by Vani Viswanathan
A week ago, I was robbed of my phone, along with a purse full of other things – a wallet, some pretty make-up thingies I’m almost sure I’ll never buy again, little memorabilia given by friends and relatives, house keys, and my most precious companion, the iPod. Even as I come to terms with the idea of being a victim of crime, I was surprised at the realisation that losing the phone was the least of my worries. Part of it was because I had a spare phone, and I knew that it wouldn’t be long before I could get another SIM card with the same number. But I was especially surprised that I didn’t miss the connectivity that I’d been used to – and kind of become addicted to – over the last couple of years.
Whatever happened to being dependent on those endless ‘communication’ apps? Whatsapp, Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Hangout… how could I survive with ‘connecting’ to people through just phone calls, SMSes and emails (from the laptop…gasp!)?
I realised I was happier without my phone ‘whistling’ every few minutes, or for checking for notifications that silently creep up to the top left corner of the screen. Informing me of a random image, forward, a ‘wassup?’, a comment, a message, an email, a ‘like’, a retweet and worse, notifications of a tweet or Twitter account that a number of people I follow, have tweeted or followed.
Why did I need all this information?
Whatever happened to your phone working for you, rather than you working for it?
And with such thoughts, I have enjoyed the past week of being smart-touchphone-less, checking my good old E63 only if it rings, and not every two minutes.
And what a pleasure it’s been! The solid phone has gone for four days on a single charge. It’s a delight to type on a QWERTY keyboard, where I’m not relying on autocorrect software that makes me recheck every word I type. The phone has absolutely no internet connectivity because even though it can manage going online, I have deliberately saved myself the trouble – even if Nokia was a frontrunner in making smartphones at some point in time, using buttons to move the cursor is really painful!
I don’t feel like I have been missing out on any important conversations, because they continue to happen over calls and SMSes, and sometimes, emails. It was alright to not be part of a Whatsapp group comprising colleagues who sit a stone’s throw away, or not see what silly food, outfit, ingenious angle of architecture that someone felt compelled to take a photograph and post on Instagram. It was okay to check emails only when I logged on, and to respond to chat pings only when I wanted to. I have even relied on my sense of direction to figure out routes. Most of all, it’s been awesome to not see the happening lives people seem to be having and not feel a pang of guilt and self-pity at the absolute normalcy in my life.
I have always been someone who’s wondered what adult life would have been without cell phones – how did people coordinate on where to meet, how much did letters help in staying in touch with a loved one, or even more daunting, find new love? And now, I wonder how it was during college days without smartphones. How did we survive without internet on our phones?
I don’t plan on being a smartphone ascetic forever, but it’s been a decent ride. A week on, however, I’ve begun to feel the pinch. I miss being able to quickly Google addresses of stores, find shops, and figure my way around. I miss seeing photos of my niece and nephew and receiving out-of-the-blue messages which remind me that friends from far away still think of me. I miss going on YouTube to satiate sudden music cravings or quickly pulling up details from an email. I terribly miss scrolling through Twitter, as this was something that kept me quite updated on news and views.
Something that the episode has made me think about is that if we’ve adopted some technology, it’s because we do find it useful. It’s just about making sure you’re able to take a step back and remember – and enjoy – what life is like without it. I’m quite pleased that I wasn’t panicking or drowning in sorrow about losing the phone, or feeling unloved because of not being connected 24X7 (what I miss most is the iPod, my faithful companion through countless journeys and sleepless nights).
With this clarity, I have begun the search for the new phone. And begun imagining what I’ll look back to in 2020 and wonder about how I survived in 2014… maybe we’ll have holographic video calling by then?
Vani Viswanathan is often lost in her world of books and A R Rahman, churning out lines in her head or humming a song. Her world is one of frivolity, optimism, quietude and general chilled-ness, where there is always place for outbursts of laughter, bouts of silence, chocolate, ice cream and lots of books and endless iTunes playlists from all over the world. She is now a CSR communications consultant, and has been blogging at http://chennaigalwrites.blogspot.com since 2005.
Pic: https://www.flickr.com/photos/zooboing/
