L O O K . U P
Dance like no one's watching, sing like no ones listening. Learn to dance under the rain without an umbrella. Re-learn the art of falling down and scraping your knees. Protect yourself, wear a helmet. A sequel to how I lost my phone to a trust funded kid. And the things I learned after 2 months without a smartphone.
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Dramatic and superficial as it may sound, when I lost my phone, I was upset of the fact that I wouldn't be connected to the world anymore. Losing my iPhone was like losing part of my life. More than its physical entity, I got sad because of the sentimental values it had. The memories it held and stored, all gone just like that. And because I was superficial like that, after 2 weeks of having my phone stolen, I found myself in an Apple store purchasing another iPhone with what's left of my life savings. It did not bother me at all that I would be spending so much for a phone so long as I have one; the phone-less days were killing me. I was so attached to it that having none was torture. But crazy as crazy can get, after a joyous month or so with my new phone, it decided to die with no apparent reason, some malfunction thing and I had to wait for a month for its replacement. And hence, phoneless me once again.
I depended so much on my iPhone that I didn't know how to function without one. So many questions got to my head. How am I supposed to take pictures now? How will I update all my social media accounts? What will I do when I'm not doing anything? How the hell will I keep myself entertained? What will happen to all my contacts? How will I reach my friends? And so on and so forth, the questions never stopped.
After a long while, I started getting used to it and surprisingly I found it liberating. Not having a smartphone made me look at things in different perspectives. Instead of frantically searching for free wifi wherever I go, I searched for new sights and things to see instead. I was able to use my eyes to look at things- Yes, use my own eyes to see and not through the lens of my phone. I saw everything as is, where is. No filters. Nature was just nature. Food was just food. Sunsets were just sunsets. The beach was just the beach. I didn't have to stage everything, just so I had a perfect picture, everything was perfect the way they were. I didn't have to impress people for the likes. Of course I still did take a few pictures with my camera, but I only took pictures of things that mattered and the things that I really wanted to remember. I didn't take a hundred thousand pictures just so I can choose the best one to post on my timelines.
I found my way back to the things I love. I used to just fiddle with my phone during my idle time, my thumb had great workouts scrolling here and there. My violin and bow rejoiced as they got to breath some fresh air after months of being stowed. Once again my room was filled with cracky music. My ukulele became my usual companion during my bored days. I taught myself new songs to play. My long forgotten books were opened. I finally got to finish reading what I started and start on new ones. My inner bookworm and band geek were resurrected. We get so pre-occupied with technology that we forget what we used to love. We forget to learn new things. We forget to pick up things that are actually just next to us, waiting for us to take notice of them.
Me waiting wasn't me oogling in the phone, it became me observing people, talking to my family and friends, and socializing more. Didn't you ever wonder how we kept ourselves entertained when we were young, once upon a time during the ipad-less days? While waiting for our food in the restaurants or waiting for our flights? we talked to each other, we socialized, we had deep and meaningful conversations. I didn't see the value of it when I was young, but know I do. We build relationships beyond the screens of our tablets, beyond posting on our friend's timelines. We looked forward on social gatherings because we have so much stories to tell, we didn't have the luxury of updating everyone about every single detail of our lives, we had to wait until the next day, the next week, the next month, or the next year. And when we finally see each other, it's just the best feeling.
So ok, I wasn't entirely phone-less for 2 months, my sister did lend me her spare phone. But I was too lazy to mass inform everyone my new number. So I just had like around 10 people in my contacts including my family. I was on hiatus for 2 months and only 4 - 5 friends got in my phonebook. Funny that my old contact list consists of a hundred people and I realized that 1/10 of them I don't even text, message, and/or call. Which I think is a complete waste of memory space- not being bitter or anything. I just value storage space. Look at your phonebook now and see how many people are there and how many people you actually message or call?
But now, ladies and gentlemen, thanks to the people of Apple, I now have a new phone. I can't not have a phone forever, I still have to keep up with the times and bad as it sounds, it's now a necessity. But now that I learned how to look up, I won't stop doing it. I'm not gonna tie myself to technology 24/7. I say everyone should try living without a smartphone for 2 months and see what happens. See how it will change your life. So, thank you trust-funded kid, for stealing my phone and making me see things in new perspectives! :))
I depended so much on my iPhone that I didn't know how to function without one. So many questions got to my head. How am I supposed to take pictures now? How will I update all my social media accounts? What will I do when I'm not doing anything? How the hell will I keep myself entertained? What will happen to all my contacts? How will I reach my friends? And so on and so forth, the questions never stopped.
After a long while, I started getting used to it and surprisingly I found it liberating. Not having a smartphone made me look at things in different perspectives. Instead of frantically searching for free wifi wherever I go, I searched for new sights and things to see instead. I was able to use my eyes to look at things- Yes, use my own eyes to see and not through the lens of my phone. I saw everything as is, where is. No filters. Nature was just nature. Food was just food. Sunsets were just sunsets. The beach was just the beach. I didn't have to stage everything, just so I had a perfect picture, everything was perfect the way they were. I didn't have to impress people for the likes. Of course I still did take a few pictures with my camera, but I only took pictures of things that mattered and the things that I really wanted to remember. I didn't take a hundred thousand pictures just so I can choose the best one to post on my timelines.
I found my way back to the things I love. I used to just fiddle with my phone during my idle time, my thumb had great workouts scrolling here and there. My violin and bow rejoiced as they got to breath some fresh air after months of being stowed. Once again my room was filled with cracky music. My ukulele became my usual companion during my bored days. I taught myself new songs to play. My long forgotten books were opened. I finally got to finish reading what I started and start on new ones. My inner bookworm and band geek were resurrected. We get so pre-occupied with technology that we forget what we used to love. We forget to learn new things. We forget to pick up things that are actually just next to us, waiting for us to take notice of them.
Me waiting wasn't me oogling in the phone, it became me observing people, talking to my family and friends, and socializing more. Didn't you ever wonder how we kept ourselves entertained when we were young, once upon a time during the ipad-less days? While waiting for our food in the restaurants or waiting for our flights? we talked to each other, we socialized, we had deep and meaningful conversations. I didn't see the value of it when I was young, but know I do. We build relationships beyond the screens of our tablets, beyond posting on our friend's timelines. We looked forward on social gatherings because we have so much stories to tell, we didn't have the luxury of updating everyone about every single detail of our lives, we had to wait until the next day, the next week, the next month, or the next year. And when we finally see each other, it's just the best feeling.
So ok, I wasn't entirely phone-less for 2 months, my sister did lend me her spare phone. But I was too lazy to mass inform everyone my new number. So I just had like around 10 people in my contacts including my family. I was on hiatus for 2 months and only 4 - 5 friends got in my phonebook. Funny that my old contact list consists of a hundred people and I realized that 1/10 of them I don't even text, message, and/or call. Which I think is a complete waste of memory space- not being bitter or anything. I just value storage space. Look at your phonebook now and see how many people are there and how many people you actually message or call?
But now, ladies and gentlemen, thanks to the people of Apple, I now have a new phone. I can't not have a phone forever, I still have to keep up with the times and bad as it sounds, it's now a necessity. But now that I learned how to look up, I won't stop doing it. I'm not gonna tie myself to technology 24/7. I say everyone should try living without a smartphone for 2 months and see what happens. See how it will change your life. So, thank you trust-funded kid, for stealing my phone and making me see things in new perspectives! :))
∆∆∆
Don't YOLO= You Only Live Online
But hey, that's me with a phone. haha!
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