I know what it means to stay without a phone not because I wanted to, but because it was taken from me. I was still in school then, and things were not as easy as they are now. That period taught me something important: a phone is good, but I can live without it.
It all happened one evening. I planned to visit my friend, and we already agreed on where to meet and what time. There was no need to call her because everything was settled before I left the house. I stopped a taxi by the roadside and entered. I didn’t know that this taxi ride would change my life for some months.
The taxi driver was a bit strange, he asked me where I was going and I told him, he agreed and asked me to enter the taxi, after moving forward he asked again and I told him and he said he's no longer going to that route that I should get down, I was struggling to open the door and he said I can only open it from outside because he said it was faulty. I didn’t think much about it then. I focused more on opening the door by stretching my hand outside the window to open it from outside, there was a man sitting beside me in the taxi, quiet and minding his business or so I thought.
I took another taxi and when I got to I was going I alighted from the taxi and reached into my bag to pick my phone so I could call my friend. That was when I realized that my bag had been opened. My phone was gone. I stood there, confused and shocked. My mind quickly flashed back to that moment when I opened the door from outside. That was the perfect chance for the man sitting with me to steal my phone. He must have quietly taken it when I focused more to open the door.
I felt so angry and frustrated. I was a student, my projects and some of my handouts were on the phone and that period things were tight for me financially. I could not afford to buy another phone immediately. I returned to my lodge that day feeling sad and helpless. What made it worse was that I had to stay for months without a phone.
Those months were not easy, but they changed me. In the beginning, I felt lost. I couldn’t call anyone. I couldn’t chat or browse. It felt like I was cut off from the world. But after some time, I began to see life differently and I'm used to the situation.
I had more time to focus on myself. I read my books more. I slept better at night because I didn’t stay awake pressing my phone. My eyes felt rested. Before then, I used to worry about my sight because I was always on my phone, day and night. But without a phone, my eyes were no longer hurting. My headaches reduced. My mind felt clearer.
I also discovered that I could do many things without needing a phone. I planned my day properly, I cleaned my room often, and I spent time with friends physically, not through chats. I even started enjoying quiet moments something that felt strange when I was always holding my phone.
When I finally got a new phone after many months, I was happy but also careful. I no longer felt the strong urge to always hold my phone. I knew I could survive without it because I had done it before. My phone became a tool not my life. I used it to call, chat, and check important things, but I made sure not to depend on it too much.
Even till today, I am not addicted to my phone. I can drop it for hours and do other things. Sometimes I intentionally stay away from it so that I can rest my eyes. I still worry about my sight because staring at the screen for long can damage the eyes. That fear keeps me from pressing my phone too much.
Phones are good. They make life easy. But they also have disadvantages. They waste time, cause eye problems, and make people forget the real world. I learned this the hard way when my phone was stolen. But in the end, it was a lesson I needed. I realized that life without a phone is peaceful and real.
This is my response to this episode of hivelearners community prompt of #hl-w169e2 which the topic is tagged WITHOUT A PHONE
