape the phone and all it entailed--the problems it brought, the time it wasted, the people it dumped in our laps whether we wanted to talk with them or not.


We could choose. Choose to be connected or to be solo. Does anyone remember that freedom?


Now, everyone can be reached, all the time. Dilemmas #1 and #2 don't really exist anymore, especially with the explosive popularity of texting. Everyone has a mobile phone. In fact, it has become somewhat of a status symbol, not only just in terms of what type of phone you have and whether you have 3G or 4G, but how many contacts you have and who is contacting you. And, better yet, who you can instantly access when you are waiting in line or at the doctor's office.


Multi-tasking made easy.


Sadly, I believe many people view it as a conduit for attention and a barometer of how much people like them.


In these ways, functionally and aesthetically, the mobile phone is indispensable. If any of you have teenagers, and even if you do not, just check them out next time you are at the mall or the movie theater, you know what I mean. Their mobile phone is not only like a physical extension of their hands, but a mind-numbing, conversation-sucking, mesmerizing device. It reminds me of some of the older cartoons when the characters were hypnotized, remember the swirling vortex that would make their eyes go gaga?


While you are checking out that generation, make a mental note of the older generation as well. Many times, the ones in this group are just as bad. Did they learn it from their teenagers? Or is it a need they incessantly try to satisfy?


Ya! And, don't even get me started on mobile phones while doing important things like driving, and now even walking (I'm sure YouTube still has the video of the woman in the mall who fell into the fountain while she was texting).


This week, when my mobile phone was stolen on the job, I at first felt violated, and then I started feeling quite alone. As I drove the hour back home, my mind kept going through all the possible phone calls I was missing, the texts that were coming in, the phone calls I could make to occupy my bored brain, the possibility of a Google search or email check at the next light.


To be honest, I felt quite empty and lonely. By the end of the night, though, I assimilated somewhat. Those thoughts were still floating in the back of my head, but they were not as prevalent or overwhelming as they were only a few hours earlier.


The next day, I did experience an issue where a mobile phone would have made my life so much easier, less challenging. With just a few phone calls and a few texts, I could have saved myself some hassle, anxiety, and extra miles on my car.


But, you know what? I survived through it, just like I used to back before the age of the mobile phone.


I have a new phone now. As a result of my experiences during 24 hours without it, I more fully appreciate it. Obviously, its job is to keep us connected to each other and to simplify our lives. I know now that to be connected to others is good, and in some cases so is simplification. But I wonder if we can have too much of a good thing?


In my case, too much of a good thing led to dependance and a certain element of insecurity.


And those are most definitely NOT good.


Try it sometime, I dare you. Twenty four hours without your mobile. It may just change your perspective, and change your life.