These days you are considered a rarity if you do not own a mobile phone. Chances are if you do own one you are pretty dependant on it but how far does that dependency go? The horrifying moment when I realised I had become a mobile addict occurred when I left it behind at my boyfriends house and proceeded to have a mini tantrum. That’s right, I am ashamed to say it but I am a grown woman who threw a tantrum over an inanimate object.
I was angry at myself for leaving it behind when I felt I needed it so much. How was I going to get up for work in the morning since I had relied on it as an alarm clock for the past seven months? How was I going to call anyone? God forbid using a landline, as a child I could remember any telephone number I needed but since the inclusion of a mobile in my life I did not know a single number without looking it up. I was lost! Last but not least, how could I send the million pointless texts I did each day?
Since I would not be able to retrieve my mobile until I saw my boyfriend the next evening I knew I would have to suffer a gruelling 24 hours without it. Knowing my distress he even offered to drive it round early but my inner environmentalist knew that it was a waste of petrol, that’s not to say I wasn’t tempted to let him make a pointless trip just to drop off this device that seemed to be only crucial to my everyday organisation.
The mobile phone first went on the market in 1983 but alas humans have been around for the last 120,000 years…how on earth did they survive without it? The truth is, by the end of my 24 hours without my mobile I felt like a fool, I wasn’t late for work, I didn’t need to call anyone and my I think my thumbs even enjoyed the rest from texting, my world didn’t end.
I have learnt from this experience and have some advice for any fellow mobile junkies, in case of emergencies:
- Buy an alarm clock
- Buy an address book (and write in it, face it, one day you will lose your phone and all the contacts in it)
