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The Disconnected Life Sucks

Posted on June 11, 2011 by

happy macboy w iphoneI currently have no phone and no car in California.  It's like I don't exist as a person.

Okay, it isn't quite that bad, but sometimes it feels that way.

Through a series of accidents, I find myself both without personal transportation and more importantly without a smart phone.  Learning how to navigate myself in the world without being tethered to my iPhone has proved to be frustratingly difficult.

Several times I have found myself standing on an unfamiliar street in San Francisco literally stymied about what to do next. Where do I go?  How do I connect with anyone I know?  What do I do?  I felt like a crippled, blind gazelle in the concrete jungle.


This is how bad it has gotten: I have to carry a map, a pen and paper, and change for the bloody payphone.  I have to plan stuff ahead of time — where and when I will meet someone, what happens if they aren't there, how to get there, what to do if I have to wait.  How did people ever manage to meet up with each other before?  I imagine there was a lot of wandering around shouting out each other's names and growing increasingly anxious and panicky, as night fell and the predators circled. 

How did I get so dependent on my devices?  I remember not that long ago wandering in the countryside of Guatemala alone, just me and my backpack, without so much as a guidebook.  I would head into a cafe without a Yelp recommendation, ask strangers who I wasn't Facebook friends with if they wanted to travel together, find my way to the center of town without GPS.  It was scary and thrilling.

I do find it liberating to wander around the city and not feel the need to constantly check-in, to Tweet out what I am doing at that exact moment, to neurotically check my email and Facebook.  It's like, I can just be in the moment, be the Buddha.

That said, I am replacing my iPhone tomorrow first thing. By and large, my smart phone enhances my existence, rather than detracts it.  But perhaps unplugging is a useful exercise in being fully human that I might practice say every month.  Okay, every three months.

This was a useful life lesson. Which is good, because it cost me $300.

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